Bruce Lee Bullshido

I made this post on the Sherdog forums on a discussion about Bruce Lee:

So what? Are you saying that because Bruce Lee “inspired” more people to do martial arts, he can rightfully be called the Grandfather of MMA?

The sad things is, the evidence points to Bruce Lee inspiring people with his MOVIES and not his actual martial arts or rantings about martial arts.

Did anyone actually listen to his JKD musings? Apparently not, because when UFC 1 came along seems everyone was doing single style fighting and nobody was cross training.

In effect, he netted the same influence with his JKD philosophy as Dempsey did with his Tough Crosstraining Manual: NADA.

Everyone still thought that martial arts was about standup fighting with fancy kicks and going “Wataa!” Thanks no doubt to Bruce Lee’s movies that glorified this kind of fighting. And this is pretty much what everybody who got into martial arts because of Bruce Lee was thinking. I read the article on the frontpage a few days ago about Vera’s wife. She described herself as a “Bruce Lee-crazed tomboy begging her parents to enroll her into taekwondo” (or something to that effect.

How many people got inspired by Bruce Lee and enrolled into Brazilian Jiujitsu or Greco Roman Wrestling or Sambo? Probably none. They all went to the arts we like to sneer at with disdain as McDojo arts (Karate, Taekwondo, and various forms of Kungfu).

One dimensional as they were, the Gracies are the ones who opened up the gates to what MMA is like today, by proving in the actual spectacle of combat that standup would get demolished by grappling. That is what ultimately led to people crosstraining en masse to succeed in MMA.

It was putting together the different styles in ACTUAL COMBAT that people were able to see what worked, what didn’t, and what needed to be thrown away and to find out what to keep. Not all the theorizing and bullshido Bruce Lee did that never proved anything — again everyone still went back to TMAs and standup in the wake of Bruce Lee’s heyday. It wasn’t Bruce Lee’s JKD who got Mo Smith learning the ground game in order to take out Coleman and eventually become UFC HW Champ, it was actually fighting in real combat, with real stakes, that got him to realize the importance of being a true Mixed Martial Artist.

Bruce Lee is old news. He gets credit for increasing the public awareness and interest in martial arts in a way nobody else ever managed, but his actual success — or lack thereof — in actual practical martial arts will never go away no matter how much the diehard Bruce Nuthuggers wish for it. Theoretics only goes so far, you can’t swim unless you get into the water and get wet. You can’t really do martial arts unless you actually fight.

This is something I had always believed in. Bruce Lee is the Grandfather of the Martial Arts Movie, and perhaps the Grandfather of Bullshido, but it would be a stretch to really call him the Grandfather of MMA.

He had the right idea going — getting out of the style and learning what works — but his lack of actual practical combat experience and more importantly his emphasis on his Kung Fu Movies and his McDojo approach were what ultimately led to people doing nothing but using their interest in him to get into the McDojo TMAs that are scorned by real mixed martial artists and even regular martial artists.

We all know the wonderful site Bullshido.com and it is quite arguable that Bruce Lee is the man most responsible for the rise of McDojo Martial Arts as we know it today, which we all love to call Bullshido. Bruce Lee was famous for going around America doing martial arts demonstrations like his one inch punch, and getting people to believe in his style of fighting, not unlike the various demonstrations Bullshido McDojos use to gather students.

Maybe if Bruce Lee put his money where his mouth was, he’d have a real airtight legacy. Joe Lewis, a world karate champion, always lamented that Bruce Lee never sparred with him and often talked about how Bruce wasn’t the best ever because he never really competed. I have to wholeheartedly agree.

As it is, while there will always be people who will consider him the best martial artist the world has ever known, there will also be a lot of us who see him as nothing more than a glorified movie actor.

Bruce Lee Bullshido

I made this post on the Sherdog forums on a discussion about Bruce Lee:

[b]So what? Are you saying that because Bruce Lee “inspired” more people to do martial arts, he can rightfully be called the Grandfather of MMA?

The sad things is, the evidence points to Bruce Lee inspiring people with his MOVIES and not his actual martial arts or rantings about martial arts.

Did anyone actually listen to his JKD musings? Apparently not, because when UFC 1 came along seems everyone was doing single style fighting and nobody was cross training.

In effect, he netted the same influence with his JKD philosophy as Dempsey did with his Tough Crosstraining Manual: NADA.

Everyone still thought that martial arts was about standup fighting with fancy kicks and going “Wataa!” Thanks no doubt to Bruce Lee’s movies that glorified this kind of fighting. And this is pretty much what everybody who got into martial arts because of Bruce Lee was thinking. I read the article on the frontpage a few days ago about Vera’s wife. She described herself as a “Bruce Lee-crazed tomboy begging her parents to enroll her into taekwondo” (or something to that effect.

How many people got inspired by Bruce Lee and enrolled into Brazilian Jiujitsu or Greco Roman Wrestling or Sambo? Probably none. They all went to the arts we like to sneer at with disdain as McDojo arts (Karate, Taekwondo, and various forms of Kungfu).

One dimensional as they were, the Gracies are the ones who opened up the gates to what MMA is like today, by proving in the actual spectacle of combat that standup would get demolished by grappling. That is what ultimately led to people crosstraining en masse to succeed in MMA.

It was putting together the different styles in ACTUAL COMBAT that people were able to see what worked, what didn’t, and what needed to be thrown away and to find out what to keep. Not all the theorizing and bullshido Bruce Lee did that never proved anything — again everyone still went back to TMAs and standup in the wake of Bruce Lee’s heyday. It wasn’t Bruce Lee’s JKD who got Mo Smith learning the ground game in order to take out Coleman and eventually become UFC HW Champ, it was actually fighting in real combat, with real stakes, that got him to realize the importance of being a true Mixed Martial Artist.

Bruce Lee is old news. He gets credit for increasing the public awareness and interest in martial arts in a way nobody else ever managed, but his actual success — or lack thereof — in actual practical martial arts will never go away no matter how much the diehard Bruce Nuthuggers wish for it. Theoretics only goes so far, you can’t swim unless you get into the water and get wet. You can’t really do martial arts unless you actually fight.[/b]

This is something I had always believed in. Bruce Lee is the Grandfater of the Martial Arts Movie, and perhaps the Grandfather of Bullshido, but it would be a stretch to really call him the Grandfather of MMA.

He had the right idea going — getting out of the style and learning what works — but his lack of actual practical combat experience and more importantly his emphasis on his Kung Fu Movies and his McDojo approach were what ultimately led to people doing nothing but using their interest in him to get into the McDojo TMAs that are scorned by real mixed martial artists and even regular martial artists.

We all know the wonderful site Bullshido.com and it is clear to me that Bruce Lee is the man most responsible for the rise of McDojo Martial Arts as we know it today, which we all love to call Bullshido.

Maybe if Bruce Lee put his money where his mouth was, he’d have a real airtight legacy. But as it is, while there will always be people who will consider him the best martial artist the world has ever known, there will also be a lot of us who see him as nothing more than a glorified movie actor.

ATH-M50

Well, hot in the heels of my last headphone purchase, I just went out and out and got myself the fabled Audio Technica ATH-M50 studio monitors.

These cans are reputed to be the best in the world under $200US. And from the last hour I spent with them, I have absolutely no reason to disagree.

They just officially ROCK. Without prejudice. They just simply blow away every Bose, Sennheiser, Shure and AKG I have owned or heard. I own a bunch of headsets but they were all in the $100 or less category. Sennheiser HD212 Pro, Sennheiser HD465, Shure E2C, Bose Triport OE and IE, AKG K81 DJ and the VModa Vibes. These easily beat out all of those. At the same time. With one hand tied behind its back.

They are seriously that good. As my GF said when I snuck behind her and stuffed these on her ears, “I feel like I’m in another place!” They are good enough to suck you into another dimension.

I can’t recommend these cans enough. I will let them burn in for a bit… should sound even better then… then I’ll put up a full review then.

But oops… I still need to review the K81s… and I’m not even done burning those in yet.

AKG K81 DJ

I just picked up a set of AKG headphones… it’s a popular DJ model, the K81 DJ. AKG had always been an audiophile favorite so it’s a great to have a good pedigree behind your product.

This item sounds very good. The sound quality is quite comparable to my Bose Triport OEs. Some would say they are better, and while they do a better job than the Bose in some aspects, I still find the Bose better. More on that later. But these sound really good.

Their biggest weakness I suppose is the very flat sound stage; the Triports have a much wider stage, and I don’t even consider the Bose as having much of a soundstage.

But the miss and highs are very forward, and the bass is tight and punchy. I love it.

Oomph Oomph on the Highway

I just installed a new car audio system onto my car today. After two and a half years, my Vios finally gets a sonic upgrade!

The new toys are:
Ryan Audio i60.4 amp
Pioneer TS-WX301 sub
Kicker K6.2 seperates

It took about 4 hours to install. What a headache! But the results are… staggering to say the least.

Although both the sub and amp are only rated at 150W RMS, they deliver an amazing oomph. I wouldn’t call it punchy… The Pioneer dies sound a bit on the muddy side… but I suppose that’s to be expected from a budget sub. It also hasn’t been broken in.

But the Kickers deliver a real punch! They are strong, clear, and really create a sound stage I hadn’t heard in my car before. I guess having separate tweeters isn’t just for show.

It just feels so refreshing to have an actual sound stage in the car now. I love it!

I think I need to tweak the sub a bit, though. It’s just that powerful. I’m the kid that goes for clarity over SPL so this is one of my projects to tweak this system.

Well, I’m gonna go cruising a bit with this setup for a while. Oh yeah!!

Bose Triport On Ear

I would like to start off by saying that I am no audiophile. I am an unapologetic bass head and I don’t give a rat’s ass about frequence curves, headphone specs or “natural, balanced sound.” In other words, I’m ignorant, but I know what sound I like.

I think this is an important thing to note, as your mileage with the Bose On Ear Triports will likely vary depending on what kind of sound you are looking for and just how far up the audiophile ladder you are on (since audiophiles pretty much unanimously hate Bose and all their products).

The Bose Triport OE's

So I got the Bose Triport OE’s two days ago for 7,000php, which translates to about $160US. My personal taste probably qualifies me best to become a Bose OE lover. Without using too much technical audio jargon, I would like to describe my experience with the OE Triports, in a way the average reader can relate to.

Sound Quality

The phones have a very warm, full-bodied sound. To explain better what I mean by that, imagine yourself holding a metal tin can to your ear. This creates a pitched, metallic rattling sound if you hear something from that ear. Now instead imagine that you have a wooden cup to your ear, the sound will be thumpier and smoother around the edges. That is the kind of sound you can expect from these phones — they leave a nice thump in your chest, and embrace you in an earthy feeling, as if you were wrapped up in a thick wool blanket in your bed on a cool summer night.

I will also say that the bass is magnificent on these. Some people complain that the OE’s are too bassy and that they drown out all the other sounds — but this was not how I felt about these at all. But remember, I am a true blue bass-head so you might have different ideas. But I always felt that the rest of the sounds — like vocals, high hats, steel strings, etc. were never drowned out and instead were very clear out on the fore. The bass felt like a separate layer on the fringe underneath the other sounds, instead of at the forefront and the other sounds a distant memory.

And if it is really too much for you, well try reaching for the equalizer — iPods and most other sound sources have EQ settings and using “Treble Booster” or “Bass Reducer” can help if the bass is too much, and there is another simple trick you can do — I found that changing the position of the OE’s on your head changed the sound signature significantly. By moving it a little back on my ears (presumably causing sightly more clamp) The bass became more powerful, moving forward it became slightly weaker — though the crispness of the sound also suffered. Different heads probably will yield different results so experiment with molding the sound for your own head.

There is a sound hole (I believe these are one of the ports where the name Triport comes from) near the bottom of each earpiece. These seem to allow air to push out to create the powerful bass sound. If you cover these holes with your finger, the sound signature immediately changes and you hear far less thump in your sound. So whatever it is that Bose is doing with their Triport technology, it is clearly working. The effect was more pronounced than on its sister product — the Triport In Ears — where covering the sound holes did not signficantly reduce the bass response.

Physical Qualities

Outside of the sound, OE’s look very tasteful and classy. Today Skullcandies are all the rage and you still get some really retro-looking headphones in the vein of the Grado S60, but the OE’s have a very clean, minimalist appearance, with silver trimmings. It looks very good, and I think a lot of people wouldn’t mind being seen in public wearing them.

The design lets the earphones rest on your ears (what is known as supraaural) rather than around them — hence the name On Ears. They are an open set, meaning they are not meant to isolate your ears from outside noise. This also has the advantage of giving them an airy, roomy sound. However you will still hear some outside sound leakage, but the purpose of these cans is not to block out all sound — Bose has some really expensive headphones going by the Quiet Comfort monniker for that purpose.

Speaking of comfort, the OEs are perhaps the most comfortable supraaural headphones I have ever tried. The design is very unintrusive to your head and light on the ears. I will note though that the set I bought seems to clamp a little tighter on my ears than the pair I tried at various shops in malls. I am thinking I just need to loosen it a bit more by putting it around a basketball for a day or something.

*** Sound Test ***

Now, let’s talk more about the specifics of the sound and how they sound with different kinds of music. My taste in music gravitates towards smooth jazz, alternative, house, and various kinds of Japanese pop, but I will listen to pretty much anything that sounds “good” (wow nebulous term there). While I do like acoustic sounds, I am also fine with electronica. Strange dichotomy there, but what the hey. I think the Bose OE’s sounded fine with anything I threw at it, but its greatest strength is probably  acoustic music with strong bass (like lounge jazz with the nice thump of an acoustic double bass).

Comparative Set

To really get a good handle on this, I listened to a whole set of music and I will explain the sound more in detail for each piece. I will be comparing them to a set of Sennheisser HD 212 Pros. I realize the Sennheisers are about 1/3rd of the price, but they are the only comparable set in terms of size and type. I was thinking of comparing them to the Shure e2c’s, which is the most expensive set I have after this one, but those are in-ears and not really the same kind of earphone. (and besides I sold my e2c’s off to someone already so it’s impossible to do a side-by-side comparison)

The 212’s are a supraaural set designed for DJ use, and have a very bright, metallic sound to them. I find that they fall apart when playing tracks with lots of distorition, and work best to play “clean” sounds like Pop, Jazz and Acoustic. I find that strange for a DJ set that will probably work with a lot of electronica, but on the other hand the 212’s have a good bass presence — just nowhere near as much as the OE’s.

Methodology

I will put both cans through the paces of these tracks and will use the 212’s as a point of comparison for the OE’s. All tracks are played through Winamp on my PC using an Auzentech Prelude. I did not use an DSPs for Winamp, and I disabled the equalizer. They are encoded as bitrates from 224 to 320kbps using the Auzentech’s music encoding functions, and also have the Prelude’s Crystallizer function on to 80% to help add some range to the compressed MP3s. I disabled CMSS-3D, which may be a dubious decision as it is less natural and creates a much better soundstage than the original recording’s, but I am trying ot judge the headphone’s ability to create a soundstage rather than the soundcard’s, even if I listen with the function on (and most people use Surround effects on their amps too). Disabling the 3D effect is also closer to how it would sound on a portable, and I am sure many people intend to use the OE’s for their iPods and what not. I’ve had the 212s for about 5 years, and they are well-burned in. The Bose went through a 2-day burn in period, probably around 30 hours total.

Take on Me (a-Ha)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YJomTJboGk
I wanted to start off with an 80’s New Wave track. This song has a lot of synthesized sound, a fast beat and full male voice with a good high and low range and doing lots of falsettos while digging deep. The 212’s predictable gave a very crisp sound with all the electronic sounds, but I found that after a while the tinny sound of it grated on my ears about a minute into the song. The airy chorus sounds of the song sounded distorted and made me take the earphones off after the first chorus. It was that bad. Like I said, the 212’s fall apart when you have a lot of distorted electronic sound in the mix. The OE’s managed to provide a lot of energy compared to the 212’s by providing that thumping feeling. Yet it never lost the vocals even in the falsetto’s, and there are a lot of xylophone-like sounds travelling around from left to right that you can actually follow along the soundstage. The OE’s really sounded great with these.

All Along the Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Sn6AoQSWc
Now for some vintage rock from the late great Jimi Hendrix. I prefer the Hendrix version to the original Bob Dylan because it of the guitar riffs — this one has a lot of that raw sounding guitar riffs using phazers and all those cool, raunchy effects. With the 212’s, again, the sound was unbelievably bright. I lowered the volume to make it less harsh on the ears, but the annoying triangle metallic sounds still persistently got into my head. The guitar riffs came out really well as did Jimi Hendrix’s voice, and the drums were there in the back making a statement. Overall an okay sound. However when I went to the Bose, I then suddenly realized this track actually had a bass guitar in the back along with the drums, too. The bass guitar was barely even noticeable on the 212’s. But it did not overpower the vocals or the guitar rifs, but provided an additional depth to the song. The metallic triangle sounds used were also still there intact, but not on the forefront like they were with the 212’s. This song definitely sounded better on the OE’s.

Enter Sandman (Metallica)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQQzVYqf_d
Next, I wanted to really make the 212’s bleed with a track from Metallica. This song uses a lot of distorted guitars all the way as is the norm for Metallica, but unlike some trash metal bands (and even just alternative bands) out there Metallica has very clean sounding distortion going on. Yes, that sounds like a misnomer but whatever. The 212’s actually gave a very respectable performance, to my surprise. It was especially good at the initial guitar riff before the bass drums kick in, but even when the distorted guitars jumped in it gave a very good sound. Overall it sounded great on the 212’s, but I barely noticed the bass details of the song — that’s fine Metallica was never really about its bass. On the OE’s the entire song again became more full-bodied because of the additional bass presence. And again, the bass was there, you felt it, but it never drowned out the rest of the sound. This track so far came the closest to providing a comparable experience between the two cans, but the OE’s still sounded better when all was said and done. I like to point out that the OE’s did really well with this kind of distorted guitar sound — again these cans can handle any kind of music as far as I’m concerned.

The Gate of the Hell (JAM Project)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ8CISee7zw
JAM Project is a progressive rock band made of well-established artists in Japan. Don’t laugh, but they focus on making music for anime and video games. That said they are very good and their style of progressive rock reminds me a lot of Queen. This song, Gate of the Hell, is part of the Mazinkaizer sound track but it sounds a hell of a lot like Bohemian Rhapsody, with chorus voices, wild riffs and a melody that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and changes step every few seconds. The 212’s really struggled with this song; there was a lot of noise everywhere and the voice choruses all over weren’t helping. On the OE’s it was like a totally different experience; like night and day frankly. Aside from not being overwhelmed by all the noise in the song, I was able to make out more of the voice overs. The bass actually took a backseat on this particular song despite the OE’s bass-heavy signature; I think there was just too much sound in the recording. Despite that the different sounds – vocals (solos and choruses), electronic sounds, various distorted guitars, the drums, etc. they all were pretty individual and well-defined unlike with the 212’s where they all sounded like a big blob of noise. These Bose OE’s are excellent at imaging, make no mistake.

Alive (Pearl Jam)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPIwsAW2Q0w
Let’s move on to some Grunge from one of the biggest names in the genre. This one has that dirty guitar sound and lots of riffs, a strong bass presence, Eddie Vedder’s awesome vocals and a laidback drums that explode into action. I didn’t think it would be so bad after Enter Sandman but the 212’s just sounded like shit on this song. There was some great imaging on the two guitars used, the drums, and the bass as well as Eddie’s vocals, but it just sounded too “dirty” for a song that is supposed to sound dirty! They were really harsh on my ears. It sounded best in the bridge part after the 2nd chorus where the song mellows down a bit, but after that it dips into the ending jam and it becomes a total mess. On the other hand, the OE’s we got the same soundstage and imaging, AND once again, a more full-bodied experience. The “dirty” guitars sounded a lot cleaner and the chorus part “whooaa I’m still alive…” really felt like a change in the pace because the bass track changes deftly at this part, giving the song a different rhythm. It wasn’t as noticeable on the 212’s. Hitting the bridge part emphasized this even more, and the final jam at the end was not a mess but instead a more pleasurable experience. I do think that by the time I hit that part my ears were starting to get fatigued by all the sounds going on (It didn’t help that I listened to JAM project twice before this song).  I would conclude I suppose that Grunge is not the OE’s strong point.

Lion (Jinn)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxjkBYf5Hps
For my final alterantive/rock piece I chose Jinn. Jinn is a J-Rock band with a really standout bassist. His basslines are really strong, complex and detailed, and he always stands out in the songs — even more than the shrieking lead female vocalist.   This song will really give us an idea of how well the cans handle a good bassline. The 212’s did really well on this song, it didn’t sound bad at all. The bassline was driven pretty well, but was in the background. And therein lies the difference; on the OE’s the bass was the star, although the distorted guitar riffs were very clear on the edge of the sound, and the vocals straight in the middle. The bass melded into the sound from below and really made the sound come together. So while the 212’s did a decent job, the OE’s were far better on this track, hands down.

Amber (311)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk_WUs-zlNU
Now for something more rasta. Amber has a nice, laidback rasta beat to it in addition to some nice clear male vocals and drumwork. The 212’s were very good on this track, and I caught myself nodding my head back and forth to the beat. The 212’s bright sound signature actually complimented this song very well, adding a strong character to the drumwork and the rasta-style guitar riffs. That said, I much preferred how the OE’s delivered the sound, rasta is about beat and the OE’s delivered the bassline beat way better. And it’s not like the metallic quality on the high hats was lost. Another score for the OE’s, I think they handle this genre really, really well.

Burning Down the House (The Cardigans feat. Tom Jones)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8niqZPrRFUQ
Now for something different, an unusual sounding band with really smooth, sexy female vocals and the sex bomb of male vocalists, Tom Jones. The 212’s did well, the song wasn’t very noisy and the vocals for both Nina and Tom came out very well. The bright sound signature also gave the instrumentals a very strong quality. On the OE’s as usual gave a stronger impression with an emphasis on the low end. This actually made the soundstage feel wider and served to showcase both vocalist’s voices. It also sounded less fatiguing on the OE’s.

Love Potion (Aarron Ross Feat. Gia Mellish)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MUj_Iv095Y
Time to bring out some House! I know Tom Jones just burned it down but here’s another genre that really needs good bass response. I usually listen to this on my customized Z5500 setup for full effect, Hed Kandi stuff should really be on the beach house with a large sound system with a few sexy ladies around you to really appreciate.   This will really test a pair of cans on whether they can deliver it properly. This is the kind of music the 212’s was made to handle, and I think they did a competent job. I realize I said the 212’s fell apart when there’s a lots of electronica or distortion going around, but they were pretty good here and the highs were very distinct (again due to the 212’s sound signature) and the bassline could be heard — but not danced to. And that is the difference with the OEs — I actually got up and started dancing with those on! Which ended with the cord snapping off the OE’s but oh well I better get a longer cord to go with them next time, ~lol~  The OE’s officialy rock with House music.

Mass Destruction (Lotus Juice feat. Yumi Kawamura) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9E3VR8Fnj0
Here’s a videogame song. It’s dance music with some rap and female vocals, in the absence of some actual rap music (that I typically don’t like) this will be a decent substitute. The HD212’s sounded really dirty and subpar on this song with the guitar riffs, but did a good job with the vocals — not so much for the rap which was just okay, but Yumi Kawamura’s “Oooh Yeah! Baby Baby!” vocals were rendered excellent with some really nice imaging. The OE’s though really brought out the raunchy growling guitar riffs and brought way more life to the song. The rap was again fine, but I guess rap just isn’t my thing. Yumi’s vocals though were even better here in terms of the imaging. It sort of melded together on the 212’s but here the chorus vocals seemed a layer below the main vocals and it was a far better effect.

River Song (Bebel Gilberto)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKFhhqItsHM
Okay, time for some Bossa. Bebel Gilberto has this really smooth, sexy voice and Bossa has a smooth, loungy sound you’d associate with five star hotels.  The 212’s I guess are just no good with this genre. The sound is too “sharp” and gives an edge to what is supposed to be a really smooth, relaxing song. The OEs though were *really* good with this one. The beat, the vocals, the background instruments all were in the right place and gave this a really smooth, airy feeling.

Nao Vou Fugir (Ive Mendes)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GlLz-ueN3w
Ive Mendes is such a sensual and erotic singer, I mean just listening to her I could come, lol. This is one of her signature songs and it’s not as jazzy as bossa but it’s her own brand of latin music. Such a rare sound, but once again, the 212’s were too sharp and harsh for this song. They actually did well all things considered, but there was too heady a feeling as opposed to a smooth feeling, and it felt like the sound was constricted in a tight space. The OE’s as usual delivered a much more airy feeling, with a far wider stage and with marvelous lows that really capture the sensual feeling. Ive’s voice was also a lot fuller and you could sync with that really erotic way she breathes in before a passage.  I guess the OEs just do really well with lounge style music, and latin/Brazilian in general.

Tomorrow (Mikuni Shimokawa)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWoA9dvrlVY
Now for a huge change in pace. This track is a typical JPop song that is still listenable for the masses. The large number of ambient and background sounds you find in a JPop song in addition to the usual guitars and drums, melded with pleasing female vocals. The 212s frankly sounded horrible on these, like a distorted tin can, despite there not being much distorted sound in the song. The OE’s though did not really sound all that good either, it put bass in a song where I practically heard no bass with the 212’s, but all the weird sounds going around along with the drums and guitars did not really complement the vocals too well in this one. This might not be the best song to showcase either headset.

Bokura no Jikan (eufonius)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kab27pdBEtQ
Here’s an acoustic Jpop song that has a relaxed, jazzy feel. This one has a very nice acoustic double bass, among the best use of it outside of a real jazz lounge track. The 212s were really, really horrible on this one, unable to capture the essence of the bass. The solo in the middle of the song was totally fudged. The entire rendition also in general lacked warmth and space, with a very harsh edge to the pleasing female vocals. The OE’s on the other hand gave the vocals a very airy quality, as if floating on air on top of the very warm double bass notes and the elegant violins and acoustic guitar.

Rainbow (Round Table feat. Nino)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCsZ66mo64A
This is another acoustic style pop song that emphasizes acoustic guitar work. The 212’s managed to sound so-so, since the song has a very clean sound. However it sounded harsh at points when there was a high-pitched instrument playing or at points when the guitars hit notes, and the surround backup vocals were a mess. The OE’s sounded a lot more organic, although I think it overemphasized the ever-present bass a bit over the guitar work. At least there was none of the harshness, and the background vocals sounded suitably airy and atmospheric instead of grating on the ears. I got a better sound of the OE’s by moving the headset a bit forward, taming the bass and giving a better performance.

Taishou a (anNinna)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2LXnYCHDg4
I was going to put another jazz track up by Jill Decoy Association, but couldn’t find it on YouTube, so I settled for this one instead. This is a very smooth, sad song with excellent melancholy female vocals, a great double bass line, great synergy between all the instruments, and a wide, airy feeling. All I can say is, the 212’s really aren’t made to play songs like this. It sounded downright horrible, like listening to the entire thing inside a tomato can. A lot of detail on the lower end was lost. The OE’s though performed like a true champ. The airy vocals were right in your face, and you could make out the details of the double bass. The acoustic guitar also came out really well, as did the piano and strings and the high hats. This was a perfect rendition of the song, I think the OE’s really outdid themselves here.

In the end…

I was planning on adding a few more tracks to round out the genres like Amethyste by Nicolas Robin, an instrumental jazz piece, and a classical track just to see how well the cans do on that kind of music, but I’m lazy to bring out the Mozart CDs. I will leave it at that, 16 songs is a lot for one review anyway.

I’ll also note this: moving to my iPod Nano 2G (which frankly has so-so sound quality) and my Creative Muvo Nomad, which has much better sound quality but no EQ settings, I compared the sound output of Taishou A. Thise was the exact same mp3, but the quality was less especially in the lower end where the details seemed missing. I attribute this to the Auzentech’s crystallizer, I guess. The OE’s were powered well enough by both players, I was able to reach a comfortable listening level at a little less than half the volume slider on the Nano.

In summary, I would say the Bose OE Triports are well worth the money. I bought them for about $160US and they are unbelievable good, especially for the bass-head and people who like listening to lounge, jazz, and acoustic and other jazz-related genres like bossa, rasta/ska, and with House/dance music.  It is probably not the best choice for alternative, metal, rock and the typical JPop song, though it handily outperformed another $50ish competitor.  I will also say that I like these a lot more than my Shure e2c’s, and they have a very comparable sound signature to the VModa Vibes. The biggest drawback of these phones is their price, which is probably too steep for some people, and we will have the typical audiophile response that you can do much better than these cans at this pricepoint.

I won’t comment much on that since I don’t own any other cans at that pricepoint. I’ve heard and listened to a lot of cans at that price point but without owning them myself I can’t do a real side by side comparison. Maybe next month I’ll have a budget to buy the Audio Technica ATH-M50’s, which I really liked when I was auditioning phones prior to my purchase of the OE’s. These are well-regarded cans by audiophiles, and I loved their clean, treble-rich sound as well (without burn in). I want to really get them and put them side by side my Bose to see which set is truly better. That’ll have to wait until like next month, though.

Bottomline

Again I cannot stress enough how great these cans are. If you’re no audiophile, have around a $200 budget, and like rich, deeb bass and a warm sound, along with a very comfortable fit and do not need perfect sound isolation, then these are the cans for you.

Vmoda Vibe

I bought the Vmoda Vibe about a month ago because I needed a replacement for my Bose In Ear Triports. My Triport’s cabling had almost come undone. I originally had a Shure e2c, which I tried out because it was supposed to be the ultimate audiophile entrylevel in-ears, and true enough when I started out they sounded pretty cool.

Vmoda Vibe Midnight Blue

I really loved how the e2c’s isolated all noise, and the mids and highs were pretty clear. They didn’t have too much bass though compared to my older set, a Sennheiser HD 212 Pro. The 212’s were a great set compared to the pack in earphones I got from my Creative Muvo and iPod but were just too large to carry around. They also sounded pretty “dirty,” that’s all I can say. Nice bass but not too clear, everything sounded a little fuzzy.

But the e2c’s had a really annoying drawback: they were totally uncomfortable to wear on the ears, and the thick cord that you had to wrap around its mammoth bulletproof carry case made it bulge in your pocket like a boner. So I stopped using them for a long time and just used the default white packins of my iPod Nano. Lo and behold, later I dusted off my e2c’s and I found they sounded really bad! I don’t know but believe it or not, the cheap $10 Apple packins really did sound better than the e2c’s to my ears.

As an added insult, I bought these rubber tips from Axxo which you put on the Apple packins, and the resulting sound was *really* good. I don’t know why people bash the Apple pack in’s so much, they sound really good. The newer ones anyway that come with the iPod Nano 2G and up. (the older ones that came with the iPod Video and older though really suck).

Anyway, back to the Vmoda — well before that I found the e2c’s really sounded bad and all of a sudden I felt I just wasted about $100 US on them a year back. So I went off to TipidPC.com and found somebody to trade them for a set of Bose Triports. All I can say is this: I really LOVED the Triports, they sounded just right for me. People say they are bassy and boomy but I say bollocks, bass is awesome! And it’s not like you have to turn them all up and break your ear drums, at the right levels they sound really good.

As an added bonus they are by far the most comfortable earphones I have ever used, the silicon earbuds that don’t quite squeeze into your ear are really comfortable, and provided you use the right size they don’t fall off. They don’t isolate sound at all but that is a bonus in some situations — like when you are jogging. I would say the Triport In Ear’s are the ultimate jogging phones.

But anyway back to the VModa — since I got the Bose second hand they weren’t exactly in the best condition. A year later it seems the cable near the jack has started peeling, I think it’ll last another year or so if I baby it but it’s time I started looking for a replacement. I ended up getting the Vmoda Vibe.

The Vibe’s were very well-received, so I just took the plunge and bought them (for about $100 — same class as the e2c’s and the Triports). All I can say is, they are the best dang phones I have ever owned. They aren’t the best I’ve heard — my DJ friend has a pair of Technics which I steal from him every now and then and that really, really sounds awesome. I’ve also had the pleasure of playing with an Audio Technica M50 and that was very comparable to the Technics. And I’ve actually been shopping for a better full-sized headset and have been thinking of getting the Bose On Ear Triports (not to be confused with the In-Ear model) which I have to say *really* sound good, probably the best headset I have ever used.

But for now the Vibes are unbelievably good in all aspects. After a month I’ve given them sufficient time to burn in. At first they sounded a little flat and my girlfriend’s $15 SE Class A in-ears actually sounded better, but now I wouldn’t trade these for anything in this class.

The sound has nice bass, which I love. Some people say it is too bassy but again I say BOLLOCKS! They sound perfect, not too boomy but not too weak either. They don’t drone out vocals and higher sounds, I can hear high hats ring perfectly and there are lot of details in the sound.

Moreover, unlike the Bose in-ear’s this one has a very wide-sounding soundstage. I am not sure exactly why but in certain songs I can hear sound seem to come from behind me. It’s awesome when that happens (usually back-up vocals or surround instrument effects). With the Bose the soundstage was pretty compressed — one of its biggest weaknesses. This one though feels like there is a very wide stage around me, it’s incredible for such a small set. I usually expect to hear things like that from larger, full-sized cans.

And unlike the Shure e2c’s, the Vibes are very comfortable to wear for in-ears. They are not quite as comfortable as the Bose In Ear’s but they are quite nice to the ear and I can wear them for extended periods of time with no problems. You can even put your ear flat to your pillow and they do not cause much discomfort! So you can sleep with these if you need to.

Unlike the e2c’s though they do not cause a perfect seal — there is a little hole at the base of the tips which lets some sound bleed out: and some to bleed in. You can hear people talk to you with these on and playing tunes, unlike the e2c’s where the world suddenly blanks out once you start playing sound. This can be either a good or a bad thing depending on your needs or situation. You can for instance go biking or jogging with these and still hear incoming cars, but if you need to blank out the outside world completely they are not ideal. This is fine for me I do not need the isolation, and even if they do not perfectly drown out the world they still get rid of most sounds or blank them out to a whisper, so for instance if you are trying to sleep and your roommate snores loudly listening to these as you doze off will make for a pleasant experience.

They are also very small and compact, with an excellent carry case that slips into a pocket and you don’t even feel it’s there. The leatherette pouch has metal strips on the entrance instead of drawstrings, so you just pop it open to put the Vibes inside. Very nice touch. It also comes with a weird silicon “V-Wrap” which you can use to wrap the wire around to prevent tangling and shorten the wire to your preference. It works, though I don’t really like it too much.

Speaking of the wire, the wire is really divine. Instead of the usual plastic vinyle coating which inevitably becomes deformed from bending, winding and otherwise starts looking like a pig’s tail dangling from your ears (this has happened with my e2c’s, with the Triport’s, with my iPod packins, my Sennheiser MX550 and pretty much every other earphone I’ve used) this one is made of what seems to be some kind of cloth fiber similar to a shoe lace. It feels organic, it doesn’t mold to a certain shape, seems to keep clean and doesn’t pick up grime, and feels very sturdy. I love it! It looks cool too, which brings me to another cool thing about the Vibes:

They look AWESOME. Most earphones look rather dinky or dorky (the Triport In-Ears look weird and ugly, the Shure e2c’s were just UGH) but these are extremely stylish and are bound to turn quite a few heads. I got the midnight blue model and it looks very sleek.

Another nice thing about the Vibes is that they have a thin input jack which fits in the iPhone Classic’s annoying recessed jack. This was a huge deal breaker for me with the Triports but with the Vibes I can use my iPhone to listen to tunes when I feel the need to, instead of just relying on my Nano.

Again, the Vibes are excellent all around and the best earphones I have ever owned. I use them in the house and especially outside, but I intend to get the Bose On Ear Triports for use at home. That will happen a little later, since the On Ears cost about 9,000php or like $200US.

For now though the Vibe’s are one of my best purchases ever, unlike the overrated Shures. I spent about $100US on it but that was money well spent. I am completley happy with these.

The DiNovo Mini

Since I’ve had a PC setup as a home theatre for quite some time now, I’ve been looking to find an elegant and practical input method for watching videos and otherwise working with the PC from the comfort of my bed.

The DiNovo Mini came out as a standout option over my wireless keyboard and mouse which was simply too big and too heavy to use for this purpose, and a wireless gamepad was simply not elegant or powerful enough. Other options I was thinking about was using my PocketPC via WiFi to do the controlling but it was a very clunky option at best — connectivity was not always good and the control features were not well-refined. The DiNovo Mini on the other hand looked like it would fit the bill.

Now that I have a DiNovo Mini things have changed. It does what it is supposed to do really well, and I am pretty happy with it. There are lots of reviews out there talking about the merits of the Mini and I will agree with pretty much everything that is said when it comes to its features and your ability to control your HTPC.

Thumb Typing is excellent, I am used to Blackberrys, Treos and PocketPCs with QWERTY so that was not a problem at all, although the device is wider than any QWERTY pad I’ve used so your thumbs will need to do some reaching. The Touchpad is not as good as a Synaptics touchpad on any laptop you’ll find out there but it is adequate. The rest of the button layouts are relatively well-thought of and it also has a light sensor like the HTC Universal to control the backlight of the keys. One thing about the keyboard is that it doesn’t have a “sticky shift” option — meaning that you have to hold the Shift key when you want to capitalize something, unlike in most handhelds where pressing the Shift key once will enable the next keystroke to be in shifted mode — this is a pretty useful option for thumb boards where you do not have multiple digits to hold a shift key and press another key down — but the DiNovo manages by providing two shift keys on each side, so one thumb can hold the Shift while the other presses the key to be shifted.

However there are a few things I would like to caution about the DiNovo Mini. For a keyboard that costs some $150US the build quality is very cheap. It has an extremely plasticky feel that does not exude quality, but rather feels like it will break at any time. The keys have a springy tactile feel that reminds you of a cheap plastic toy rather than a $150 quality thumb board. It’s worse that I have a point of comparison for it — they DiNovo Mini greatly resembles HTC’s awesome PocketPC the “Universal” which has the same QWERTY keyboard. Whereas the HTC Universal had a splendid QWERTY keyboard that oozed quality with its solid. but soft and rubbery keys and soft but solid tactile feedback, the Mini has springy, almost quivering keys with a cheap plastic feel.

This is extremely disappointing, but then considering all the overpriced, low-quality Logitech peripherals I have gone through is really just par for the course for Logitech.

For shame Logitech, you’d think with all that overpricing and virtual monopoly of the highend keyboard/mouse market you could put in some real quality in all of your products. Out of the 5 Logitech Purchases I had in the past two years only one had good quality — the Logitech PC Cordless Rumblepad 2 — the others had varying degrees of quality like the MX3200 Cordless Keyboard and Mouse which had stiff keys that couldn’t be pressed in unison (space bar + 2 WSAD keys doesn’t work, I know I use that in games all the time) and a mouse whose mouse wheel is practically impossible to press. Or the MX700 Mouse whose battery dies out after a few months?

Logitech has really been dropping the ball on quality and the DiNovo Mini is simply reinforcing my opinion that Logitech charges a premium for its products but cost-cuts to hell behind the scenes.

It’s not just the key quality that is cheap on the DiNovo — the engineering of the plastic cover for instance is not exact, there is a wobble when you close the lid and it doesn’t close precisely. More evidence of cheap, shoddy worksmanship, so much for the vaunted Swiss-engineering.

All in all though it fits a niche in my control scheme that I really needed. It feels like an HTC Universal being used to control my PC, and I loved my HTC Universal so that is not a bad thing.

MSI Wind

Today I bought a black MSI Wind U100LX and promptly ditched the Linux installation in favor of an nLited Windows XP install. This brand new baby is bigger than I thought it would be, but it is still very small and lightweight. In fact, it is even lighter than the Asus EEE PC 701! That was extremely surprising. I think it is because the battery is only a 3-cell battery compared to the EEE’s 4-cell.
Regardless, the larger screen size is wonderful and by itself is almost worth the price of the admission. The other important thing is the 160GB Hard drive which will allow me to keep all the anime downloads in one place.

It’s almost perfect, but I noticed a few issues. Aside from the obvious fact that it is larger than the EEE 701, which is a huge sorepoint for me, there are some nagging issues I can’t help but wonder about.

First off is the apparently flimsy build quality. Unlike the EEE which I felt I could carry around, drop, abuse, and otherwise treat in a very rough manner, the Wind seems a lot flimsier in comparison. While it does look sleeker and far classier than the EEE 701 (or any of the EEEs except for the newest business class model that is yet to come out) I don’t feel like I can treat this unit roughy. I feel like I have to baby it. And cost is not the reason behind it; first off the screen constantly wobbles from its hinge. Unlike the EEE which was rock solid, I feel like the Wind’s lid is liable to be blown off at any moment. If you move the screen it bends a bit and you can see the LCD discoloring at the point of flexing. That can’t be good.

The other problem is the very annoying position of the Fn key. They put the Fn key where the Ctrl key is supposed to be, and I’ve failed quite a few cut and paste attempts as a result. While the keyboard is nice, big and roomy this is a definite no-no.

Related to user input, the Synaptics touchpad that came with the device is godawful. Unlike the one that came on the EEE which is a “touchpad” according to Window’s device manger, this one is a “pointing device” and for the life of me I cannot find a scroll pad option on it. Unlike the touchpad on the EEE which had scroll pad options, point regions, and all sorts of very convenient effects, the Wind’s touchpad is simply a two-button, nothing more, nothing less. While this isn’t all that inconvenient the lack of a “scroll wheel” makes it a lot less usable, like going back from a wheel mouse to a normal two-button mouse. It is a very glaring issue.

My final problem is with the Atom processor, which is a bit hyped it seems. I cannot seem to get it to work properly with CoreAVC to decode 720p h264 files properly. I guess I will simply need to work on this more but hopefully I can get it to work soon, this was a big selling point of the Atom for me. If not for this, I would have just gotten an EEE PC 900 which had the same small factor as the 701, a very nice Synaptics touchpad, a very good battery and the same big screen resolution as the Wind.
Ah well, I’ll play with my new toy but somehow I don’t feel as blown-away by the Wind as I was by the EEE 701.

iPhone 3G

I just sold my iPhone 2G and in one fell swoop picked up a new iPhone 3G Black 8GB. This phone is a lot lighter than the old one and fits the hand so much better. I love it! It was from Australia, but unfortunately it’s not openline.

I am going to QuickPwn it in a bit.

After that I’ll have to decide what to name him.

Farewell Sushi Mk. II, you were loved.