Doug Van Pelt

I SUCK

I am bad at keeping up with my blog lately, it seems. It's probably all Levi's fault. Or maybe I can blame it on a woman nick-named "Tornado." She's a cat killer, you know.

Anyway,
I'm reviewing these cool new headphones right now. I popped 'em in (after spending literally five to ten minutes trying to determine which one was "left" and which was "right") and connected them to my iPod playlist of "hits." I guess the New Amsterdams ("From California") and Nirvana are good bands to test out a pair of headphones. The first thing I notice about these headphones is how LOUD they are. The fine devices are made by the folks at ultimate ears. They're called SUPER.FI "universal fit earphones." They rock. With a long body with a bend for a "natural" fit (natural, that is, once you figure out which ear to put the custom earphone into). It allows for some really good and deep low end to make its way into your ears. I'm not sure how they do it (it's probably the gold plated input connector or the frequency response of 20-16,000 Hz), but you need not get anywhere near your iPod's high volume settings to blast your ears into submission. The highs are super clean.

I can sense the beefy and full low end, but I need to test drive another song to really find out. Something ambient, something low. hmmmm.... I guess the bass intro to "Come As You Are" is sufficient. Wow! The snap and crispness of the snare in this song are so bright and loud it's almost painful. Wow -- even Muse ("Starlight") and Mute Math ("Typical," "Chaos" and "Noticed") are almost too bright, too "treble-y." What's going on? Let me try Type O Negative... There we go ("Summer Breeze"). Oh yeah...!

I retro-fitted the earphones with one of five sets of Ear Tips. The "Disposable Foam Ear Tips" offer a really rich and deep bass tone. The foam quality allows it to be molded to your ear canal, forming a perfect seal. At high volumes, the bass is, like, thundering. I'm impressed.