Laurie Anderson on the Star Spangled Banner

Thank heavens for youtube.

The work of the artist is to make us see the familiar afresh - to defamiliarize and thus cause us to look anew at the thing conceptualized.

In the late 80's or early 90's (they blur), Laurie Anderson did a series of "public service announcements" from Women and Money to Jerry Rigging. One of these was about the Star Spangled Banner - the US of A's National Anthem. I had certainly never thought of the song this way - as she puts it - just a series of questions: heh, is that a fire? couldn't really say, it's early in the morning...

And that's it really: a nation's anthem is about someone noticing a place going to hell during a fire and a flag waving away. So important - no matter what. The brand label survives. X marks the spot. Let X, knock knock, equal X.

anyway, here it is:

Pro Tools LE mbox 2 mini: expensive dongle?

Recently, avid's digidesign group released Pro Tools LE MBox 2 mini: a wee (6" * 1.75 * 5 inch, 1.1 lb) usb 1.1 based audio only interface (no midi and again no firewire or "pro" version as there is with the regular Mbox 2's) that includes Pro Tools LE audio/midi recording and editing software that, at 300 USD, promises to put the Pro Tools experience into even more musician's hands. For those who already use existing protools systems, the Mini promises to be an expensive dongle that will finally enable access to Pro Tools LE software while working on the go. Whether it's a price current LE owners will be willing to swallow is another matter.

Pro Tools systems are the industry standard for recording. It is the Microsoft Office of the digital audio studio domain. The LE line of Pro Tools products has let home and indie studio musicians/engineers access the (near) same features as the Pro Tools HD systems found in many professional studios - at a fraction of their professional price. The advantage of using the LE software is that one can easily take audio files made at home into an HD studio for the full bore studio treatment. File exchange is also facilitated: just like word and power point files can be easily swapped. Read any of the discussions on product sites about software musicians or dj's use, and you'll see most of the time in the discussions on technology, pro tools is the final audio mix system of choice - Logic, Digital Performer or Live for sequencing, but ProTools for the final audio mix.

The Pro Tools LE systems come in a variety of configurations, from the $2500 digi002 8 channel audio/midi mixers/control surfaces to the variety of mobile MBox (usb) and MBox pro (firewire) systems, and now the $300 MBox 2 mini. With Avid's acquisition of M-Audio, Digidesign also recently released a special version of the software, M-powered Pro Tools, specially designed to work with certain M-Audio devices with audio/midi interfaces. So, for 279 on top of your instrument purchase you can use Pro Tools software with these interfaces.

The disappointing disadvantage to these systems is that use of the software requires that one of the specified interfaces be attached to the computer when using the software. Forget about whipping out your laptop to edit your work while you're on a train/plane somewhere: unless you have that hardware plugged in, the software won't start. And if you already have a protools system and then get an m-audio, m-powered aware device, can you use that m-audio device to boot up your protools LE software? No. You have to buy the m-powered pro tools version of le to use directly with those devices. Of course you can use those devices with pro tools - when your pro tools hardware is attached.

Think of the hardware interfaces as giant iLoks, or dongles that won't let you access the software without some hardware authorization device attached. At least, i'm guessing this is digidesign's rationale for not allowing paid and licensed users to access the software without the hardware attached. Hence begins the rant.

Technorati Tags: audio, pro tools, technology

Audio is one of the last holdouts for arcane protection mechanisms. While many companies like Ableton and Native Instruments have moved to online registration systems for their software, there are still several key Old School manufacturers that rely on some form of crippling physical authentication. While some companies (apple with Logic Pro is an example) use their own proprietary format USB dongles, ILok's are the major dongle of choice for many in the audio world - and they have a lovely insurance policy if something happens to your iLok - you can pay $30 a year for "zero downtime" to get *temporary* licenses back should your lok be lost or stolen, and then one gets the permanent licenses from the software vendor - somehow - but that only works if the company using the iLok system agrees to that replacement policy.

One of the biggest audio effects makers, WAVES, does not support ANY recovery of license authorizations if your iLok is lost or stolen. Instead, they say "Waves does not offer replacement keys for lost or stolen iLok keys or authorizations. We suggest insuring your iLok key to cover the possibility of such misfortune happening." Does that mean they expect license holders to have to repurchase the software? YES! that's what the insurance is for, stupid: buy new software. This i fail to understand - what i fail to understand is WHY NOT just work like a credit card when it's reported lost or stolen: with a credit card, as soon as you report it lost or stolen, the issuer kills the numbers and issues new ones on new cards. Surely the same could happen with these plugins? Authorization is validated at each use on any machine: if the numbers have been cancelled, the dongle no longer functions.

Plainly there's a business model that says NOT supporting something this straightforward with zeros and ones is in the company's interest, and since Waves has the lion's share of the effects market in big production work, what motivation is there to change? As many many posters on many audio forums note, all waves plugins have been hacked and work flawlessly on the PC (too bad for mac users!) so once again, the only group this copy protection strategy hurts are legitimate users.

But i digress. This is about Pro Tools. As for Pro Tools, their hardware acts like such an authorization dongle, and is equally if not more exasperatingly irritating than a dongle because usually their physical dongle hardware has some heft to it. The MBox 2 Mini is small, but it's not tiny. On the plus side, it has a kensignton lock port on it (try that with an iLok! ha!). And it does offer what's reputed to be a good headphone jack which is nice for editing on the go. So a dongle with some features that may actually be useful when NOT RECORDING just editing.

Don't get me wrong: for someone looking for a decent audio interface that will let them into a Pro Tools space, this could be just great. For those who want midi and more than two tracks on a portalbe interface, there's other MBox's. For those already there with pro Tools who have been wanting a way to edit their sessions on the go, the MBox 2 Mini may just be the dongle to set one free - relatively speaking.

It will be interesting to see how many people who already have digi002's for instance add the Mbox 2 Mini to their gear finally just to get on the go with their session editing - of course, carrying their usb hub, too, so that they can plug in all those platform specific dongles.

Audiophile by Headphone: nice ways to listen to music in small spaces

When working in a lab or open office environment one gets used to the idea of listening to music with headphones. Anyone walking around with an ipod or other portable audio player also knows the charms of auditioning music in our own little worlds. But there's something else that can happen with headphones, especially if one enjoys music: one can get closer to an audiophile experience.

By audiophile experience i mean the audio experience one has when listening to awesome loudspeakers powered by awesomely clear amps in a space that can show them off (a colleague of mine in Music said that one of the best investments people could make in their stereo system is double glazing).

No but really, what *is* an audiophile experience? It's hard to describe unless you've experienced it. Or actually lots of people spend lots of cycles describing audiophile experiences (it is an industry afterall), but words like soundstage, air, black backgrounds, noise floor, etc etc mean little without some audio point of reference for them.

I had what i would call my first near-audiophile experience a few months back. I went into my favorite audio shop, Phase3 HiFi where i'd been getting stuff like rca connectors and bits and pieces, talked with Sam Lowe, a super friendly and knowledgeable sales person who i've watched give equivalent time and help to somebody asking about a £3 cable as to someone about to drop £3.5k on a cd player.
And that's part of what makes a store like Phase3 worth one's custom: every customer is important; the atmosphere is friendly, knowledgeable and not pretentious. And most especially folks are both keen about what they do as well as helpful. They convey a sense of passion, without ever feeling like you've walked into a scene from High Fidelity where you're made to feel like an idiot becuase (a) you don't know the difference between tubes and solid state or (b) you're not A Rich Audiophile Geek. An example of this kind of passion and easygoingness lead to this story:

I asked Sam if i could have a listen to the components he'd been saying were just oh so fantastic. So that's what we did. We went to their listening room (which looks like a normal living room - very sensible) and Sam sets up the £3K (in GBPs) preamp and £4.5k amp ("This is the set up the Royal Opera House uses") and that £3.5k cd player and the £3k speakers AND the £300 worth of cables to connect the amp, pre and cd player, and the £1000 worth of speaker cable.. (at one point Sam swapped out the £170 speaker cable he'd used for this £1000 Chord Signature UK cable. Don't let anyone tell you wire is wire: another myth shattered: there is a difference. and it's not subtle. Noise i didn't notice before was just gone. The effect that let the music stand out against a "black" background was jaw dropping in contrast. The effect of this absence was stunning).

When everything was set up just so, i was asked if i wanted a coffee while invited to sit on the couch and listen . We'd been benchmarking everything against the eric clapton's live and unplugged cd they had which was a revelation in itself. With this, Sam swapped around a variety of types of speakers and amps, too, just to show what effect each part had on the sound. And then he made one small adjustment (swapped one preamp for another) and my god (really) it was a religious experience. It was just so locked in, the combination. Then, going to another level, i popped in one of my fave instrumental tracks, and ok, i wept. It was piercing, the experience.

Now, i'm a musician and a music lover, and once upon a time i used to both gig live events and record music in actual real studios. I thought i knew what recorded music on a "good" system sounds like. I was SO WRONG. I had no idea that this sound experience of getting this close to (recorded) music was possible. You may be in the same position: you're heard the term audiophile, may have an idea that that means people with more money than sense, but perhaps you've not HEARD what a truly high end system can do to those bits on a cd (or to waves from vinyl for that matter). If you care about music at all, i am sure you will not walk away unchanged from the experience. It's an experience i'd pay for: to be able to use that room, that set up, say for an afternoon, just to listen to music like that.

Rent the audiophile experience rather than purchase it. Why not? Especially since not a lot of people i know are at a place either where they can or would think of heading into that heady space of forking out 7-10k for the "entry level" system above just to have that rush of an audio experience in their homes. They have kids to put through college; car payments, mortgages, student loans to pay off. And, just in passing, yes, £7-10k, the cost of a small automobile, is entry level. What would be "high end"? Consider something like the 75kUS/pair for british made Chord Electronics monoblock power amps and you go from price of car to substantial down payment on a house.

There is another way to get close to that heady audio experience: try headphones. Wiith a little help from some good headphone gear, which is about a tenth the cost for an equivalent speaker-based experience it's possible to get that kind of hi end audio experience. It's also potentially easier to check out this version of audiophile nirvana than requesting some private time in the room upstairs. Indeed, if you have a portable digital music player, there are some free ways to improve what you're hearing right now, too.

The following describes some approaches to audiophile headphone happiness - a word though, before continuing. Some engineers accuse "audiophiles" of being people who just get intrigued by the gear, not the music. That may be for true for some folks - like sports fans who care perhaps more about the player stats than about the joy of the game (and so what if they do!) What follows is not about gear intrigue: it's about getting closer to that ecstatic experience, the joy of hearing music. The french have a word for such folks - it's mélomanes: music lovers (thanks to Sam Tellig's Stereophile July 06 review of Quads for this term). The following story of headphones is offered up for les mélomanes.

Headphones can offer a potential audio experience that is earth shakingly good, and possibly better than what many of us would be able to or want to invest to replicate in a freestanding loudspeaker system - especially if your accommodation won't let you let those speakers rip. There are several stages to this: data source, player source, amplification source, digital to analog conversion, and of course, headphones.

Improvement One is Free. The Data Source.
Most folks listen to data now either off a cd or off an mp3 file. Bit rate can and does make a difference, and you don't have to have the golden ears of a 22year old (you're golden ears are over the hill after 25) to appreciate the differences. There are encodings like FLAC or Apple Lossless that really do replicate what's on the cd, but at half or less than the size of the original recording. Try playing back a lossless file against a 128bit mpg out loud over typical external computer speakers and you'll hear a difference on these very not audiophile components. So that's a for-free audio improvement - or largely for free - larger files take up more space, but that space becomes less of an issue as larger and larger drives become common - why not try Apple Lossless or FLAC with some of your fave CD's and see what you think.

Alternately, there is a school of thought that says 128 AAC Variable Bit Rate (aac, not mp3 and VBR on) on itunes, combined with great headphones (discussed below) yields results that are indistinguishable from CD's - and that's the opinion of a recording engineer - who also councils to be SURE to turn on ERROR CORRECTION in the prefs/advanced/importing if you rip your cd's with iTunes. Truly, it's great to have smaller file sizes for one's ipod - smaller file sizes means less harddrive spin up to access all the data and therefore better battery performance, but try it yourself: put a 128 AAC VBR, error corrected file you know really well next to an Apple Lossless or FLAC encoding or your system of choice and see what works for you.

An advantage of Apple Lossless is that you have all the data and can later encode down from there to 128 or whatever AAC you want at some future point - that's thinking archivally.

Improvement Two - Headphones.

The next part of the experience of course is a good set of headphones. What are good headphones? That question is the subject of endless discussion at head-fi Let's just say that Sony rarely gets mentioned, but German companies are very well represented (Beyer Dynamics, AKG, Sennheiser, Ultrasone...), with each flavour of headphone presentation having their partisans. Discussions range around qualities like sibilance, sound stage, color, neutrality, micro and macro dynamics, harmonics - all to do with how much of the recorded experience your headphones replicate and how.

You can find many comparative reviews of various "cans" online. One exemple is the sennheiser HD 650 which does very well in

non-comparitive reviews likethis by Wes Philips of Stereophile, or this interesting one on CameraHobby, but throw them in with others, and the flavours in the review space show up. A great source for such reviews that's free is Stereophile , but again a keyword search on your fave search engine for "review headphone x" will pull up a plethora of information.

>Will that be Closed, Open or In Your Ear?
There is also the issue of whether you want in ear phones or closed back or semi closed back or open. There are excellent versions of each, and reasons for choosing one form or another. Closed cell headphones like the Ultrasone Pro 750 review pdf ) for instance are not by default better than in-ear (canal) phones like the very decent Etymotic 6i , or open phones like the Sennheiser HD580 . Hi Impedance headphones like AKGs (600 Ohms) are not always better than low impedance phones (Ultrasones at 75 Ohms). They do have different qualities tho. What to do? try great versions of each kind. Understand the pros and cons of any form and make your decision.

The point is, good headphones (usually in the 75£ plus zone, tho price is not always indicative) will let you hear MORE of the audio signal coming from your system.

Headroom has a list of their 10 top fave headphones of various stripes. I don't agree with all their findings, but it's a great way to get a sense of the ranges of types. With these definitions in hand, why not hit an audio shop and head for the pricier models (just as a first pass indicator) and experience the difference between say the Apple default ear buds, and some really good cans - just so you can gage the degree of difference - and if that difference is meaningful to you.

Improvement Three: Plugging them In - to what?

When you try different kinds of headphones, make sure you have an appropriate source driving them: an ipod on its own will not show off a 300ohm headphone like Senheisser HD600's - it just doesn't have the power to drive these things, as explained very well at Dan's Data. A 600ohm AKG will struggle with the ipod cranked to full. An ipod will be adequate for canal phones: they're low impedance devices. A good audio shop will make sure you're hooked up to an appropriate source to drive the phones you try. But don't think the fact that an ipod can't easily drive hi impedance phones means you can't use them with your ipods - we'll come back to that in just a moment. in the meantime...

Let's assume you've picked something you enjoy in the headphone space. Let's also assume you have an ok stereo - or at least an ok cd player (one that has a digital out of some kind will come in handy later in this discussion) but it doesn't have a headphone jack (most stereo components increasingly do NOT come with headphone out jacks) or you do want to use those high impedance phones with your ipod or your computer. What to do?

Enter the headphone amp.
A headphone amp is a dedicated box (read: with its own power supply) that amplifies the music signal from whatever source, and sends it directly to its headphone jack. There are many kinds of headphone amps: some have tubes in them; some are

solid state, like UK's Musical Fidelity X-Can-v3 (fantastic review by Edwin Leong). Some are hybrids of solid state and tubes.

Some amps are built for living within a stereo system, like those just listed, but there's a whole breed of portable headphone amps, too, built to go with portable players. Some of them are designed to reuse candy/coughdrop tins as the casing! As Dan's Data says, every geek needs a tin with a light on it.

One of my faves in this space is made by Robert Gehrke in Germany, taking up the Amp in A Tin concept, but taking the circuit design further, cleaner ( see description ). So far Gehrke has been selling these fine designs on EBay for both US and UK/EU customers in your choice of penguin tin design (he also sells the caffeinated mints that come in the tins, too, at penguinenergy ). As said, the design fundamentally lets you drive higher impedance headphones on an ipod (or from a laptop). They can also have some nice effects for even very low impedance cans sold specifically for ipods and similar devices. They can help open up the bass, eliminate audio clipping down there, especially on less well encoded tracks. Mainly, you notice that you can drive the headphones louder while maintaining very good clarity, without the amp coloring what you're hearing.

Depending when you find this page, he may not have many on offer, since he's hard at work on a Next Level design that will be similar to the

Total BitHead amp , with USB in, excellent DAC (see below), crossfeed, and digital optical out (very hard to get in the UK/EU). Can hardly wait. But i'm getting ahead of myself. And just to mention one more portable (tho slightly larger) amp that has lead to incensed debate among those who care is the Ray Samuels Emmerline SR-71 ( 6moons review ; stereophile review ).

The main thing about a headphone amp, whether a stereo/stationary one, or a portable, is what it does for listening via headphones. Using a headphone amp means that a dedicated amplifier is handling the volume of the signal, and can, especially in the ipod case, do so more efficiently than the ipod - can drive more demanding loads than phones designed for portable players. easier drive is smoother sound. Now a lot of audio geeks can tell you why this is the case, suffice it to say, it really is.

You may wonder about sound. A good headphone amp will help the audio "breath" so that your high quality headphones can get all those nuances out of the audio that's in that stream but which a less effective amp mayn't be able to deliver. Again, this is something to try out at your favorite audio shop - maybe when you try out the headphones.

Bottom line: with excellent headphones and a good source to drive them, along with well-encoded tracks, you are now in a position to experience that audiophile's experience of "wow, i heard *new* things in that recording i thought i knew - that's stuff i've never heard before; it sounded like they were playing with new instruments, in a better room, right beside me. "

And you could easily stop there. But in case you were wondering if that's it, it's not. You can also do things to squeeze those 0's and 1's better so that you get even better sound. Enter the role of the DAC.

Making it Better - External DAC for the computer or home stereo (or yes, your ipod, too).dac

So you've got a good audio source, you have found the headphones you enjoy, you've found some way to plug them in, and now you'd like to go to the next level into your ears. We now circle back towards the data source. If it's digital, the DAC or digital audio convertor of either your computer or your cd player is the thing that turns the zeros and ones into audio signal. The circuits used to do that conversion do make a difference to the sound you hear. If you want to check this out, head to your favorite audio shop and ask them to set up an ok (100-200£) cd player, and have a listen on their sweet stereo system. Then ask them to hook up a dedicated DAC to their system using a good coax cable between the cd and the DAC. The Musical Fidelity X-DAC v3 is one well-regarded example of such a beast. On the somewhat portable side, there's the mainly USA-only Headroom Micro DAC . On the USB silly money side, there's The Brick . There's also chord electronics DAC 64 (review). Now listen to that set up. Take in your headphones and listen to that cd player with and without the external DAC. See what you think. Take in your own cd player for the comparison - that will show you, too, how to get better value out of your current cd player, using it as a transport only. Hell, take in your computer or laptop if it has an optical out, and do this comparison!

Why should you care about an external DAC? your CD player has a DAC as does your computer anyway! Yes it does, but as with anything, there's more than one way to skin a dac. Different quality parts make a difference. One issue addressed in translating zeros and ones into analog audio signal is "jitter" ( see this 1990 article for a clear discussion of info on a cd, how it's pulled off, and the jitter effect on the waveforms that make sound ; or here's a less intrigued discussion of what happens inside a cd player to create jitter ) - jitter is about timing of the read of the signal on a disc. If the timing is a wee bit out for whatever reason, it effects the sound. Timing of what? when a sample of the music represented by those zeros and ones gets played. Imagine a fence with pickets. The pickets get nailed against a fence rail at exactly the same distance apart. Now imagine someone marked the rail where each picket is supposed to go, and occaisionally gets bumped when measuring so the pencil mark gets pushed ahead. The spacing of the pickets is no longer regular. Rather than being regularly spaced, some are further apart; some a bunched up. The visual effect is that the pattern of the pickets gets changed. That's what can happen with digital audio: samples of sound are supposed to be exactly and regularly spaced. a clock is used to synch the samples up so that they'll be regularly spaced, like the pickets. Various things can happen, however, that the clock gets slightly out of synch (and there's not just one clock involved). The result on the wave pattern of the music is like the picket fence: the pattern changes, and consequently so does the sound or fidelity of the music.

Most systems have robust measures in place to address jitter and keep timing errors to a minimum (some are better than others). So, after timing, the next part of the process is translating the zero's and one's into electrical pulses to create the sound. There are different qualities of digital audio converters that do different things to make the 16bit audio of a cd sound richer, fuller. Remember that digital audio is composed by taking samples of the frequencies in an audio stream - it's not continuous like analog recordings. So, even though it is taking samples very rapidly within very short periods, there are still gaps between those samples. The size of the sample also effects how much information it can hold about that sample. The CD is 16 bit. Interestingly, most high level recording systems record in 20 or 24 bit, and audio is downsampled to fit the CD format.

Just to put 16 vs 24 bit audio in perspective, on a computer screen, once upon a time they were only black and white (or orange and black, or black and green...) That was what two bit color could do. Early color monitors were 8bit, giving 256 (2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2) colors. 16bit color came next, giving thousands of colors. The difference between 8 bit and 16 bit color can be seen when looking at color gradients (one color fading into another): the more bits, the smoother, and less noticeable the transitions from one color to another. Now, 24bit color (millions of colors) is common. The transitions are even more seamless. Same in audio: the higher the sample depth, the richer the information about the audio that can be stored in that sample. So, some of the newest DACs take that 16bit audio from a CD and up-sample it to 24bit sample depth and 192 khz samples a second - calculating/simulating richer information both in the sample and filling in the holes between the samples. Indeed, upsampling can help address jitter errors introduced by the sampling process itself.

It wouldn't be fair to say that there isn't debate in the engineering vs audio community about the role of such technologies , whether up sampling or oversampling in dealing with audio signals. But no matter what the magic is in the box, the only thing that matters is whether or not you hear a richer audio presence: does it sound like the musicians you love are playing better? suddenly have even nicer instruments? If you can't hear a difference, there isn't much point. I tried a DAC recently that didn't seem to sound any better hooked into the CD player than without it. I was using the CD players optical out. Someone suggested i try the coax out from the cd. WOW! that made a difference. The optical out (toslink) on the player was shite. Glad there was the coax. Suddenly a cheap-ish cd player was competing with players hundreds of pounds more expensive than it.

DACs aren't just for CD players - they can be applied to any digital audio source that has a digital output (toslink or coax). If you have iTunes coming out of a mac with a digital audio out (new macs, including the laptops, do; g5's also have optical out), you can feed that optical out right into something like the X-DAC. Indeed, because of the way the x-dac works, you can hook up a toslink from your computer (monster makes the appropriate cable as part of the airport express cable pack) into the optical port on the x-dac, and have a coax connection going from the cd to the dac as well. The box detects which machine is on and locks onto that source. Magic. But again, hear it for yourself (or read the pdfs of copious reviews but much better to hear it).

Review: putting it all together.
Audio recordings played through really good stereo equipment does make a difference to the audio experience. It improves the audio experience on so many levels - whether it's the clarity of bass as it becomes distinct notes rather than a low thump, or the real silence of the spaces between notes, or the presence of the scratching of bow against string.

Hi Fi audio experience is possible in the headphone space at a fraction of the cost it would take to create a similar stereo system. There are four parts to consider, particularly for the ipod/computer based source to move closer to music nirvana.

And yes sure you don't NEED any of this to be moved by music (just like a photographer doesn't need the most expensive digital camera on the planet to take great pictures) . Some of my best memories of music have been of cheap nearly worn cassettes played during long roadtrips on gnarly car stereos with one speaker bust, BUT it can be emotionally very satisfying as well, moving even, to really hear something the way some better gear can bring out that experience.

Indeed, being able to hear a recording on good gear can make you appreciate stuff you may otherwise have brushed aside. This has certainly been the case for me with brahms string sextets . I'd passed it over. even said "yuck" and then i accidently heard it with a headphone amp plugged into the cd player and it was a revelation. It's since become a favorite recording.

So, yes, two main things, then two bonus bits:
(1) decently encoded data - whether AAC 128 Variable Bit Rate, or, my preference, Apple Lossless
(2) great headphones - closed, open, canal; high or low impedance
(3) a good source to drive and open up whatever cans you're using - headphone amp!
(4) and finally, if you're getting really into this, a dedicated DAC to squeeze the most from your digital source.

Lest you think this is the end, it's not: there's external power supplies to drive the devices better; there's the quality of the cables connecting the bits (don't let an engineer tell you cable is cable: it's not - you can hear the difference. It doesn't mean the most expensive stuff is the best, but you can hear the differences between cables - try a blindfold test with different ones. For example, with an x-can v3 hooked up directly to your fave store's cd player, and your headphones on, ask to hook up that cd player to an x-dac using, for instance, UK made

Chord Electronic 's CoDac cable then try the same set up with their prodac cable - just don't let them tell you which is which, and see what you think. And that's not all: there are a myriad of aftermarket headphone cable upgrades that tune the sound of the headphones themselves for AKG and Sennheissers - see groups like Cardas or Stefan Audio Art for examples).

But before getting super intrigued about the path towards perpetual upgrades, the simple truth is, a really good pair of headphones can go a long way to openning up music in ways that you may not have experienced before, and in a way that only could be approximated for 10x's the cash to set up an equivalent speaker-based system.

Headphones to try for starters?
- Sennheiser HD 600's or 650's - open cans
- Beyer Dynamics 770's - closed cans
- Etymotics Research 4s - canal phones

There are all sorts of others in here - AKG, Grados, Ultrasone and more

The thing is, this is also a relatively cheap proposition to test: first, improve the encodings for your own current portable digital music set up; next, take a few cd's to a good local audio shop (someplace not pretentious, but knowledgeable, helpful - you'll get the vibe as soon as you go through the door) and give it a whirl. If nothing else, you'll have a grand audio experience, so not a waste of time. If music is important to you, you'll be glad you tried - it may be a revelation.

Many thanks to Sam Lowe of the most excellent

Phase3hifi for his time in walking through the differences between cables, dacs, headphone amps and other components, and letting me experiment with different combinations.

Etymotic Research ER-6i in ear canal phones review: super sound to enhance your ipod

Two things can immediately improve the sounds coming from your ipod:

• - higher bit rates for the mp3's or aac's (ripping at 160 rather than 128 AAC for example)
• - better head phones.

Indeed the better the headphones that you have, the more you'll hear the artefacts of lower bit rate encodings. So, suppose you have some nicely encoded, or indeed entirely lossless tracks on your ipod (try putting your fave album or set of tracks on your ipod imported direct from the CD rather than encoded. Play them up against encoded mp3's or aac's and see what you hear) and you'd like to hear as much of what's there as possible: what headphone style do you choose?

You can choose traditional cans (regular over the ear headphones) - Aside: Next time you're thinking about sony or seinheisser, give Ultrasone HIFI or DJ phones a try - hit "test reports" to read reviews - they're designed to preserve your hearing, too). These types of headphones are dandy for certain kinds of situations - long listening sessions; editing - but for being on the go, they're bulky to say the least, and not great if you want to fall asleep with your tunes.

Another style is the popular earbud phone that comes with most digital audio players like ipods. These sit levered in the ear. In ear phones, like apple's in ear ipod headphones, point more directly into the ear canal, and thus cut out more of the noise from the outside, improving perceptions of things like bass in particular.

Etymotic ER-6i

The next level up (or in) is full into-the-ear-canal phones. When you see musicians on stage at live events and see the lines leading up around their ears, you're seeing custom made in-ear monitors (iem's) where the earpieces fit into the ear canals . The custom fit isolates external sounds and directs sound from the monitors into the ears.

And this is how good headphones can save your hearing: by having the 'phones cut off outside noise by over 20db, you can turn the volume DOWN on the listening device. Add to the isolation effect great transducers to translate the impulses coming from the source (like an ipod) into great sound, and you have a super combination.

The etymotic 6i's, as reviewed by the formerly named "ipod lounge" represent an affordable combination (approx 140 USD/75GBP) of great (hearing-saving) isolation and super sound, designed specifically with digital audio players like ipods in mind. What does that mean?

Etymotics makes a number of great in-ear sound-isolating phones: the 4 as flagship, the 6 as more affordable but still cool cousin and the 6i for ipods. The main thing about the 6i over the 6 is that it provides some much appreciated bass boost, as shown in the chart comparing the 6 and the 6i. This boost is subtle - you won't experience it as the bass pumped up, but as an overall richer sound, where you can better pick out the distinct bass and drums textures from a track.

What sets these headphones apart from other "in ear" phones, however, is the kind of audio detail available across the spectrum, not just the bass. You may hear instruments and touches that you hadn't heard before. In vocals, i've found that i'm hearing much more of the expression of a phrase or a note than with standard earbud or apple's in ear phones or sony's in ear phones (any model) or many traditional cans.

Moving in the world with 6i's on: Isolation of in-ear phones like these means that you do not hear things outside yourself - if you're running or just walking down the street, you may want to think about not putting these in so they're fully seated - that will let you use these more like ear buds where you can still hear the traffic.

Getting used to Canal Phones. Some people do not like the idea of sticking something deep into their ears. If you're one of these folks, these headphones mayn't be for you. One way to check your tolerance is to try out a set of disposable ear plugs: how do you feel about putting these into your ears? If you're ok with that, you can be ok with the ety 6i's

The 6i's come with one set of flanged ear pieces and one set of "memory foam" ear pieces (same stuff used for ear plugs). Each fit slightly differently. Other sizes of foam or flanges are available and etymotic will send you a sample pair different size if you think you need it. You can then get sets of the sizes you want. The degree of isolation is also different: 22db with the flanges; up to 30db with the memory foam. I've found i like the feel of the flange better than the foam, and for the environments i work in, including planes, the 22db is more than adequate.

Fit is critical to the sound experience of these headphones. Some people have said they've made their own modification to the 6i's flanged ear pieces cutting off the top flange so the larger two are left (scroll down this review on ilounge to see comments by people of their pre and post mod experience of the phones - all post mods are "wow these ARE awesome." - perception of the bass is particularly noted.)

Isolation vs Noise Canceling/Noise Reduction. Another attribute of the 6i's or indeed any good isolating phone is that it is better at reducing plane/train noise than "noise cancelation" headphones like the popular bose model - which also require batteries.

Now, a lot of people are happy with their £275 Quiet Comfort bose phones even though their web site does not say how many db's of sound are cancelled, whereas Sony's 99USD fontopia earbud noise cancelling headphones make clear they offer only 10dbs (70% of noise); etymotic's foam ear plugs are 30dbs; their 6i flanges are 22db.

For £80, with etymotic ER-6i's, you'll get both a better sound floor and better sound isolation in a lighter package than either Sony or Bose and one that doesn't require batteries. If you don't believe that, try this simple test: go somewhere where you can try a pair of the bose quiet comforts. Try them on, turned on. Then, remove headphones and stick in a pair of memory foam disposable type ear plugs (you don't squish in these: you roll them first to kinda compress them, then insert into the ear and hold for 5 secs: they expand to fit the ear canal shape). Which produces better noise reduction? If it's the ear plugs, imagine great sound coming through those plugs...

Aside: If you want to spend £275 on in-ear/isolation headphones, though, you can, and you can do much better in terms of both sound and isolation with that cash. See the Next Level section further down for how-to's. For about half that price, you can get some awesome professional level audio headsets, too!

Any Negatives? Hate the case. Ok, hate is a strong negative, but really. Etymotics provides a wee neoprene pouch for the phones with a mesh divider. This means stuffing the cables and earpieces into the thing. It's a mess and timely. ( See update bottom: the case has been changed and is a much better zip case)

An alternative device for storing 6i's is the earPod - a generic earphone case. Not quite as cools as sony's winding cases that come with their own headphones, but more durable, and will definitely fit the etymotic 6is as shown in this review at ipoditude.

Overall. The 6i's are a very good set of headphones. Whether you're listening to classical or house, the degree of detail in sound is impressive. The better the encoding the better the sound, of course, but even with lower bitrate encodings, these phones improve the experience.

The isolation is a boon for being able to turn the sound down and still hear an impressive and enjoyable level of detail. The isolation is also great for cutting out travel noise of the train/plane.

They take a bit to get used to in terms of learning how to put them in and get them out; and as other reviewers have noted, the difference between great and crap sound experience is all in the fit. Taking the time to get that fit right, though, pays off.

If you are looking for
- an improvement in audio experience on your ipod
- an improvement in your travel-with-audio commute experience
- a way to ensure the ongoing protection of your hearing

then these phones are a great option.

The Next Level: "Pro" IEMs

At the start of this article, i claimed these 6i's are an "affordable" package worth the price. Well, at around 150USD, "affordable" may be eye popping for folks used to thinking in terms of 20 bucks for earbuds. But that price is only the beginning.

• Etymotics flag ship single driver EP-4's are $330 (all prices here USD)
• Shure's top end "in ear monitors" dual driver EC5's are $499

• - Sensaphonics Prosonic 2x-s's used from Dave Matthews to Black Sabbath to coldplay are $750 (fitting not included)
• if you're in the UK , try ACS for £499 which includes fitting and fantastic after sales support
• - Ultimate Ears UE-10Pro's are 900 ( £749 from UK distributor + £50 for fitting ).

• Etymotic has dropped the price of 6i's by half: they're now available for 75 USD. They've also improved the case so that it is a top zip closure - which is much much better.(see image)
• Their after sales customer support is second to none.