ATH-ES7 All Over Again

So after about a year plus of owning this headphone, I have sort of banished it to the side of the my table where it did not see the sun for months. In part because I had some scratches (heart pain). Since the very sleek and fashionable mirror cups are prone to smudges and scratches, it wasn't that portable afterall (well I am a very careless user). Also coupled with other problems: it got very uncomfortable after long wear because it was too clampy on the head (with my glasses) and looked goofy (both of which became slightly better after I tried to bend it out a little.)

Then recently, I got into researching Denon AH-D2000 that cost a whopping $349 on Amazon. It took me to going back and listening to ATH-ES7 again in an attempt to stop myself from lusting after another pair of crazily expensive headphones...

After reading almost every audiophile forum for AH-D2000, I found this wonderful piece of software, Breakaway Audio Enhancer. Installed it on the computer, downloaded some lossless music (Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix) and started listening music with ATH-ES7.

Guess what, I fell in love with the headphone all over again. Previously I found that with the headphone, some of my music (e.g. Late Night Alumni @256kbps) sounded a bit too bright to me. After using Breakaway Audio Enhancer, ATH-ES7 is a charmer. This successfully curbed my materialistic lust over AH-D2000, although I still longed to test listen to this piece of 'best headphone' within a 'reasonable price range'.

I have to say though, there's been so much rave about AH-D2000 since the first time it came out that I felt so intrigued by it. Then I also found out that the price of AH-D2000 dropped to somewhere in the $200 range for a while and suddenly jumped to the ridiculous $349 on Amazon.

As a comparison, I looked up Amazon for the price of ATH-ES7 now and to my great delight, this headphone is now selling at $199.95! This price totally justified my purchase at $88. Psychologically, it did make me think this headphone was much better~! I know I know, I totally fell for the marketing strategy of tagging something at a much higher price to create the illusion of 'brand and class'... But what can I say, I'm a vain person when it comes to headphones!

All in all, I'm re-using ATH-ES7 now and its probably a good idea to bring it out for a walk during the winter as a way to warm my ears. Also a good alternative to earbuds that sends static shocks to my ears!

My Fishes Are Still Alive!

So again, I forgot that I have a blog and left the fishes on the left side of my blog screen to starve to death... Amazingly they are still very much alive and swimming happily when I visited. How is that possible? That's like Neopets! They will be very much dying after no food for months but never actually die!

Okay, enough of crap... More serious craps to come next.

This marks the first blog of the new year 2011. Again, the traditional New Year's resolution has to be written down so that at the end of the year, I can check how much failure has been accumulated, just like before. And then hoping that the next year I will put more attempt to do stuff that I thought should be done.

1. Ice-skating: Already failed since I'm going back to sunshine island and by the time I come back it probably wouldn't be cold enough to do it. Marks the first failed New Year resolution...

2. Taiko: Be a member of Soh Daiko!!! This is something I'm working towards and I'm NOT about to give up anytime soon even though my arms hurts like hell as I'm typing this resolution. And not giving up even when it means all my Saturdays are burnt.. (Goodbye weekends! sob...)

3. Friends: As usual, keep in contact with all my friends. Get to know more friends.

4. Love: Ah.... what more can I hope for, especially when the weather is so damn cold and everyone is getting so damn romantic. I think this year's pressure is also because the few years ago friends who got married all have kids and are forming their Mom's clubs with activities etc. I'm further away by the year. And, I'm finally feeling the 28 now. 2 more steps to the big 3!

5. Family: Work harder to maintain the relationship. Distance does add a feeling of not knowing what's going with them.

6. Career: Seriously seriously seriously have to start thinking about if switching is necessary. I just feel myself losing it at work sometimes when I don't see the work I'm doing is really of any value.

Guess that's it. Of course the small ones are like getting out to do more hikes when the weather gets warmer, road trips, travelling etc. etc.. Hopefully I can earn myself at least a trip to Canada with the excuse of Visa renewal.

Is almost going to February now, but still Happy New Year to all and wishing the best for the New Year. :)