Righteous Noise Facilitation
If you’re interested in that kind of thing. Discussion of iPod listening options and hearing-loss issues starts with the Boston Herald’s recommendation of the Stillwater iKick iK500 as the booming best of the iPod speakers at $250:
Anyone familiar with Kicker’s top-notch car audio systems will find little surprise in hearing that the iK500 can pump out the volume like no other iPod speaker system. The system’s bumping speakers, five-inch woofers and 40-watt stereo amplifiers deliver clear, unblemished sound at the highest of levels. Thanks to full control of bass and treble - accessible through both the main control knob and an infared remote - users can get the sound they want at much lower volumes.
While iKick’s design may not work well in everyone’s home, the pure, crisp audio more than makes up for any aesthetic shortcomings. For that matter, any speaker would have trouble in the looks category following last year’s speaker of the year pick: the gorgeous Zeppelin from Bowers & Wilkins.
While the iKick matches the Zeppelin in sound, comparatively it is a bargain purchase. Stillwater Design dropped $100 off the price several months ago. Not only can it be picked up for $250, but customers buying it directly have 45 days to try it out.
I bought the highly rated Klipsch iGroove, which puts out a lot of great sound, is significantly cheaper at $189, and doesn’t look like a refugee from a Batman sequel like the Kicker iK500, or a Zeppelin like the $599 Zeppelin, which must sound pretty damn good at that price, but I dunno, didn’t encounter one in the stores when I was looking. Bose’s SoundDock series includes a range of really excellent iPod speakers that I did try out which represent a good middle ground, though more than I cared to spend.
Anyway, I’m a late convert to iPodism, but in the last few months have found it indispensible for portable mind-control and attitude-adjustment projects, such as my self-torture with the Guantanamo jihadi disorientation playlist.
I use mine mainly in the car’s MP3 jack, and in the iGroove, so iPod ear is not a big issue. That’s a lost cause for me anyway, due to many years of assorted punk, industrial, speed metal, thrash ethnic, with odds and ends like ABBA’s Waterloo (French version, it’s more fun that way), etc. played too loud, plus certain regrettable incidents of exposure to gunfire, high explosives and armored vehicle track noise with benefit of only intermittant earplug use. As I told the wife last night, sitting in the peace and quiet of the family room, “Right now it sounds like aliens have surrounded the house and are destroying it with high-powered lasers. Or maybe like giant mosquitos are trying to rip the roof off.” Fortunately, I’m pretty good at ignoring it. If anyone out there has any good suggestions for tinnitus relief, I’m all ears.
Meanwhile, I recommend enjoying loud noises responsibly. Aw heck … who am I kidding? You only live once.
Speaking of hearing loss, how’s yours? Are you starting to act like one of those late-night ads for cheap hearing devices? It isn’t just your ears. Turns out your brain is deteriorating, too, you old coot, and can no longer hear just what it wants to hear.
Topics: Guantanamo, hated Crusaders, punishment, song
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:00 am on Tuesday, December 30, 2008
One Response to “Righteous Noise Facilitation”
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December 30th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
It isn’t just your ears. Turns out your brain is deteriorating, too, you old coot, and can no longer hear just what it wants to hear.
Yep.