I may just be imagining this, but I feel like the image of a guy and a girl sharing a pair of earbuds to listen to a song has been used in some sort of romantic tv show or movie. The concept bothers me, and there are plenty of reasons why:
- Earbuds are just an awful form of headphone. I guess so many people use them because they're small, cheap, and sort of "stick" into place rather than jostling around. But they're flat-out awful. I am never comfortable putting things in my ears, and I can never get them to fit right.
- Even if they weren't uncomfortable, the sound quality would be enough to turn me off of earbuds. As a general rule, whenever a pair of headphones comes free with another product (ie. the iPod), they're not a very good pair of headphones. Maybe if I bought a $2500 television and a pair of headphones were included for free, they'd be decent. But they almost certainly wouldn't be earbuds in that case.
- The act of just using ONE earbud while someone else uses the other is irritating. This is 2010. Songs are recorded using stereo sound. What's happening in one ear isn't necessarily happening in the other. Listening to one earbud is like throwing a blanket over your television so that only half the screen is visible.
- Even if none of these aforementioned problems were a factor.... Even if the earbuds were comfortable, the sound quality was good, and I was listening to an album recorded in mono... I still wouldn't want to stick someone else's earbud in my ear. Normal outside-the-ear headphones, sure, but I don't want to shove something into my ear that I just saw you dig out of yours. Disgusting.
Earbuds in general: I've had good success with JLab's in-ear buds for a few years. I switched over from Sonys because they shorted out really quick. Same problem with JLabs because you mess with the cord so often, but they're only like $20, and I only need to replace them like once a year-and-a-half.
ReplyDeleteBut you might be turned off that they go inside your ear canal, like an earplug. It shuts out basically all outside noise, and if you're not careful, you can gunk it up with your earwax. It's definitely an acquire sensation, but they stick in and block sound while having a really great bass end.
The loss of stereo is what bugs me the most. Just as movies should be seen in their Original Aspect Ratio (OAR), so too should sound recordings be heard in their Original Aural Presentation (I just made that up).
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