Aural pleasure

After a blissful 10 days back in Singapore, I am back in the dessert. Now usually when I'm out here, I have nothing to spend on except food. The shopping here is not to my taste and well, I fear for my life enough to stop me from venturing out to explore the shopping districts.

In Singapore though, its a different story! I pamper myself with gadgets and items that make me happy. And why not? You gotta perk yourself up every now and then. So this time round, I picked up a pair of sweeeet sounding earphones from Shure. These babies sound amazing and they block out all external noises at the same time! That leaves your ears with nothing but uninterrupted sound from your music machines.

I remember on one of my previous flights back to Singapore, I had a mother sitting across the row from me with her infant next to her. My feeble iPod earphones did nothing to block out the baby's wailing. Coldplay's "God put a smile upon my face" was being diluted with a huge dose of "waaaaaaaaah" and it wasn't coming from Chris Martin. I definitely didn't have a smile upon my face. I was contemplating executing either one of two options. Jam the baby's mouth with the amenity kit I was provided with or ask to be moved to economy class. Of course I did neither but an article in the gadget magazine I was reading caught my eye amid the agonizing cries. Noise isolating earphones! What an ingenious idea! So the moment I touched down, I researched and decided on the Shure SE530.



On my plane ride back this time, I was set. All you mommies with cry babies / loud talking arabs / no volume control china men, I am ready for you! I will shut you out on the airplane and enjoy my music! But there were none of them on the plane. Instead, I did not hear the stewardesses asking me if I wanted another drink. The captain's announcements were shut out as well. Hell, I couldn't even hear the passenger next to me when he asked if it was ok if he closed the window shades. All I heard were the full, rich sounds from coldplay, angels & airwaves and the like. These earphones made it feel like the bands themselves were having a concert in my head. Amazing! The audiophile in me was deeply impressed.

Bottom line is, dump the iPod earphones and invest in a good pair. They make a world of difference in terms of the sound quality. Even better if it has a sound isolation feature. Its portable aural bliss wherever you are.