[GTALUG] ot: perhaps, headphones?

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Karen Lewellen via talk <talk at gtalug.org>

| If you desire a visual idea then perhaps google jvc ha-s44x.

Thanks.

>From past discussions, I know your shopping technique isn't like mine.  
But I'll mention my considerations on the off chance you might find them 
useful.


Most wired headphones are electrically / electronically
interchangeable.  Of course that's a good thing.  It also means that there 
are a lot to choose from.

There are lots of issues of sound reproduction quality, but to be
honest, all should have sound quality that is good enough for a reader
(as I understand it).

I would imagine that the main issues are comfort -- a very individual
thing.  Oh, and durability -- not something in the specs!

Here's what I glean from the specs of your old headphones:

- closed (i.e. they try to block sound from your environment)

- over-ear [I find such headphones uncomfortable fairly quickly]

- 5.57 ounces

- button controls (what do they control?)

- 1.2 m cable [the units are unspecified but 1.2 ft would be very short]

Do you use the buttons?  What for?

I think "over-ear" means that these clamp on your ear as opposed to
clamping on your head around the ear ("circumaural").  I find over-ear
very uncomfortable after a few minutes but I seem to be in a minority.

Do you really want to have sound isolation from the room ("closed")?
I imagine "situational awareness" would be useful.

Out of habit, I use ancient Sennheiser HD430 phones.  They are
circumaural, light, open [i.e. I can hear things going on in the
room], good enough sound.  They have replaceable cables and ear pads
(but now hard to find).  Out of production since 1986.  I find that
even these get uncomfortable after a while.

My current favourite is ear-buds.  The ones with a selection of soft
tips, not the hard ones.  You can get decent inexpensive ones from China.  
I have, for example:
  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002184896879.html
Currently C$16.84 without microphone.  I paid less.
There are many other brands that are likely fine.
There is an enthusiastic following for "Chi-fi".

TWS (true wireless stereo) headphones are amazingly convenient if you have 
Bluetooth.  But you don't.  There are a lot of adapters to convert analog 
to Bluetooth but I don't have any experience with them.