Another pointless thread

A what?????

Always wanted one of them - I think ???

T

Google is my friend .

Well I did not want to make it too easy for you

I had not heard of them until two days ago.

The problem is that the EU has decided that all MP3 players etc. should be 'castrated'

It does not apply to anything sold outside the EU

Enlighten me please?

The EU is introducing a limit to the dB am MP3 player can produce, in an attempt to protect the hearing of European yoof. link

Thanks Gwyn, the nanny states strike again.

I seldom use earphones for music, that's what the speakers in my car/house are for. I do use earphones for my mobile at work, but that's it.

There's nothing better than Led Zep blasting out while I'm at home.

Or a good radio comedy when I'm cooking.

It one thing blasting Led Zep over speakers at home, quite another having them blasting straight into your ears.
My son is a sound engineer and has to look after his hearing but he knows of several colleagues who have damaged hearing from headphone use, or from engineering rock concerts where the dBs are seriously bad for your health. I'm sure you have experience temporary hearing loss after attending a concert - I know I have. Engineers and crew are subjected to it daily, and though now they have special ear plugs, in the past they didn't.
There is not a DJ in the world without some hearing loss either.
And most of Led Zep are probably deaf as posts now too .

Seriously I think it is a good thing. Hearing is delicate and easily damaged. Once damaged it can't be corrected. Tinnitus is a truly miserable condition to have - it stopped Jeff Beck playing guitar for many man years for instance, and made my father's life a misery- always noise in your head even when it is silent around you.

The output limit has been set on the basis that everyone listens to MP3 players etc. through the piddly, small 'in your ear' earphones that they are sold with.

But if you want your MP3 player etc. to drive good quality 300ohm Sennheisers (for example), then you need power to drive them and a 'castrated' EU model fails miserably

So the options are to try and buy an Asian or US model or a powered amp.

Or play the MP3s from your PC/MAC through a seriuos set of speakers.

My media system PC is hooked into a set of Creative 5.1 speakers, far too loud for full volume use.

But at the levels I use the response is superb.

I've started using this set up for DVDs as well, the stand alone DVD player is becoming redundant, even the boss can use a PC!!

Hmm, see, it does come down to headphone choice. I have a pair of KOSS "Plug" headphones which do work exactly like earplugs. Sound quality is much better than the cheap ones supplied with MP3 players and they don't leak sound to annoy anyone around you, as well as stopping background noise from interfering with your music. You hear everything on the track rather than some frequencies being lost to background or shared with the rest of the world.

I also notice that whatever audio source I connect them too doesn't need to be turned up anything like as much as it does with full size headphones.

I'd still love to get my hands on a set of KOSS Pro 4AAs, Dad used to have a pair and wishes he'd hung onto them and got hold of the parts to rebuild them. I remember them vaguely as being serious headphones with cast metal backs and a mount to attach a mic to for headset use.

I've done a bit of sound engineer work and can (somewhat surprisingly) still hear things few others can. Any electronics which occasionally produce an ultra high-pitched whine drive me spare as I find myself trying to work out what's making the noise, and I'm forever hearing clunks and rattles in cars which mechanics can't trace (and definitely aren't tinnitus - I have no background noise when it's genuinely silent).

For all the beer drinkers on this topic have a look here

Enjoy.

So that's where Cyril's gone...

There was another sighting of Cyril last night. He has a part in an advertisement on TV. Clicky

Little bu**er has been holding out on me - I`m supposed to get 10% of all his earnings and royalties !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Squirrel pate anyone ??

Only joking TT

Tony