So I won a 512MB iPod Shuffle at the conference in San Francisco and I wanted to use it on my motorcycle.
I know, a lot of people think this is a bad idea – but I wear ear plugs all the time anyway, and what about those cars with the stereo turned way up? There is no way they can hear anything.
Isn’t rationalizing fun?
But the Apple ear buds suck. I have not owned a pair of ear buds that didn’t fall out of my ears, and the Apple ones are more of the same.
What I really wanted was the ER6 ear buds, but at $139, I didn’t think that would fly.
Some people had been saying that the Radio Shack In-the-Ear Noise Reducing Stereo Headphones were pretty good for the price ($20), so I picked up a pair.
These things rock!
They appear to be re-branded Koss Plugs (and they cost a few dollars more, but oh well.)
The only gripe I have about them is that the foam expands too fast – you can’t squash them and get them into your ear before they have expanded. But if you just jam them in there, they work pretty well.
I wore them on the way to work this morning and they cut the wind noise pretty well and the music sounded great. They have a pretty good bass response and the iPod has no trouble driving them to reasonable volume.
There was some pressure from my helmet, but I think I can get them further into my ears to relieve that.
Over all, I’d say they were worth $20.
A Google search turned up this page about modifying these plugs… I might have to look into this.
