red_ryder

The microphonics are due to the type of cable being used. The sound is caused by the cable rubbing against your body.

Any medical folks around? I was wondering...there are sound frequencies which the human ear cannot hear such as ultrasound. So if we can't hear the sound, does it mean that it can't damage our ears? What if the magnitude or power is very great? Would that damage our ear drums? The reason I'm asking is because I am considering installing ultrasound bird repellers on my window to scare off birds who keep trying to roost on my aircon. According to the website that is selling them, they fire off a powerful blast of ultrasound to scare birds away. As this is the window where my daughter sleeps under, I'm worried about ear damage.

tropicalrips, I think the uncle photos you posted up there were great! Especially their facial expressions. As a newbie, I got a question. For example the leftmost photo. The lighting on the uncle's face is correct, but I find the flourescent lighting on the upper left to be too bright and white. How do we correct this?

Same thing happened to me. Change a new pair, friend. I heartily recommend the Sharp MD-33s, cheaper than the Sonys and better sounding.

SOLD!! Cheap cheap. Just $100. Comes with box, but no receipt and likely warranty is over. Bought from someone 2nd hand so I don't know how old it is. But it's in good condition. Selling cos a bit small for my head. http://www.audioreview.com/headphones-home...77_2750crx.aspx http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread....goto=nextoldest

Someone in classifieds selling a Digital SLR for $499, I'm considering getting it but no experience with SLR cameras before. How much would I need to spend on a decent lens for such a camera? thanks!

I've bought from www.bluetin.com before. Quite happy with the service, prompt replies to my emails. Received my headphones about 3 weeks after placing the order - shipped from japan.

I recommend the Sharp MD-33 canal earphones. I have the same problem as you, most earphones are painful on my small ears. In-ear canal phones are the most comfortable, as they sit completely inside your canal and not on the ear itself. Compared to the Sony EX71, the sharp MD33 is a lot better in terms of clarity, reproduction and tight bass. I've used the sonys and after switching to md33 I like it so much more. The only complaint is that the highs a bit metallic sounding. You can order from www.bluetin.com direct from japan, cost about $70+. Don't think Sim Lim Square got sell, I spent a whole afternoon searching around. There are a lot more reviews of the md-33s at www.headfi.org.

I usually jog with my flash mp3 player and md-33 earphones. Will I spoil the earphones if sweat gets into them? If so, then I just might switch to cheaper ones for jogging.

I read somewhere that the Ipod shuffle doens't allow the apple lossless AAC format. Dunno about WAV though http://www.ipodlounge.com/ipodnews.php?id=P6099

I work in the defence industry, so a lot of hightech toys are not allowed. PDAs, any phones with cameras, thumbdrives, harddrives, CD-Rs, diskettes, and so on. Lucky thing I convinced the security branch to let me use my IPOD on the way to work, as long as I don't bring the USB cable. Last time someone brought a CD player with a CD-R inside and the poor guy got into trouble because of the CD-R. Everytime I read about the latest phones and the 3G revolution I sigh... all of us here are still stuck with old technology.

Noz, you mentioned that the PC is purely for imaging purposes? If that is case, I would suggest setting some money aside to get proper color calibration equipment for your monitor. It is to make sure that what is displayed on screen is what you get when you print out. On the same token, the choice of monitor is important, more so than the CPU or harddisk. I dunno what monitor to recommend, but you might try getting recommendations from the color calibration vendors. Harddisk and RAM you can always add another one down the road, but how many people will change their monitors once they've bought one? I strongly suggest doing your homework on getting the best monitor you can afford. Also, do consider getting an AMD64 system instead of the P4. It's cheaper and faster.

I own a 20GB Ipod, and I'm interested in the Ipod shuffle purely as a player to use while exercising. Not an Ipod fanatic or anything, but where else to find 512MB player at such a low price? At $178, you can at best get a 256MB creative player or a 128MB Iriver. While exercising I don't need to look at a display screen or to choose a song. So its simplicity fits its function. The only problem now is that I can't bring it to work cos my company bans thumbdrives.

IMHO Ipod mini appeals more to ladies and people who value aesthetics more. The smaller size and colors appeal to them more so than capacity. At lossless compression, I rapidly filled up my 20GB ipod. So I would recommend getting either that or the 40GB model. By the way, I got my 20GB at $450 (sealed). Just need to keep an eye out for ads at HWZ. Cheers!

Hmm..I used to enjoy Kevin Kern but its getting very cliched. You hear it everywhere! On TV drama serials, on peoples' wedding videos, in shopping centres. I was more inclined towards a jazzy number.

Making a home video from video clips of my baby girl. Any recommendations as to what pop / jazz songs or classical pieces would be great as soundtracks to baby videos? Much appreciated! thanks!

Well, I bought Diana Krall's Girl in the Other Room, Ray Charles Duets and Tapestry (Carole King). My very first impressions of SACD - the clarity and detail of the instruments, voices don't have sibilance anymore (a problem always plaguing me with female vocals). I also find that vocals seem louder even though I'm listening at the same volume level that I always do. One question I have - why are the prices varying so much? They range from $18 (The Police) to $40+. At gramaphone I bought the krall and ray charles albums at $26, but also saw Cai Qin and Emi Fujita selling at $43 and $39. DVD-Audio also quite expensive, wanted to buy Pet Sounds but at $44 a bit hard to swallow.

Hmm...the player's manual stated that there is downmixing. I'll read it more carefully at home tonight then.

Thanks Mackie! Just wondering, if I set the player to output in stereo, does the down-mixing adversely affect multichannel material? Meaning should I just stick to buying stereo SACDs/DVD-As only?

Just bought me a universal player (Denon 2910), itching to try out some SACDs or DVD-As. Need some recommendations from you experienced guys. I'm only using 2-channels for listening though. Music genres - used to really like female vocals like Eva Cassidy and Susan Wong, etc but now getting a bit sick of them. Also like the older type of music like Eagles-Hell Freezes Over, or The Beatles, Sting. thanks in advance!

After 1 year of heavy usage, it appears that my EX71 is dying. The sound in the right earbud sometimes fades in and out. I read in Ipod forums that this earphone is not known for long life and a lot of other people also encountered this problem. Needless to say, I won't get another one as a replacement. Actually, if not for the lifespan of the earphones I am quite happy with it. It is the most comfortable pair of earbuds that I have ever used, most other earphones I tried give me pain after no more than 30 minutes. Music quality was also satisfactory. My budget for a replacement is less than $100 if possible, and most important factor is comfort followed by music quality and finally lifespan. Also, I'm only looking at earphones cos wearing a headphone in the office looks a bit extreme. thanks in advance!

Yup, I agree with Mackie. When I wear the earbuds on the bus, I can't hear if someone presses the alight button or not. Once I missed my stop because I thought the guy standing by the exit pressed, but actually he didnt. But occasionally I can hear the TV mobile if it is turned on loud enough. But the earphones don't block out all ambient noise. I travel on the bus on the AYE, it's very noisy. Before boarding the bus, the volume control is at mid point. Once I get onto the AYE proper, I have to increase to 3/4 point to get the "same" perceived volume. But when I was using regular earphones last time, I had to listen at max volume on the AYE. llcla, maybe you are using the wrong size earbuds. Try the large if it is not uncomfortable.

Excuse me, I need to rant! My company is banning all camera phones, flash drives and harddisks. So now I can't use my Ipod on the way to work. Sh*t!!!

thanks for your comments guys! I'm still a newbie at phototaking. All shots were taken on AUTO mode, not photoshopped.

On Apple's website it states that IPOD requires either Firewire or a USB 2.0 connection. Has anyone used it on a USB 1.1 port? My old PC doesn't have USB 2.0 or firewire.