Happy Holidays

A warm greeting to everyone - can't say I am in the best of shape this year but things are looking up. There are a few things I'll start trying next year which hopefully you will like. But for now, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Cheer.

Happy Holidays

Yet another good year for IEM user is coming close to its end. This year, we have seen more higher end models being released for both universal and custom IEM market, and in general, less low end rubbish models as well. Of course, not so great for keeping a budget :). We also see some really good sounding IEM coming from small, previously unknown Chinese IEM maker as well. I suspect this trend will continue and we will see / hear better IEM from China in the upcoming year as well. All and all, I'll call it a fruitful year. Hopefully you have enjoyed it as much as I do. Cheer.

Happy Holidays

 

It is that time of the year again. It would seen every year has became shorter than the previous one and I am getting busier and busier living the real life outside of the Internet. While my last new year resolution was to scale down (which I think I have done quite well, if not a bit too well), I think my 2014's new year resolution is just to have enough time to keep the hobby up and have the time to really enjoy some great music. We have seen some amazing audio gear in 2013 and I suspect we will see even more in 2014. Life is good for an audiophiles these days, and hopefully we will have as much fun as we can in the upcoming year. Cheer.

Twitter Spam

A twitter account, @iemRSS, has been tweeting for InEarMatters.net for a while now and recently begins to send out spam messages. I want to make sure everyone know that @iemRSS has no tie to this blog or me whatsoever. Whatever is happening at @iemRSS is out of my control and responsibility. I'll advice those who are following that Twitter account immediately 'un-follow' before more spam are sent your way. Also take note that InEarMatters.net currently does not operate on any social network.

[Thank to Frank for informing me]

Happy Holidays... and an announcement.

Another year comes and goes, and we have seen the busiest year at this blog so far. I was a bit late last year, and even more so this years. For that, I'll like to apologize for those who are still waiting for review that are yet to come. However, there are also a few important announcements I'll like to make right after the break.

October: The SONY Month

For the past few months, I have had the privilege of working with both the local and oversea Sony divisions for review samples acquisition as well as in-depth discussion over R&D on IEM and related tech. You might not know it, but getting a review sample from a big company is much harder than you think (unless you are working with big, established site like CNET, I imagine), which is why you don't see a lot of big brand names popping up in here as I have to regulate my own budget to get them and I only have that much to work with (i.e. a single flagship means I have to miss out on two~three cheaper models). Even rarer is the opportunity to talk to the engineer that develop these models.

Sony, which was once a giant in the earbuds world, started kind of slow in the IEM era. But they are definitely working hard on catching up with the competition since last year with the release of several really good sounding IEM. With October being declared as the 'Sony month' here at In Ear Matters, you can of course expect more Sony review, but we will have comparison with other IEM and gears as well - including Bluetooth headset comparison and stock smartphone headset shootout (the new EarPod included!). Last but not least, we will have an article from a contributing writer (whom is an Sony engineer himself) telling us about the intricate process and tech in IEM R&D. This will be our first 'Behind-the-Scene' article and hopefully we will have more in the future. All and all, this will be an interesting month :)

Happy Holidays!

Time sure flies!!! This year has turned out to be almost as busy as last year. Though for the last month or so I have been busy with all the family stuff and really haven't had the time to finish up any review, I am getting up to speed. You can expect more reviews getting posted in a much faster pace and I am certainly hoping to clear up the current stack by January 2012. In short, there are a lot more to come so stay tuned! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Happy Holidays!

2010 has turned out to be quite a busy year for me. Though I have missed a few IEM I really want to review, I think it is still a very fruitful and enjoyable year, to say the least. One thing I think it is pretty obvious this year is the booming expansion of the IEM market, and even earbuds seem to making a comeback as well! This trend will probably continue to the whole 2011, marking a new height in the world of portable music, if I may say so.

With X'mas less than 15 minutes away, I'll like to take the chance to thank the retailers, distributors and manufacturers who are kind enough to send me samples for review, and of course you, the reader, on supporting this blog. To you all, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

There and Back Again

Ah, though it is impossible to forget about the daily engagement and responsibility, it does feel good to 'get away' even if it is just a short while. I am back now, continuing my pursuit for sonic enjoyment.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Happy Holidays to y'all! :)

Last Week... Not Much.

Really, not much happened at all, not that you should expect anything major at this point of time just after CES. There were some minor news, but I won't bother telling them to you just for posting sake. I do, however, get something I really want last week - a new digital audio player, the Sandisk Sansa Fuze 8GB. It is meant to replace my aging iriver clix2 8GB which I have enjoyed over the last 1.5 yrs. Fuze might not be as sleek looking nor has the smooth interface and top notch AMOLED screen as clix2, but it does has great sound quality and an SDHC expension slot (which already occupied by a 8GB SDHC card, effectively doubling the player's capacity). No need to say, I am quite happy with the new player and it will be part of my main portable rig from now on.

Some comparison pictures for you guys and girls:

Welcome to In Ear Matters!

Welcome to my first serious blog, friends and strangers.

I have always been interested in headphone, but never serious enough to actually pursue further into this rather expensive hobby. Like everyone else, I used to buy my headphones from general electronic stores that carry big brand names... that was till I finally reached a point where I started to question myself: 'Are there better options out there?' It was early 2004 when I was still in the U.S. finishing my last year of university that I joined Head-fi.org, a fast growing (still) online forum dedicated for headphone users - which later it proves to be a decision well made (well, at least I think so... after all the money I spent :) ). I joined the forum mainly to seek out more information on a pair of (back than) newly released, rather expensive in-ear-canalphone. Few weeks later I received my US$130 Shure E3c and started my personal quest of finding 'the best' canalphone, a quest that is still very much in progress, though the goal is slightly different.

To my own surprise that it is not till the last two years or so after I start to accumulate more and more knowledge that I realize that my original quest is rather flawed in a sense - Headphone is a tool for music reproduction, and a tool is only going to be good if it can get the job done. For the users, finding the so called best, most advanced, most priced, or most hyped headphone the market can offer is often not the answer they are seeking. What actually is important here is finding the right headphone to fit into the users' taste and need. Buying an over-thousand-dollars headphone that doesn't perform well outdoor is just as wasteful to an out going person as buying a low priced, cheap sounding canalphone for the home user with his/her home theater setup. In the end, it is this process of finding the right headphone for the right job with the right price that proves to be the most costly, time and money wise.

As canalphones becomes more and more popular among headphone users, I couldn't help but realize that many people are stepping into the same shoe that I once in and asking the same question that I once did, thus comes the main purpose of this blog - to share my knowledge and experience about canalphone that were once shared to me by others, and perhaps even learn something from you guys. Here you will find general knowledge and news about canalphone, plus some of my reviews and personal thought. Hopefully all of these will make it easier for you to find your own path, or at least gives you an early start.

Best Regard,
Tai (aka ClieOS)

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Update: Oct. 2014.

As part of an effort to scale down, the intention of this website will turn from being a review blog that aims to provide information into more of a personal blog for self-entertainment and note taking. I think I have spent enough time to chase down a dream and now it is time for something else. It is not a good bye per se, but it is still a change no less. As part of the change, the comment system will be shutdown immediately. Email for general / generic recommendation will no longer be answered as well.