Headphone madness
I like smart design. One reason I liked the iPOD form the very start was its single firewire cable that was used both for charging and music download. And the iPOD's cable was elegantly thin. And its power supply was very small and nice, with its folding prongs. By the way power supplies are worth the story of their own. Thankfully they are passing away thanks to USB that morphed from Universal Serial Bus to Universal Supply Bus, as more and more mobile electronics gadgets can be powered and charged by a single mini-usb cable that plugs into either a notebook computer or a standalone USB power supply. But I still wonder why notebook manufacturers or the aftermarket power supply guys like Kensington or Targus do not provide USB sockets in their power supply units. Just to charge my phone or an iPOD I have to keep my notebook running at night....
One area the smart design is gone (or has never been there) is headphones. Many modern gadgets have sound output. To name a few: an iPOD, a Sony PSP, a cell phone, a PDA and a
notebook. Most of them are standardized and use 3,5mm stereo audio jack. Most of them share a common weakness, however. The headphones that come with them have very poor sound quality. What came with my Sony PSP was a shame. Not to mention my Musicphone or the Teleputer. I was even surprised my original iPOD headphones were not that of that good sound quality (that is the reason why Griffin Technology, one of my favorite "Smart Design" companies makes the EarJams, simple clip-ons for the original Apple ear buds that deliver the difference you have got to hear). So the solution seems really simple - buy yourself a pair of really good headphones (personally I prefer the Sony Fontopia MDR-EX71 SL, as they are not as expensive as sound isolating Shures and deliver really good bass).
Things start getting tricky once you try to use your carefully selected headphones with your Musicphone. My i-Mate SP5m has 2,5mm jack so the Fontopias will not plug in and the things that came with the SP5m are the prime example of how badly you can damage your product with the lack of smart design. The original i-Mate headphones simply sound like they were made of a recycled cardboard. Fortunately soon enough the new Treo 700W was launched and carried this adapter as an accessory and I am glad this piece of smart design works with my SP5m.
But what to do if you want not only to listen but to talk as well? I mean use one of the so-called headsets, that are headphones combined with a microphone? Personally I have three devices I want to talk to. The first one is my Musicphone (it is a phone, so talking should be natural). The second is the JasJar teleputer (it is also a phone and I want to use it for Skype conversations as well). And the third is my IBM notebook (for Skype and Google Talk). And is having one good quality stereo headset, that connects to all three of them, such an impossible requirement? Well... it seems so.
First, I needed Sony Fontopias equipped with a microphone. I could not find them, so I spent one Saturday morning cutting off the earpieces from my old SonyEricsson P800 headset and soldering on the Fontopias. This way I ended up with a set that lets me listen to a high quality music from my smartphone and at the same time lets me have a conversation. Now to use the same set (equipped with an 2,5mm plug) with my iPOD, I found the Proporta 3,5mm - to - 2,5mm 
adapter very helpful. But I still cannot us the microphone with my JasJar, since the smart people at HTC designed yet another jack standard - 3,5mm with mic. For the same reason I cannot use this set with my IBM notebook, as most PC devices have a separate jack for input and a separate for output. This is just hopeless!!!
Looking into the future, I expect one of smart design companies to come up with a solution. My
bet here is Apple. The new iPOD will probably have A2DP Bluetooth headphones (A2DP is a new Bluetooth profile that uses on the fly compression to stream high quality stereo). Hopefully the 6th generation Apple headphones will have a microphone as well. And hopefully you will be able to pair them with more than one device (namely your phone and your notebook). And hopefully they will be charged by a mini-USB cable. If not, I hope the people from Griffin Technology will hear my cry... GIVE ME A HEADSET THAT WORKS WITH ALL MY GADGETS!!! (am I asking too much?)
One area the smart design is gone (or has never been there) is headphones. Many modern gadgets have sound output. To name a few: an iPOD, a Sony PSP, a cell phone, a PDA and a
notebook. Most of them are standardized and use 3,5mm stereo audio jack. Most of them share a common weakness, however. The headphones that come with them have very poor sound quality. What came with my Sony PSP was a shame. Not to mention my Musicphone or the Teleputer. I was even surprised my original iPOD headphones were not that of that good sound quality (that is the reason why Griffin Technology, one of my favorite "Smart Design" companies makes the EarJams, simple clip-ons for the original Apple ear buds that deliver the difference you have got to hear). So the solution seems really simple - buy yourself a pair of really good headphones (personally I prefer the Sony Fontopia MDR-EX71 SL, as they are not as expensive as sound isolating Shures and deliver really good bass).Things start getting tricky once you try to use your carefully selected headphones with your Musicphone. My i-Mate SP5m has 2,5mm jack so the Fontopias will not plug in and the things that came with the SP5m are the prime example of how badly you can damage your product with the lack of smart design. The original i-Mate headphones simply sound like they were made of a recycled cardboard. Fortunately soon enough the new Treo 700W was launched and carried this adapter as an accessory and I am glad this piece of smart design works with my SP5m.
But what to do if you want not only to listen but to talk as well? I mean use one of the so-called headsets, that are headphones combined with a microphone? Personally I have three devices I want to talk to. The first one is my Musicphone (it is a phone, so talking should be natural). The second is the JasJar teleputer (it is also a phone and I want to use it for Skype conversations as well). And the third is my IBM notebook (for Skype and Google Talk). And is having one good quality stereo headset, that connects to all three of them, such an impossible requirement? Well... it seems so.
First, I needed Sony Fontopias equipped with a microphone. I could not find them, so I spent one Saturday morning cutting off the earpieces from my old SonyEricsson P800 headset and soldering on the Fontopias. This way I ended up with a set that lets me listen to a high quality music from my smartphone and at the same time lets me have a conversation. Now to use the same set (equipped with an 2,5mm plug) with my iPOD, I found the Proporta 3,5mm - to - 2,5mm 
adapter very helpful. But I still cannot us the microphone with my JasJar, since the smart people at HTC designed yet another jack standard - 3,5mm with mic. For the same reason I cannot use this set with my IBM notebook, as most PC devices have a separate jack for input and a separate for output. This is just hopeless!!!Looking into the future, I expect one of smart design companies to come up with a solution. My
bet here is Apple. The new iPOD will probably have A2DP Bluetooth headphones (A2DP is a new Bluetooth profile that uses on the fly compression to stream high quality stereo). Hopefully the 6th generation Apple headphones will have a microphone as well. And hopefully you will be able to pair them with more than one device (namely your phone and your notebook). And hopefully they will be charged by a mini-USB cable. If not, I hope the people from Griffin Technology will hear my cry... GIVE ME A HEADSET THAT WORKS WITH ALL MY GADGETS!!! (am I asking too much?)
Comments
Post a Comment