New toy = Geek post

Yesterday I was at Sunway Pyramid. For those who haven't been there lately and haven't seen Sunway Pyramid's new wing, please do make an effort to go there. It is really amazing, haven't seen a mall with this type of finishing. I don't know how to describe it, but they actually try to make it feel as though you're shopping in Venice or some similiar city. With all the nice old fashion lighting, and with the fake sky, it's really very unique. Makes you feel...happy.

Like all the newer malls, the new wing of Sunway Pyramid is actually a higher end shopping arcade. You can find all your really expensive brands there, but still not as much as Pavillion or Mid Valley "Gardens" though. But it was more than sufficient for me, because, someone told me that "Machines" opened another outlet there, and it is even more complete than the "Machines" in MidValley. By "complete", I mean they even brought in earphones like the great and almighty rediculously expensive Shure SE530! Even "Epicentre" of Pavillion don't have that model.

The great and beautiful Shure SE530, available at Sunway Pyramid new wing - "Machines". They have limited stock, if you're interested, prepare RM3k!

So, stupid me decided to take a drive all the way to Sunway Pyramid after I heard that they actually have a demo unit available for people to test it out!!

And when I say stupid, I'm really stupid. After auditioning it for a good 30 minutes...or more, well, let's just say that I'm now about RM2.6k+ poorer.


Oh so beautiful..

Yes, I bought the great and almighty Shure SE530!! It really wasn't a hard decision after listening to it, because; if you read my earlier review on my Shure SE210, I said: "This earphone (Shure SE210) sounds better than sex", well, this Shure SE530 literally made what I said earlier an understatement! This was beyond that, and to pay this amount for something this...magnificent...it was reaaaly worth it!! There goes my budget and the money I was putting aside for the new Nokia N95 8GB, but like I said, this is worth it!

Let's move on with a review..


Aesthetics..

Nice, proper metal box.

Unlike the Shure SE210 which I've to use a scissors meant to cut up bones to open up the pacakaging, the Shure SE530 was packaged much more sensibly! Just open up the outer plastic box and I'm greeted with this really nice metal box, which looks more like a covered Memo Pad from the side. Don't believe me? See this..


Looks like a memo pad box. No?

Open it up, and I'm greeted with this beauty..


Beautiful..

For this model, Shure throw in abit more stuff compared to the SE210.

You get the same semi-hard casing; 40cm extension cable; and the packet of different sizes of sleeves.
The extra stuffs are the in-line volume control; a short 8cm extension cable; 3.5mm to 1/4" converter and a aeroplane adapter.


Shure SE210 and Shure SE530

Compare the Shure SE530 to the SE210, the SE530 seems to be abit too big for standard earphone size, and abit too heavy too. But I guess that's the trade off for getting high quality sounds from a small package. Even though it's quite heavy, it is still very comfortable to wear; just make sure you get the proper size sleeves, or else it will not only be uncomfortable, but will also sound terrible.

Sound quality..
So how does this really expensive set of earphone sound? Well, do I even need to say it again? Really, no words can describe it.

The Shure SE210 is a earphone with amazing clarity. One problem with it is, because it only uses a single driver to try to reproduce frequency all the way from the low 25hz all the way to the high 18.5khz, it's only natural for it to be weaker on the mid to lower frequency. But like I said on my last review, the earphone sounds very natural and non bias to any frequency, it just does everything well. Well...but nothing more.

Now, in the case of the SE530, it uses not 1, but 3 drivers to reproduce frequency from 18hz to 19khz.
"Optimized for listening to high-quality recordings and lossless formats, the SE530 utilizes three balanced armature drivers—one dedicated tweeter and dual woofers. Additionally, integrated passive crossovers ensure that high and low frequencies remain distinct and defined. The result is an incredibly wide and detailed soundstage, distinguished by precision highs and robust bass. This innovative triple driver configuration is first in class for universal fit, sound isolating earphones."

The bass produced by this earphones are really a experienced to be felt. Yes, felt, not listen. Listening to the same "Dave Weckle, Vinnie Colaiuta & Steve Gadd" Drum solo battle on this earphone gave an totally different experienced compared to listening to it with the Shure SE210 or my AE Aego M speakers. This earphone can really really pump deep rumbling bass out, and it does it with incredible detailed too! Most earphones that can produce this kind of bass will lose out on it's high end clarity, but not for this earphone, as it have another driver to take care of it.

In the end, this earphone is so much more detailed compared to the SE210. I didn't know it was possible for the SE530 to unleash more hidden sounds from the same songs. Take "Photograph" by Jamie Cullum as an example; did you know on the 14th second, you can actually hear a chair creaking in the background while he in-haled after singging the first verse? It sounded so obvious and like "right-there" with my SE530, but when I try to listen out for it through my Aego M, it was barely anything. Another one I discovered, is "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap. Between 2:26 and 2:27, you can hear a guy in the background saying a two syllabes word which I believe it to be: "Slow-ly". Even the Shure SE210 couldn't pick this up, this is how much more detailed the SE530 is.

This may sound funny, but to be honest, the song which made me decide that I must have this earphone when I was auditioning it was "Cartoon Heroes" by Aqua. I actually accidentally stumbled upon that track and it sounded so so good, especially when they add in all the sound effects in the background, like the sound of space ships attacking each other, or the sound of the submarines and the underwater sound, it really suck me into the music.

However, there's one drawback by using this earphone on your iPod, or any other portable mp3 player. Because it uses 3 drivers and it's rated a high 36ohms impedance at 1khz, most built in amp on most mp3 player will suffer to power this earphone. You still can listen to it, infact my iPod Touch could power it to ear-shattering volume, but the problem is you can actually hear it straining, and will sort of strain the sound quality together. Hence, many people recommend to get a head-phone amplifier when using with the Shure SE530. So, I decided to get the very popular "Little Dot" headphone amp. I ordered the Little Dot Mark 1 amp, now I just need to patiently wait for it to arrive. Till then, just have to listen at a softer level.

Little Dot Mark 1 amp to power my Shure SE530

To sum up, this is really a incredible earphone and you really get what you paid for. I truly say this earphone will sound astonishing for ANY type of genre, and it will even satisfies those bass head people. So if you're like me, who wants the best clartiy and detail possible from a earphone, but at the same time also want it to pump out deep and solid and powerful bass for the slightly more lala self in you, then there will be no other earphone in the market which can beat this!

Solid and powerful lows with warm sounding mids paired together with smooth, crisps and detailed highs. There you have it, the Shure SE530.

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If you think the Shure SE530 is crazy, then you should take a look at this...

Sennheiser Orpheus with Sennheiser HE-90 headphones. USD$20,000.00. The world's most expensive headphone set, and perhaps the best sounding too??
One thing for sure, it really really looks too good to be worn on your head!

A walk through memory lane..

Lately I've been posting nothing else but geek posts. After receiving numerous complains, I decide to pause my geek post, for one post only that is.

A walk through memory lane, my memory lane that is. I'm writing this post in response to Tiffany's most reason post, which is a (very very old) picture of me.


Yes, that's me at my very first SSGC Youth camp back in the year 2001! That's 6+1 years ago! Looking at this picture, honestly, I feel more frighten than anything else. It seems like it was just yesterday that I used to be this boy in the picture - Running, with a 500ml bottle of 100 plus on my right hand; which is still my favourite drink until now. And looking at who I am today, I'm shocked and amazed how time flies. Where did the past 6 years went too? What happened to those days where I only worry about waking up the next morning so I won't be late for school? What happened to the days when all I need to worry about is doing well for my exams? What happened to the days when I didn't have so much pressure to be someone, to be successful, to achieve something. What happened to the days when I don't have to think 10, 20, 30, or even 50 years down the road?? What happened to the days when I could genuinely smile and be happy??...


Here are a few pictures of me from year 2003 (can't find any picture of me in year 2002), to the most recent picture of myself I could find, which is taken at Cameron Highland's on the 21st of January 2007.

2003

A picture of me with Melissa and Catherine back in 26th November 2003. Taken at HCC Cameron Highlands, year end YF camp.


2004

A picture of me with..quite alot of people. At the peak of Mount Berembun. Taken somewhere in Nov/Dec 2004 at our year end YF camp.


A picture of me with fatz..eh no..I meant WaiYee. Taken during the same camp as the above picture.


A picture of me with mommy in New Zealand. Taken on the 29th of October 2004.


A priceless picture of me in white. Standing on the steepest road in the world in some city in New Zealand.


2005

Here's a picture of my with Melissa. This was taken at LOST YF camp, on the 12th of December 2005.


2006

Who Am I YF Camp picture. This is taken on the 8th of December 2006. I'm sitting on the floor on the right side.


Picture of me with Yee Meng and Eugene at 2006 New Year's eve dinner.


2007

The most recent picture of myself, even though it is 10 months ago. But this is all I could find. This was taken at Cameron Highlands on the 21st of January 2007.


Looking at all this pictures just make me realise that life is actually very very short. Think about it, before you know it, it will be time for camp, then Christmas, then new year. For this year RBS students, before you realise it, you'll be leaving for RBS and you'll be back before you know it. Time flies amazingly fast, so fast that I'm really really afraid of it. Before I know it, I'll be breathing my last breathe. It could be 70 years from now, or it could be tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe I'll get involved in a fatal car accident. Or get run over by a car while corssing the road - the point is, no one will know when he or she will leave this earth, hence, life is very very short!

This year has been especially fast for me. Mainly because I'm trying to occupy as much of time as possible by working, and also, I'm trying to run away from something, or someone. Time seems to past very slowly, but at the same time seem to past way too fast, can't decide which is more evident, but I think the fact that Christmas is just around the corner - with malls starting to put up Christmas decoration, speaks for itself. Think back abit, didn't it feels like it was just a few days ago when all of us exchanged Christmas gifts in SSGC? Or when all of us went to Cineleisure, 1 Utama and Palace of the Golden Horses to sing of God's word!?

Right now, I'm typing this while listening to Christmas songs. Before we know it...it'll be time for Christmas.

Sometimes..I really wish time would slow down..just for a few moments. Just so I can appreciate the last second that just past. Or how nice, if only, IF only someone could invent a time machine, I would give everthing I have to go back in time, and just stay in that time for eternity; That time when everything seem to fall into place, when..when everything is...perfect.

I need a favor..

I've been planning to buy a good set of 3.5mm to RCA stereo interconnects to use for connecting my laptop to my speakers, my iPod to my speakers and my iPod with my Church mixer. But after going through alot of different brands, I can't seem to be satisfied with any of it.

Recently I just got the idea of DIY-ing one myself, using multiple shielded almost pure 99.98% silver cable strands to build myself a interconnect with the least internal signal resistance possible.

I have the budget and actually ready to order and purchase all the necessary connectors and also the cables already. But there's only one thing stopping me, is that I have totally no idea how to braid the cables.

So, if anyone out there knows how to braid, and if you're very skillfull at it, then do you know how to braid 12 strands of cables together?? Must be of equal lengths, and must be flat like a ribbon cable. There's a picture below..


Can you braid like this? If you can, please contact me!



IF anyone thinks they can braid the cables like the one in the picture. PLEASE do leave me a comment or contact me. And I'll be more than happy to pay you RM50 for your effort.

p/s: Anyway, the GUY who braid this managed to finish it in less than one hour.

Seriously...not another geek update again?!?!

FOR SALE!!

For Sale! My (used) Edifier S2.1M

Like what the HUGE words on top says, I'm selling my Edifier S2.1M speaker system! I've only used it for no more than 3 months, and I can assure you that it is in pristine condition! Not a single scratch, and definitely haven't dropped any of the satelites before!

The reason why I'm selling it is because I've already replaced it with something better, so their just sitting at a corner collecting dust. For those who know me well, I change speakers more often than changing the jeans I wear!! I actually bought this to "test" it out, but I soon got attached to it and sold of my Edifier R1900TIII and Edifier C2 instead, as this S2.1M was the best speaker I ever had for music playback.

Anyway, I'm selling this not more than 3 months old speaker system for only RM300!! And trust me, this is a STEAL!! A brand new unit cost anywhere from RM399 to RM429!! Don't believe? Head on over to LowYat and see for yourself! Mine is almost as good as new, It's full box, even with all the original cable ties and plastic bags that came with it. Pictures below..





So if you're interested, PM me or call me at 012-6322252 to let me know. Or if you're too shy, can even e-mail me at jefflim65@gmail.com. Or if you're lonely and need a companion (apply to girls only!!), add me in MSN at jeffrey_lim65@hotmail.com.

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New speakers..

For those who bothered to read what I have to say on top, you will be wondering right about now what on earth did I buy this time?? Another, newer Edifier model? Or maybe I've changed to another brand? Or did I really get that SonicGear APOCALYPX valve speaker system I was very interested in??

SonicGear APOCALYPX A10

Well, the answer is no, yes and no!

After many uncountable sleepless nights, and after many thoughts and consideration put into this, and after reading about 123456789 reviews for around 987654321 different type of speakers (of course exagerating la!!),
I finally decided to get this....

The Acoustic Energy Aego M music system. Ohh..sexy betul!!

If you're asking yourself: "What on earth is this brand and where on earth is it from??", then don't worry, you're not the only one! Honestly I'm also not very familiar with this brand. I heard of this brand before from a high-end Hi-Fi magazine for it's Reference series speakers, but only last year did I found out they also make iPod speaker system.

Acoustic Energy or better known as "AE" is a speaker brand all the way from UK. It's not very popular here mainly because of its high price, and also because there are other more popular and afordable Hi-Fi brands like Marantz, KEF, B&O, and etc.. I first heard of this Aego M speaker system from some website I stumbled across last year. I read the review for it and it gave a very goood rating, but I didn't really follow up with it cause I thought it would be too expensive to get it here in Malaysia. Then, a few months back when I was browsing through LowYat forum audio section, I found a thread dedicated to this speaker system! To my surprise there are actually a number of users for this model here in Malaysia. Again, I didn't really pay much attention as I thought maybe they import in themselves or something, and was too lazy to find out where they got it from.

But when I was flipping through this month's "Stuff" magazine. I realised they were testing and voting for the best speakers for your PC. And to my surprise, they also featured this AE Aego M speaker system, and also voted it the best system among all others on review!! Now when "Stuff" says that a product is good, it normally is! So I start researching a little and to my surprise, this speaker have won an unbelievable amount of awards from different magazines and reviews since last year! "WHAT HI-FI?" even vote it as the Best Desktop Speaker last year! I was sold instantly, I knew I have to get this, especially after reading more reviews over the internet. There were literally only good and positive comments on this product! So I contacted a friend who deals with professional audio products, and he managed to find one unit for me, at a very very good price!


HUGE and heavy box!

So after waiting only 3 days, I got this. I was shock when I first saw the box, as it was even bigger than my old Logitech 4.1 THX certified speaker system with a 550Watts RMS rating subwoofer!


What's in the box.

AE is definitely very generous with their cables. Unlike other China brands speaker system *coughEDIFIERcough*, AE bother to supply their customers with high quality (and also very very long) speaker cables, and also high quality RCA interconnects. Making it a truly out of the box, everything you need and simple to set up Hi-Fi system for your desktop!

While setting it up, I was quite skeptical about how it would sound. The satelite speaker are really way too small, even though their heavy and feel's very solid, but it seems really too small to deliver any good sounds.

Mini satelite speakers. My Surefire torchlight looks like some mafia next to it!

From my past experienced, small satelite speakers with single drivers normally sound VERY disappointing. What's worst, I discovered that the mini drivers behind the cloth cover are oval shape speakers!! Not your normal perfectly round speaker drivers. Again, I once owned a pair of B&O bookshelf speakers which uses oval speaker drivers, and if I remembered clearly, it sounded...normal!

But another thing I realised is the size, or more like the height of the subwoofer! It's tall!! Very tall!! It's about three quarter the size of your average plastic chair!! And you can see very clearly, again, it also uses oval shape speaker driver for it's subwoofer.

TALL subwoofer!

After spending about 30 minutes to set this up and aligning my satelite speakers properly, I sat myself comfortably down at the centre, and was (honestly) preparing for the worst.

So, how did this RM899-weird-looking-speaker-barely-anyone-heard-of-before-with-very-small-oval-shape-satelite-speakers sounded??

Three words..eh no..I mean letters...

O-M-G!!!

Even before letting it run-in or even warm up, the first song I played on this speaker was "Me And Mrs. Jones" by Michael Buble, and for that whole 4 minute and 34 seconds of that song, I was stunned and speechless and just stared at the speaker in disbelief. First thing that struck me was this speaker really sounded STUPIDLY huge! If I were to let someone audition this speaker with a blind-fold on, I can guarantee they will guess that the sound is coming from a much larger speaker, at least of bookshelf size! Another thing that struck me was it's amazing sound stage, it's almost sound as though I was sitting right in the middle of the hall of Michael Buble's concert. I definitely did not expect the sound stage to be this good, since the speaker is aiming up towards the ceiling.

As the days past and after running in and warming up, it gradually gotten "warmer", and now it is so comfortable to listen too. I'm really in shock. Trying to figure out how they managed to get the crossover point so perfect between the satelite and subwoofer is beyond my knowledge. This 2.1 speaker system doesn't sound anywhere close to a 2.1 system, it sounded like a proper bookshelf speaker with the ability to recreate bass notes really really low and deep!

It's really hard to find any fault with this speaker, no matter how hard I try. Just like the Shure earphones, this speaker system is all about clarity. It's not bias in any-way to any frequencies! The overall sound produce by this speaker is very very smooth. It's almost like cutting through butter with a razor sharp surgical knife. It's very comfortable to listen too and it doesn't caused fatique even after listening to it for long periods of time at high volumes. Everything is there at the right level, even the bass, it can reach amazingly low notes. It's not loud or boomy, it's..just right..perfect! It goes very low and attacks really fast, so you feel it more than actually hearing it, which is what a subwoofer should really do! However, I did realize there's a very SLIGHT minor flaw when I was playing back "Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta & Steve Gadd" drum solo battle, I noticed that the subwoofer didn't really keep up with the satelites when all three drummers keep on constantly doing double bass, hence it sounded quite messy and all over the place. But then again, like I said, it's just a minor flaw and you've to listen very closely to noticed it, and to be honest I'm sort of comparing it with my single driver Shure SE210 earphones.

Throw any kind of music to it, and I can guarantee you'll fall in love with this set! From heavy metal to slow instrumental music, it does everything well, infact, too well for it's asking price of only RM899!! It may seem alot considering the average PC speaker nowadays is only about RM200-RM300. And for RM500, you can get quite a good and powerful 5.1 speaker for your PC. But please do realise that you can't compare the RM300 speakers with this. This is for people who uses their PC as their main source of music, like I do, this is actually almost entering to the Hi-Fi category already.

So if you're planning to change your PC speaker soon, and want something really good and comfortable to listen too and also make it worth every cent of your hard-earned money (or to some people, their parents hard-earned money), then I highly recommend that you consider this. Search "Acoustic Energy Aego M" on Google and read some of the too many good reviews all over the internet. And then when you're finally convinced that you should get one and already very tempted to buy, give me a call and I can let you audition my set, and then let me convinced you some-more by telling you that I'm selling a brand new unit for only RM7XX!!

The Shure SE210 review

I'm going to make two confession right now.

First: The reason why I never update my blog for some time is because I was too pre-occupied with the "peanuts" you see above.

and Second: I did not blog because I really want to write a proper review on this earphones. But I soon realise that it is really not possible for me to actually write a review on this earphones because no matter what I say, or no matter what kind of words I used from any language at all, I absolutely CANNOT describe and put it in any form of words to let my readers know how BLOODY GOOD this is!!

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Shure SE210 (and optional Shure in-line volume control on the left)

Shure SE210 is actually the second entry-level in-ear earphones by Shure's new line of SE series earphone, so this is actually the second best of their "budget" series earphones. The high-end series of Shure SE line up are the Shure SE420 and SE530, where they have 2 and 3 seperate drivers in the earphone itself respectively. But most websites will consider even the Shure SE110 to be "high-end" earphones already, as even the Shure SE110 already doesn't come cheap, costing as much as RM350 in Malaysia, with the SE210 almost doubling that, followed by the SE310 doubling the SE210 price tag. And if you're curious, the top of the line Shure SE530 cost as much as RM2299!!

So you see, these are not your average earphones originally supplied by your mp3 player when you bought it, they mean business!!
(Btw, for those who are curious. The supposedly cost RM129 Apple Earphones which is so kindly supplied by Apple with every iPod is actually made in China, by a seperate factory. And I've learned that the cost of this RM129 Apple Earphones actually only costs RM5+ each for them to manufacture! So, for those who bought this RM129 Apple Earphones to replace their original one which is spoiled, well, I hate to say this but you are really quite S _ _ _ _ _!!)



So, after spending a good frustrating 5 minutes trying to cut open the box with a razor sharp kitchen scissors meant to even cut up bones, this is what you get in the box. 4 sizes of sponge plugs, 3 sizes of silicon plugs, triple-flange tip plugs, ear wax cleaner, extension cord, a high quality semi-hard earphone case and the Shure SE210 itself. Everything screams "quality", especially the cables and the case that comes with it. The cables for the earphones, and even the extension cable is much thicker than your normal earphone cables and it can never get tangled up! But seriously, who cares even if the casing is made out of carbon fiber (of course is not la!!)?? The main reason why you would want to spend your hard-earned money on this is of course for it's sound quality.

And how did it sound?? Didn't you read my second "confession"???
NO words can describe how BLOODY GOOD it is.

I'm serious. This is the BEST sounding earphones I've ever heard. I thought my previous RM180 Philips earphones was really good. I thought my previous previous Sennheiser MX51 was good. I thought my Sennheiser HD212pro headphones was quite impressive. I thought the new Sennheiser HDsomething headphones that I bought for Church is amazing in delivering fine details. However, after listening to this Shure SE210, ALL the previous earphones and headphones I've used are TOTAL RUBBISH!!

After letting it "run-in" for some time. I start having a proper listening session with this earphone and the sound quality is really beyond words. The first time I playback "I'll be home for Christmas" by "Michael Buble" on it, it sounded so good I actually teared. It gives the listeners a whole new experience listening to their music. It's like, this earphones somehow magically revealed a "hidden" layer of sounds that can never be heard through cheapo earphones. There was one time I said that music can transport you away to your own world, well, listening to music through this is something like that.

One of the main reason why it is so good is probably because of the sound isolation. After choosing the correct ear plugs for your ears, stuff the earphone tip into your ear canal and instantly - it is as though the whole world soften down..ALOT! Switch on any of your favourite music and even at a below average volume, it is good enough to totally shut-off the outside world. I tested this in a full-house Blitzone a few days ago. If you don't know Blitzone, I think it is one of the noisiest cyber cafe around, as everyone is killing people at full volume! So, I plug in my Shure SE210, stuff it into my ear - mmm..still can hear abit of gun sounds. Then I switched on "Norah Jones" and put it at 50% volume (my "normal" listening volume is around 60-70%), and it was more than enough to totally cut out ALL outside noise!!


iPod Touch to Shure in-line volume control to Shure SE210

Even though this Shure SE210 have only one full range driver inside, it can really reproduce sounds all the way from the lowest frequency right to the high end frequency with amazing clarity and detail. This earphone is all about details. Suddenly it is like someone "overhaul" your ears, all the defects and nuances of a poor quality track that were not apparent before seems to surfaced. Play back all your songs again, even if you heard it a hundred time, listening to it again through this earphone will make you feel as though you were listening to it with your ear close last time. I can't really put it in words, but the amount of details this earphone recreate is very impressive.

If you are the type of person who likes thumping bass, then this earphone is definitely not for you. Don't get me wrong though, personally I think the level of bass is more than sufficient when you have on a proper fitting ear plug. It certainly won't make your heart skips-a-beat, but what it does give you is a very detailed and refine bass sound. Listening to "Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta & Steve Gadd" drum battle with this earphone is - Intoxicating! Again, becase the detail and clarity delivered by this earphone is so great, you can really listen to every single sound in detail, even the slightest ring from the smallest cymbal or the soft retract echo sound after everytime they hit the kick drum becomes so obvious. You can easily differentiate each level of the frequencies very easily and it's really a feat. Any imperfection at the live recording stage can be heard way too easily. Heck, even the sound of Diana Krall wetting her mouth after she sings a long sentence sounds so darn obvious and evident through this earphone!! Replay it with my Edifier speakers or with any of my old earphones and it is impossible to hear those details already.

Honestly I can go on and on and on telling you about every fine, little but perfect details about this earphone and how good it sounds, but like I said earlier, I can try to describe it, but there's really no way to actually let anyone how good it is, until they actually hear it properly themselves.


So to end, this is what I personally think and feel about this earphone in not-geek language:
This is no doubt the best thing I've ever bought in my 19 years alive on this earth. Yes, even better than a car. Call me crazy but give me a chance to buy a Shure SE530 or a iMac/Nikon D300/iPhone/Nokia N95 8GB/Mac Book Pro/Surefire U2 now, I'll go for the Shure SE530 without batting an eye. This earphones are so good that they really sound better than sex!!! And I'm not the only one saying that this is better than "sex", get a copy of this month "Stuff" magazine and a interview with an expert said exactly the same thing too. Play your most favourite song on this earphone; if the recording is excellent, with good high quality encoding, then the pleasure you'll get is not much different then an o r _ _ s m!!

So for those of you who really enjoys listening to music, you should really consider this. If you're calling me crazy right about now, then I ask you..Why is it really insane to spend RM600-700, or even up to RM2k on a earphone? Some of you spend easily at least RM200-500 or more on jeans, shirts, shoes; or close to RM1k on sunglass; or RM700+ just for the Oakley spectacle frame; or wastes alot of money to mod car (I'm guilty of this too); or buy a PSP, or Nintendo DS, or even Xbox 360 or PS3?? If you spend money on those, then why not earphones? I bet you'll even use it more and much longer than most of your other stuffs, and best of all, you'll experienced a make-shift "heaven" here on earth everytime you listen to your favourite tracks.

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NEXT...
Look out for the next geek update on the NEW, long awaited, and successor to the Dopod 838pro: HTC TyTN II.


The long awaited HTC TyTN II!! Successor to my previous Dopod 838pro.

Updates..pictures..nothing much.

First up, although I know this is a little bit overdue, would just want to wish Henry a very Happy Birthday, he turned 19 years old on the 12th of October. Celebrated his Birthday at Char Chan Teng.


Henry with his free giant "teh ais" at Char Chan Teng.


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Pavilion KL

Went to KL last Thursday with Thomas and Wai Yee to search for something. Started off at Lowyat and Sungei Wang and at the end couldn't find what I was looking for, so we decided to pay a visit to the brand new, high-end shopping mall - Pavilion. I actually walked all the way from LowYat to Pavilion!! Which is quite a feat for me. Don't think I ever walked this much just to get something.


Main entrance of Pavilion. Nice. Didn't feel quite comfortable entering at first, looks too expensive.


Expensive..


Expensive..


Expensive..

Ok I know by now you're getting quite annoyed with me saying expensive. But this place is really expensive, everything sold here supposed to be at least 30% more expensive than other places. It's a really high-end shopping mall. Even the fine is expensive, no joke, check this out..


Expensive!!!

SEE!! Told you!! This is really insane man, RM10,000 fine for throwing rubbish there. Man, if this was Digital Mall, most of the tenants will be bankrupt by now as we all just throw our boxes next to the loading escalator. Hehe.

Anyway, the main reason why I (and also Thomas and WaiYee) walked all the way to Pavilion is because I heard there is a new HUGE Apple centre in Pavilion called "epiCentre". If you haven't heard of this company before, they are actually the premium reseller for Apple in Singapore also, and they have a really huge outlet there carrying ALL SORTS of Apple accessories. So I figured if this place don't have the something I'm looking for, then there's no way I can get it anywhere else in Malaysia.

And I was right, they really have what I was looking for!!...


The wall of high-end earphones in "epiCentre". Never seen anything more..beautiful than this!!

"epiCentre" was indeed a geek heaven. Ok so the something I was searching for is high-end earphones. Was looking all over the place for the new Shure "SE" series and also the "Bose" in-ear headphones. The stupid "Pod Station" at LowYat told me that it is not possible to get the new Shure "SE" series earphone in Malaysia yet...yeahh right.."epiCentre" carry ALL of it!!

They really do have almost ALL the high-end earphones you could ever dream of buying..and all under one convenient roof! They carry brands like Bose, Sennheiser, Vmoda and Shure. Best thing is they just don't carry one or 2 models for each brands, they bother to bring in ALL, really spoilt for choice there! I was really shocked to see the "Bose Triport IE" there, as it is really really hard to get in Malaysia. But still, nothing beats seeing the brand new Shure "SE" series earphones hangging there; And really, what a beautiful sight it was.

So after spending about half an hour there testing out the earphones and at the same time "torturing" the really really friendly and fun sales dood, I was more than happy to leave the place with a epiCentre plastic bag on my right hand, even though I know I easily paid 30% or more buying from them at Pavilion. But it really didn't matter to me, the customer service and the wide product range available really made me a truly satisfied customer, leaving the place with one of the widest smile I had in a long long time.




My precious. My new geek toy. My new (temporary) happiness. Shure SE210 in-ear sound isolationg earphones and Shure in-line volume control.

Will write a review on these babies soon. Currently still "testing" it with a variety of music. Check back in a day or two for the geek post of this...

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Random pictures..


The jam in KL last Thursday. Which is one day before the first day of Hari Raya. This was about one hour before the breaking of their fast. When I left LowYat at around 7.20p.m., the road became clear! Thank God all the Malays rush home or to a restaurant.


Look closer.


Again, look closer. No-wonder the standard of english in primary and secondary schools are dropping.


Very very bad storm this afternoon. Was on the way back from Cheras when I experienced this. I think this is one of the worst storm this year.

iInvented..iBack!

Since I got my iPod Touch last Tuesday, I've been DESPERATELY trying to find some kind of screen protector for the back of my iPod; because Apple choose to be ignorant fools and continue producing iPods with the oh-my-goodness-that's-so-beautiful-reflective-aluminium-back-surface even though they received numerous, no wait, MASSIVE complains and feedbacks from their customers that the surface scratches TOO easily.

I agree that it is really beautiful and you could use the back surface as a vanity mirror when you're feeling a tad too vain, but in terms of practicality, you can't even put it down on your desk without fearing you'll leave a scratch on the oh-my-goodness-that's-so-beautiful-reflective-aluminium-back-surface!!

So, back to the screen protector. Like I said, I was really desperate to find something to protect the back, I searched high and low for it. All the way from Midvalley, to 1 Utama, to Lowyat, to Sungei Wang, but no where is selling anything like these for the iPod Touch yet. So in the end I just got myself the iPod Socks to keep my iPod in it. I could do the iPod Gella Skin, where they stick those design stickers onto your iPod surface, but that would completely cover the reflective surface and defeats the purpose of it.


Now, that was last week. But today, when I was digging through the store-room at my HQ, I found a stack of old LCD camera screen protector!!


When I saw this, I asked myself why can't I use something like this and stick it onto the back of my iPod? It could work, since these kind of screen protector sticks onto any smooth and clean surface, so I decide to "steal" a stack of this LCD screen protector for 3.5" LCD screens (since my iPod Touch screen is 3.5", so the width should be about the same).

After cleaning and polishing the back of my iPod surface thoroughly..
After measuring, adjusting, and cutting the film properly...
Carefully peeling out the protective film layer....
Slowly stick a small area first, and then force out air bubbles as I stick down more of the film...

After about 5 minutes of careful sticking....

Voila!!
My very own DIY screen protector for the back surface of my iPod Touch!!


DIY screen protector!! For the back of my iPod Touch. I shall call it..iBack!

If you noticed, I've to use 2 piece of the 3.5" film. 1 full piece, and another cut half, and then cut according to the WiFi antenna as the film can't stick to non-smooth surfaces.

So it is not as nice as the original iPod protective film. But hey!! At least it will do what I want it to do, I saved at least RM50, and a whole lot more of scratches if I choose to wait until iPod finally come out with their own one!!


For those of you who want me to help you do something like this on your iPod, do contact me! I don't mind doing it for you..(when I have free time).