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Hear, Hear: Earbuds, Canalphones and Headsets |
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Dr. Samuel Says -
Smart Design
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
My nephew Calvin, being 15 years old, is naturally several light years ahead of me when it comes to understanding the particulars of digital music. He's a good lad, though. Very enterprising. He once created an entire bit torrent network expressly for the purpose of sharing and distributing old Devo records. It's so nice to see a respect for the past from the young people today.
Over the holidays, Calvin and I spent a good deal of time together, and
I displayed to him some of my mad old school skillz, such as my ability
to play Asteroids on the Atari 2600 for 36 hours straight on a single
game. In return, he introduced my to the Skullcandy brand of
headphones, earphones, and digital music accessories.
 Evidently these are all the rage with the high school set. I can see
why. The company's packaging and marketing is aimed squarely at the
young teenage hipster. Check the iconography of their website and
product packaging -- skulls, handguns, Rasta colors, skateboards. And,
of course, the model names of their various product lines -- Low Rider.
Hesh. Icon. Smoking Buds.
Considered in toto, the Skullcandy brand conveys a certain calculated
edginess, a hipness, a willingness to leverage drug culture idioms and
signifiers when marketing to younger consumers. I have no opinion on
this -- it is what it is; a sign of the times, the culture, the free
market. What I am concerned with is how totally freaking excellent
these smoking buds earphones are! (Technically, they are closer to
canalphones in that they extend into the ear canal itself.) Calvin
bought me these, as a gift, and I must say I am completely sold. You
can check the technical specs here -- all I know is that I've wasted
years monkeying around with subpar headphones. I've suffered through
painful hard-shell ear invaders to the high-end but unwieldy circumaural
variety that make you look like Princess Leia circa 1977.
This is an independent consumer recommendation. I'm not on the
Skullcandy payroll (though I am certainly willing to be -- drop me a
line, fellas), I'm just a regular guy with several dozen advanced
degrees in multiple disciplines who loves his new earphones. Thanks,
Calvin! Thanks, Skullcandy!
p.s. If you really want to supersize your earbud performance, try this.
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