In the Ear of the Beholder

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

I know, I know; I have got to better than one post every two months. In my defence, it has been an extremely hectic six months. We moved into a new house and the room designated as my den/”studio” was an unfinished basement room with concrete floor and bare studs. So, after wiring outlets, installing sheetrock, crack-filling, painting, and carpeting my new space, I decided I needed some new monitors to complete the picture. Of course, the monitors I wanted (Read: could afford) were back-ordered and I waited another six (6) weeks for them to show up. This is on top of all the other little chores that go along with home-ownership. Chores that I have been able to avoid for the last two years of ass-swelling, rental bliss. Chores like mowing the lawn, which I had to do twice a week through the summer months because of all the rain. I guess this is my long-winded way of saying that after almost six months of no deck-time I am very rusty and it’s take a couple of weeks of regular steel wheel workouts to knock myself back into shape. Fear not, though, a fresh mix is on the way, so keep an eye out for it.

The other thing to put a crimp in my spin sessions was the demise of my headphones. I bought my Beyerdynamic DJX-1s a little over a year ago after breaking what I swore would be my last pair of Sony V700s.



Not only did they sound great, as you would expect from a high-end manufacturer like Beyerdynamic, but they fit very nicely also. Very comfortable headphones. My only complaint at the time was that they were constructed entirely of plastic. My experience with plastic headphones has not been good. At various times I have cracked, snapped, or otherwise destroyed a set of Sony MDR-V500s, a set of Sony MDR-7605s, and two pairs of MDR-700s. Given the reputation of Beyerdynamic as a purveyor of quality headphones, I pushed those doubts aside and proceeded with enjoying my new cans. That is, until the simple act of removing them from my head after some practice time broke the band just above the swivel joint almost in half.

After contacting Beyerdynamic directly about a possible replacement under warranty, I was directed to the fine folks at Martech, Beyerdynamic’s reps here in Canada. Martech were extremely helpful, informing me that the broken portion of my DJX1s was covered by a five (5!) year warranty against breakage. “Send them to us,” they said, “and we’ll send them back, good as new.” So, off they went to Beyerdynamic's repair/replacement facility in Ontario. I am still awaiting their return.

In the interim, I played at a friend’s Christmas party using the only other closed headphones I own: JVC Marshmallows! And they were GREAT!! I know, I know; I asked myself the same question: How can this be? How can $20 earbuds function as well, if not better, than my $200 full-sized circumaurals? The answer, in short: isolation. The Marshmallows are like little foam earplugs with drivers (speakers) in them. According to headphonereviews.org, they’re able to block a whopping 26dB, two-and-a-half times that of the DJX1s. The big advantages to such a set-up are, 1) the improved isolation allowed me to turn down the monitors because I wasn’t using them anyway, and 2) I didn’t wake up the next morning with ears ringing. The latter has been of real concern lately. It used to be that I could play a show and go home with ringing ears, but wake up feeling right as rain. The last couple of events, however, I’ve woken up ringing and it has lasted through to the afternoon. This points to a disturbing trend of auditory deterioration, one that many be at least delayed simply by switching from full-sized headphones to In-Ear Monitors (IEMs for short).

For those unfamiliar with the term, the In-Ear Monitor is defined by the fine people of headfi.org, the definitive resource for all things headphonish, as:

In-Ear-Monitor (IEM), also known as canalphone, ear-canalphone, or ear-canal headphone, is a type of Inter Aural headphone that is designed to be used where the user’s ear canal is sealed by the ‘phone. The seal generally serves two functions: 1) blocks noise and 2) forms a sealed acoustic chamber to achieve a fuller sound. To create such as a seal, the earphone’s nozzle along with its tip (or sleeve) is inserted into the front part of the ear canal. Many high end IEMs are custom molded for comfort and perfect seal.

The custom molded IEMs referred to in the definition are those favored by live musicians nowadays. They sort of look like hearing aids and are credited with saving the hearing of rock bands world-wide.

Funnily enough, there aren’t any DJs who have jumped onto the IEM bandwagon. At least, there aren’t any who are talking about it. I did stumble across an article in Remix magazine talking about how the industry should adopt these auditory extending devices sooner rather than later, but that seems to be the sum-total of DJ scene coverage. Regardless of whether I’m breaking ground or not, a pair of custom IEMs are definitely in my future. In the meantime, my trusty Marshmallows will have to carry me. It will be very interesting to hear how they make out on February 1st.