Tech Updates

Before I commit the entire month of August to headphone rambling, here's a few things in the tech world I sort of skipped over since the last relevant post.

The biggest I think is AMD ditching the ATI name. A lot of computer websites and myself included mostly referred to ATI products by AMD anyway, but occasionally "ATI" would slip back into consciousness and find its way into our writings whenever the thought arose about what actually produces these products. Well AMD hopes to dispel any such confusion in the future by erasing any question of the source of their graphics solutions, emphasizing the dissolving of any subdivisions into a unified, singular company. To some, this is a startling reminder of the extremity of the event that took place now four years ago, one that carries with it some pretty heavy significance in the history of computing, and in the minds of those who follow the industry. Those folks might have foreseen this eventuality from the outset, but the sudden immediacy of its arrival is no less sobering especially for fans of ATI in years gone by. It seems hard to imagine a Radeon without an ATI, but we must be quick to remind ourselves that it isn't the name that made the Radeon, but the company, the engineers and innovators within that kept an underdog alive, and even gave their opposition a bloody nose from time to time. Now more than ever they're on top of their game, and with NVIDIA struggling to flesh out their product line, their clockwork execution and unwavering onslaught have put them in a position few would have thought possible after the stumbling first couple years following their acquisition.

Iso-orthodynamagnaplanarstats

One of the great things about headphones and any audio endeavor is the human ear. Well, the human perception of sound, I should say. A human's aural memory is quite fickle and volatile, especially when it comes to minute details and differences. You can barely remember what you heard one minute to the next, which can make comparisons between audio equipment a pain in the ass, but it has benefits when you have a really good audio setup. When I bought a new LCD, going from a TN panel type to an IPS type, I could immediately tell the difference, and it was striking. I could easily recall how the old screen looked, and even given the amount of time it took to set up the new screen, I had no trouble distinguishing all the improvements it made. This same ability to remember all things visual also meant that as time went on, a short amount of time actually, I got used to the IPS screen, and it was no longer breathtaking to look at. The brilliant colors, contrast, and image stability just became the norm, and the thrill was gone before a month had passed.

With audio, you can't remember shit. In the time it takes you to unplug one pair of headphones and plug in the next, which is less than a minute, you've already forgotten all the little characteristics of the sound enough to not be able to pinpoint the differences between the two, unless it truly is night-and-day (and we're talking a vast expanse between them). This is in sharp contrast to other animals, like birds, who use acute audio memory to discern the subtle differences in the sound of their mate's call from all the other birds in the flock (and in cases of domestic birds, sometimes the ability to imitate sounds with high accuracy). For this reason, every time you play music through your speakers, you're rediscovering them, and even after a long time, they can still shock and amaze you, and thrill you all over again. It's one of the things that makes audio hobbies so much fun, and why they have such a following, while computer monitors and TVs....don't.

They can take me anywhere I want

Of the many earthly possessions I fill my life with to inject into it some level of enjoyment, headphones stand out as one of the most expensive, and possibly most controversial. Early on headphones were something my dad and I shared when we'd make long trips away from home, visiting relatives for what would be weeks of pushing on our threshold of boredom. We'd find a moment to slip out from their company and make a stop by a department store of some sort, what substituted at the time for a fun getaway. Often we found ourselves looking at headphones, sometimes out of a need for a new set or just as a passing interest. We'd pick up a pair or two and bring them home, eagerly anticipating what the fruits our discoveries might bring. Armed with portable CD players (remember those?), we'd compare and contrast between old and new, different models, different styles. "This has more bass," I'd comment, "but that has more loudness." My father might concur, adding, "you can hear the guitar strings better with that one." It would be a fun moment sitting on the couch, trading opinions, enjoying music, and bonding. Unfortunately my father and I don't share a lot of interests, and such occasions are dear in my memory.

So it seemed only natural that my interests in headphones would grow beyond the sparse excursions away from home, into something all its own, a fascination into the quality of audio derived from headsets of unknown characteristics, a sort of treasure hunt within the vast array of choices hanging from the walls and racks of various retailers. Those were all fairly inexpensive though, and it wasn't long before I found myself unsatisfied with what was available at those prices. I wanted to know what lay beyond, what you could really achieve with the headphone form factor. That inevitably led me to the internet, and searches there uncovered a vast wealth of brands and price ranges, and huge communities sprung up around them. I soon came to know the name Sennhesier, and soon after I spent some hard-saved money on a model costing nearly $100. Quite an expensive initial entry into the world of boutique audio headgear, considering my then fledgling enthusiasm. Upon their arrival, I knew instantly there were more to headphones than I had ever known, and my fascination was greatly spurred.