I don't feel like writing the "Charlie Tale of Commuting Woe" right now, but I had a ****ty commute as well. At one point my head was halfway through the cabbie's window as we exchanged "No, YOU'RE a mother****er"s, etc. Bah. I totally agree with the theory that now that the absolute worst has passed people are trying to make up for lost time or something by acting like extra-douchy-******bags.

On the bright side, I haven't smoked in like ... all kinds of time!

$10000 bikes? Zero feedback? Where do I enter my credit card number?

Not really first-hand in that I didn't end up buying them.. but I ended up deciding that most places where I'd be listening to music (on bike, commuting, walking) that suffering a bit of background noise was better than being completely isolated (& losing some awareness of surroundings).

Tail Wind Sports is the company that runs Discovery...not that a scammer wouldn't know that. Just sayin.

I tried to stop taking my antidepressant painkillers but I failed.

Wow. size 17-18". Them's some serious calves.

So ... when I was really sick a few years ago I ended up getting seriously addicted to my pain medication and the sedatives I had been prescribed. When it ended it wasn't "Requiem for a Dream" bad but ... well, my mother found me curled up underneath her coffee table screaming from withdrawal. If you're having trouble tapering off any of that **** you should talk to someone else who's been in a similar situation or talk to your doctor if they actually have a clue (a lot of time they don't). Or talk to a friend you're close to. It's easy to become dependent on that stuff and develop problems.

+1. Trainspotting has always resonated with me.

The good thing is that the closest substitute you'll ever find is the Endorphines your body releases when you ride hard.

Happy secular holiday of your choice to everyone. I'm off to the flatlands for ten days. I got my order in early and it should be around 0 C when I get there

only now do I know wtf op was talking about.. some tips:

a) spell it right.. "Shure"
b) don't use incredibly obscure (read: you just made it up) and/or off-topic acronyms.

I agree with what LordFoo said and I add:

a) I find them more comfortable than regular earbuds, BUT they are still fatiguing for long listening periods.
b) fairly lacking in bass.. flat frequency response is great if you're mixing The Next Hit Record. However just for listening back? Give me exaggerated EQ and I'm happy. They're do sound *flat*.
c) the loss of ambient hearing is GREAT in some situations (bus/airplane/library or office where people won't stfu/etc), but terrible for others (eg. riding)
d) that same sound isolation results in certain sounds being really amplified.. you get that 'fingers in your ears hearing' thing happening where your breathing sounds extremely loud, ditto for chewing. Also if the cable is bouncing around you wind up hearing that too.

All that being said, they're still pretty great compact headphones. If the point wasn't to have something you can just throw in a pocket/bag I'd probably go with some over-the-ear 'phones though.

btw. I have the E2c's

^^ RAGE !!!

For general use at a fixed location, I'd buy Grado SR-80s again and again! As an IEM for portable players, my e3c's do the job very well, are extremely clear, and without strong bass. They aren't hip hop headphones.

Are any of those in-ear setups particularly bad for hearing damage?

Say, given a standard (normal/loudish) volume level across the board, are there some headphone/earbud styles to avoid?

I wouldn't use them for more than 2 hours at a time, mainly because they begin to hurt my ear canal. At lower volumes, they're pretty safe to use; safer than, say, open ear phones like the Grados, because you're less likely to crank the volume due to interference from ambient noise. In all cases, there's only so much you can do to avoid hearing damage, and your dynamic range only shrinks with age; case in point: during my 3rd year DSP course, we messed with certain frequencies, and some people could hear up to 20KHz, while others couldn't hear 13KHz.

I used to own the e2c's. I picked them up because they looked the burliest with super thick cables and behind the ear insertion. I don't really remember how they sounded like anymore. They were quite comfortable.
They lasted about a year and a 1/2 of abuse.
The ONE thing annoying about IEM's is the cable rub or when your eating / chewing gum. You hear the sound amplified in your head.

I've also breifly owned the Er-4p's. The sound was real neutral which is what tons of audiophiles are looking for, but the sound just isn't for me. And inserting the white tips wasn't a pleasant experience for my ears.

If I was to buy again, I'd probably try for the Ultimate Ears Super.Fi range. They seems pretty awesome and I really do like the behind ear design as I think it looks a little bit more discreet. I do believe the E2c's are quite a bit older and discontinued? I'm sure they're way cheap by now though. I'd def. recommend them for your first IEM.

I won't ever go back to ear buds. I can't stand the ambient noise that you have if you take the TTC or walk down the street.

As for hearing damage, I don't think any of these setups would be particularly bad for you. no idea.
I find I use a much lower vol. setting using in ear headphones, but thats simply because all ambient noise is blocked off.

Hrm. Seems I need to make a trip to B.B.R. with sample music in tow.

happy kwanzanukkahmas Cam...have a good one.

Maybe he celebrates Festivus.

Cosmo Kramer: Is there a tree?
Frank Costanza: No, instead, there's a pole. It requires no decoration. I find tinsel distracting.

Frank Costanza: It's made from aluminum. Very high strength-to-weight ratio.
Mr. Kruger: I find your belief system fascinating.

Yeah, funny you say that because I was schure I spelt it right. My mind is ****ed. I mainly use my headphones on bus/subway which is really loud. So I looked into noise blocking + music = 4tw.

I have a pair of grado sr60's that I really want to sell. They sound real nice but it's extremely uncomfortable, especially if I wear glasses. It's been broken in/headband molded for a year now.

'appy Chrimbo/Festivus/stuff'n'stuff too - take 'er easy!

I'm choosing to stay off the bike today. Xmas junk for lunch at work (Yonge/Sheppard FFS) and still being a bit offside with sicky sick sick I figure I'll rest up and get on it again tomorrow.

Monday night I was riding across Sammon Ave and had a guy say "I think that bike is a season or two off for this" pointing to my roadie... I said "nah, this thing cuts right through all this crap - I've only fallen once today!" heh - good times

And now... to the streetcar and trying to keep sane. (I know as soon as I see a cyclist out there I'm gonna be green with envy but it's for the greater good )

Used headphones?.... eeeew

When being introduced to the Track... do we bring flowers? A bottle of wine?
Should we put on airs of Olympic Glory or just be ourselves? Gee I hope the track likes us.

Yeah, I find the same thing. Because all the ambient noise is blocked, you don't need as high a volume.

That's how I feel about the Grados as well. I don't care how good they sound if I find them physically uncomfortable. Plus, as I said before the flat frequency response thing is what all the audiophiles jack-off to, but I don't think there's anything wrong with having coloration, as long as it's coloration that YOU LIKE. People always talking about that for speaker cabinets for bass (guitar) as well. However, try playing one of those totally flat response cabinets in a live setting and you realize how much of your presence comes from that speaker coloration when you get totally lost in the mix.

Not to mention the fact that you're likely using them to listen to mp3's anyway. You hardly need audiophile quality headphones to listen to a lossy file format. That'd be like putting carbon zipps and campy record on my urbanite! (see what I did there? brought it ON TOPIC!)

I like BASS.... if they can't boom, they have failed. Noise bleed is more irritating than anything in the world to me. Sitting on the streetcar listening to what everyone else is listening to totally irks me. I rock the over the ear Sony ones, I love em, 30mm for bass and no bleed. Word to comfort, I can't use in ears anymore at all, they just hurt.

I'd skip the zipps and go for this:

https://www.thebigox.com/index.html

Includes a secret ingredient that unleashes the awesome power of apples.