Making the most of your media player

Toys by Ding

Upon listening to my female readers out there, and a few other comments, I have decided to stop calling this column BoyToys and from now on, it will just be Toys…

Moving on, this week we won't be looking at a gadget per se. We'll be looking at what you can do with that new music phone or portable media player that you just bought, and how you can get the best sound quality out of it.

For most people who are on the move a lot, a music phone or a media player can be a life saver. It will keep one from going insane during long trips, or can provide a safe and comfortable little haven in a noisy work environment, provided you use it properly.

One of the key things to remember is volume control. Higher volumes can provide an experience that puts you "inside" the music, but be warned that this can be short lived. Long durations of exposing your eardrums to loud music can seriously harm your hearing.

Even though the headsets that are provided are of decent quality, an after-market pair is highly recommended for two reasons.
Sound clarity is one obvious reason. A decent pair of professional headphones will let you discover notes which you never knew existed in your favourite music tracks, and will bring you a richer, fuller listening experience.

The second one is noise isolation. Most of us are in the habit of turning the volume up to cut off background noise. But a set of headphones which isolate the noise by means of covering your ear, or better yet, use active noise cancellation technology, would allow you to listen to music at a moderate volume, but still provide the full listening experience.

Most new music phones including almost all new music-oriented Nokias have a standard 3.5mm jack to plug in regular headphones. And manufacturers such as LG and Sony Ericsson are following suit, or provide converters to plug in a standard headphone jack.

Media players on the other hand, largely stick to the standard 3.5mm output, so problems won't arise there. A pair from a reputed brand such as Bose or Sennheiser would set you back a bit of money, but the safety, comfort and the listening experience would be of a level which you've never experienced before.