Jun 15, 2007

iPods to blame for total eclipse of the art: “‘We are not in a very visual age,’ Hockney said. ‘I think it’s all about sound. People plug in their ears and don’t look much, whereas for me my eyes are the biggest pleasure.’”

Are we visual people, or are we aural people? If you had to choose, would you rather lose your eyesight or your hearing?

For the longest time I wrestled with this question - if I lost my hearing, I would lose the ability to listen to beautiful music. But if I lost my sight, I’d lost the ability to look at beautiful women. But in the end, it came down to one thing: if I lost my hearing, I would lose the ability to hear someone sneaking up behind me. Sorry Mr Hockney, but I’ll go with the ear every time.

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A brief follow-up on my loudness post from couple of days ago:

• A U.K. brief on TV Advertising Sound Levels “ and why they’re so loud.
• Why music really is getting louder: “Record companies are competing in an arms race to make their album sound the ‘loudest’”

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David Pogue of the New York Times offers up a review of several active noise canceling headphones.

Short summary: the Bose QC-2 and QC-3 are still at the top of the heap, but models from Panasonic and Audio-Technica are closing the gap.

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