I work at Plastyk Studios and the guys there are great. Not only that, as the company directors they decide when their company give gifts, and while I’ve been working there it’s been at Christmas time, like a Christmas bonus. So this year I got a roll up piano keyboard (as a bit of a cool gimmick) and also the E4 headphones.

Allow me to begin this review by saying that if other in-ear headphones aren’t as good as these, I wouldn’t want to use them. Ever. These earphones sound the way I would expect earphones to sound. Which, incidentally, isn’t much of a qualitative difference to the sound of my Sony earbuds, which I reviewed here. Ironic that the E4 gets a mention at the end of that review…

Anyway, these E4s sound glorious. Crisp and clean are the key words here. Everything they reproduce has an air of precision about it. I have heard details in my favourite music tonight in just a cursory play-through which I have never noticed before on other speakers varying in quality from a dodgy Philips boom box thing through to Alpine car audio and large PA systems.

For mine, the only reason to bother buying these is if you care deeply about precise clean sound and, more importantly, have issues with ambient noise. These headphones block out a decent amount of sound, between 18 and 20 dB I’m told. More if you use the foamies or get custom molds for your ears. However, if you’re not going to use these on stage, on a plane or in a noisy workplace, stick with cheaper earbuds. They sound about the same for the price, they’re less physically intrusive to wear and you don’t have to worry about getting a good seal between the earbud and your ear canal.

The only negative comment I have at the moment is that the seal of the earbud seems to restrict airflow and pressure equalisation between my sinuses and ears. It feels like I’ve just driven up a hill and the pressure is still stuck in my ears. Perhaps inserting them with an open jaw will help…

I can’t wait to try these out on stage. Alas, it will be a while before I can afford the Mipro MI-808 to make it convenient and safe enough to even think about trying in-ear monitoring. I can wait.

Update, 2 January 2007
I have been using the E4s more frequently in the last week, now that the busyness of the Christmas season has passed. The first thing I have noticed with more frequent use is that, while I was getting a great seal in my right ear using the small grey flex sleeve, my left ear was not sealing correctly. To remedy this I took scissors to the set of triflange inserts and reduced them to what’s known as a “modded triflange”, or biflange. Essentially, by removing the smallest flange and chopping a bit off the tube, it becomes the best-of-both-worlds solution, bridging the gap between the small and mid-sized flex sleeves and catering to my irregular ear canal sizes.

My first take on these headphones was not as effusive as I thought it might have been. Since then, however, my opinion of the Shure E4 has improved, like it should with good wine or a new friendship. I have come to appreciate the finer musical detail which the E4s can reproduce – they are incredibly precise. Also, using the biflange inserts means that I get great isolation – normal conversation over more than about 2 metres is inaudible.

Perhaps the best thing, though, is that they are incredibly responsive. With my Sony MDR-E828LPs plugged into my iPod, I have become accustomed to a slight audible volume decrease at any sudden change in dynamics, whether it be a kickdrum or a band entry. While I understand the deficiencies of the iPod’s headphone output (quantified here and, indeed, like any non push-pull output as analysed here), the E4s react better than other headphones under the same conditions, and quite markedly at that.

The last thing to say is that it is a pleasure to have headphones which do not require attention to keep them in the ears. I watched a DVD on my laptop while lying in bed and the headphones remained comfortably seated in their proper place through the whole viewing.

All in all, the E4s are becoming a better listening experience the more I use them. Still can’t wait to get them on stage…

So I’ve hired The Flight of the Phoenix for the princely sum of $1 (and for a week at that), but after chewing it for a couple of hours I’m left with a bland aftertaste, much like the one I would acquire if I masticated the DVD case for the same amount of time. There are some good performers – Giovani Ribisi does a good job, Miranda Otto’s Australian accent is perfectly balanced and Hugh Laurie is both cold and, at a point, quite evil. And the cast is certainly a motley crew. However, this doesn’t account for the sour remnant I’m dealing with.

There is a point during the movie where Giovanni Ribisi’s character Eliot – the designer of the new Phoenix – is exposed for only being a model aircraft builder. According to the commentary, this is the moment at which I should be feeling intense mistrust and betrayal, because of the deception Eliot had perpetuated. However, Eliot’s comments were to the effect that every aeronautical theory which needed to be applied on a model scaled to be applicable on a full size plane. He was voicing his belief that the theory he understood could be applied regardless of its apparent implausibility.

The other actors’ performances at this moment were completely adequate, and Dennis Quaid was explosively expressive. The rub is, I believed Eliot. I didn’t care that he was a model plane designer because the theory should work out on whatever scale. Obviously the film was targeted at a more emotional, less logically-blinkered viewership.

Nice locations, some standout performers, and one decent explosion. The special features make me dislike the director intensely – his explosive and abusive reactionary direction is contrary to what I deem to be either professional or polite. Ultimately, a typical Dennis Quaid effort with a disappointingly predictable finish. It’s deus ex machina with the “deus” not so “ex”.

Sorry to spoil it for ya, but it’s not like they won’t be successful with their plane building exercise. Hollywood it is. Fabulous it isn’t. 1 star.

Here’s what Alan Frew of Coffee for Connoisseurs said on the topic this month in his newsletter:

Nestle has recently released a new instant coffee called “Short Black”. In the spirit of adventure I bought a sample jar and tried it out. It does indeed foam up and produce a pale yellowish faux-crema when you pour boiling water on it, but the product in the cup bears little relationship to a real short black.

Even at the much higher concentration (for instant) than normal, one and a half heaped teaspoons in a 100ml cup, it lacks the body and mouthfeel of a real espresso. While there is real coffee taste (very much like bland Brazil) it is mouth puckeringly acidic, like sucking a lemon. This may be an artefact of whatever processing is used to produce the crema effect, but it’s not the sort of thing I’d drink for fun.

I agree with Alan. Rather than buy the stuff I had the unfortunate opportunity of trying it out at work. I dumped the correct amount of fine light-brown powder (think half-size International Roast granules) into an oversize cup and sloshed the appropriate amount of boiling water on top. I was surprised – it does actually foam up, and the top of the coffee looks like crema-oozing goodness.

That, however, is where the similarity with real espresso ends, much in the same way as forward movement of a car ends when it meets a solid concrete wall at speed.

The stuff tastes like I performed as perfect a 23-second extraction of a single roast bean as possible… and then removed my espresso cup for safekeeping, substituted another and extracted for 30 seconds more with the already dead coffee grounds still in the portafilter. Add a dash of lemon juice and some fake frothy stuff on top, and voila! Nestle Short Black.

Do not let the world foist bad coffee upon you. Resist the temptation – you don’t know the power of the Short Black side.

Learning
It was particularly useful to watch the footage from the Shield Zone website of a shield being applied to an iPod Video. I visited the URL at the bottom of the product liner and downloaded a WMV. Simply having seen how “the pros” handle the film and how to use the spray appropriately was quite reassuring.

Getting Started
That tiny piece of film for the clickwheel middle button is incredibly annoying. I’m not usually a clumsy type but I managed to drop the little circle three or four times. I was working at a table but had laid a towel down, which was a mistake. Having dropped the tiny exposed circle meant that it was dotted with very fine hairs and threads – I should have placed more emphasis on the “lint free environment”. I subsequently used a comparatively large amount of the spray on the back of the circle piece to get it lint-free again. That meant that, after frantically re-establishing which side of the circle was the sticky side, applying it to the button became a very slippery exercise. However, given its size, it did lie down on the button with no apparent bubbles trapped underneath. It is difficult to squeeze out bubbles from underneath a tiny slippery circle while trying to hold it firmly in place with slippery fingers…

When I had finally applied the circle to my liking I took a look at it. Even now it appears to be so perfectly sized to the button that it is not currently sitting down on the button all the way to the edge of the film. Attempting to squeeze it down actually compresses the button and the clickwheel itself lifts the film at the edge. I have read online that apparently the film shrinks a little upon drying so hopefully in the morning it’ll all be fine.

Clickwheel
I have opted not to apply the ring of film to the clickwheel as it has been exposed for the whole life of my 6-month old iPod with no obvious scratches. (I had previously protected my nano with another [inferior] stick-on film which was a stopgap measure before biting the bullet and buying an Invisible Shield…) The nano’s clickwheel is textured deliberately and I wish to retain that feel. Given its matte appearance and inherent scratch resistance it doesn’t particularly need the glossy film covering in my opinion.

iPod Front
By this stage I had resolved not to drop the film again, and to ensure that my fingertips were free of tiny lint. I also noticed on the video that with sprayed fingertips and sprayed film it seemed OK to handle both sides of the film. I used just enough spray to keep the film sliding a little when I applied it, and I was particularly sparing when it occurred to me that I might not have enough to finish off the job without reverting to the old soapy water solution.

Figuring the aligment out was fine but I did have a couple of tiny threads or hairs caught under the film which necessitated lifting the film and spraying iPod/fingers/film to be able to move it. Squeezing out the spray around the sides of the clickwheel was the most tricky bit. By the way, I did not use the packaged plastic wedge to squeeze out the water – it seemed too thick and not flexible enough. I ended up using a plastic shop card much the same as in the video.

iPod Back
Having enough spray remaining I applied it normally to the remaining piece. This bit was the easiest, with no fiddly cutouts to worry about and having the consternation-filled experience of applying the other bits under my belt. I simply applied, aligned, realigned and squeezed. Some of the edges didn’t stick down immediately so I simply moved on to another edge with less moisture.

Comments
The whole process took about an hour. There are currently a bunch of very tiny bubbles under the film both front and back which will apparently vanish as the film’s adhesive cures for the next 24 hours. The film is a stippled surface which doesn’t necessarily detract from the look of the nano. It gathers fingerprints quickly but cleans off easily too.

+48 Hours
The film has sealed down quite well. I can see only about 1/4 of the tiny bubbles now – the glue must have cured some more over the two days since application. The clickwheel button is looking a lot more secure now.

Final Word
I wish that the iPod nano shield also had the corner tabs which fold over the round silver corners, like the full iPod shield. I wish I had squeezed out more water so that the bubbles totally disappeared. But all in all, the nano looks as slim and fabulous as it does when not shielded, and indeed, when looking at the front it’s hard to tell that there’s a film on it at all.