A Traveler's Sanctuary: The Bose Quiet Comfort 20 Noise Canceling Earphone

A Traveler's Sanctuary: The Bose Quiet Comfort 20 Noise Canceling Earphone

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Damn! I almost fell over the first time I switched them on...the quiet was physically stunning. I spent my last two flights with the Bose Quiet Comfort 20 in my ears...the sense of having my own space and refuge was extraordinary. Go ahead and yell it at the top of your lungs, I'm sure I'll barely hear...

SANCTUARY!!!

The Everything is New Project

The Everything is New Project

The Light of Love Children's Home in Tuni, Andhra Pradesh, India is a refuge for orphaned children—children of parents with HIV, parents who committed suicide, or who were murdered for their property, amongst other calamities. In The Everything is New Project, Scotland-based arts collective Transgressive North and charity organization Scottish Love in Action have developed three albums of music around recordings of these children as the Light of Love Children's Choir.

Turkey & Jazz in NYC

Turkey & Jazz in NYC

Maria Schneider, photographed by Jimmy & Dena Katz

Thanksgiving week is upon us, which means that two of the best bands in jazz are showcased at two of New York’s—and possibly the world’s—best clubs. From Tuesday through Sunday, Maria Schneider’s Jazz Orchestra plays at the Jazz Standard (though not on Thanksgiving Day), while Jason Moran’s Bandwagon Trio plays at the Village Vanguard. These gigs have become annual traditions. They sell out fast. Get your tickets now.

The Simpsons Welcome You to MusicVille

The Simpsons Welcome You to MusicVille

In this recent couch gag, the creators of The Simpsons transform their characters into a world of anthropomorphic instruments. Not a detail was missed in creating this music wonderland with piano-toothed dogs, slide-armed Simpsons, and traffic lights shaped like notes on the staff. Mr. Burns threatens tyranny through censorship of all music forms except classical, but the Simpson family and friends soon figure out the music within them cannot be contained.

Swans Speaker Systems Baton

Swans Speaker Systems Baton

666swans.100.jpgAs a privileged reviewer-type person, I was sent the souped-up, all-rosewood, bi-wirable version that sells for $2905/pair. They're quite handsome and very solidly built, weighing in at a respectable 50 lbs each. At $2275–$2905/pair, the Baton is Swans' most affordable speaker, and reportedly employs many of the technical refinements of their larger, more costly models.

The Baton uses the tried-and-true two-way dynamic design, with a 7" coated-paper woofer and a 1" fabric-dome tweeter. The tweeter comes with a little Marigo dot stuck to its center to shape its response. It's not a physically easy task for a woofer to reproduce (well) all the frequencies from about 60Hz up to about 2 or 3kHz. One that succeeds is a nice find, though, because the sound has a nice coherence to it when most of the music is coming from the same driver. But don't take my word for it—just look how many zillions of two-way speakers there are out there.

Winamp Is No More

Winamp Is No More

Starting December 20, 2013, Winamp will no longer be available for download. A warning was posted on the Winamp website yesterday. Winamp served an instrumental role in the proliferation of downloaded music giving music fans an easy way to play music on their computer.
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