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RPGs and chow yun-fat by sadd3j

Not exactly the strong point of the 360, here are at least.. two pretty RPGs coming out for 360, Blue Dragon being the supposed “win over Japan to the 360” which isn’t going to happen. And Sacred 2 looks sweet. (P.S. I pwned YFA by moving these screenshots into their own post from the one below.) Haha Stranglehold.. so stylish! and you get to be chow yun-fat.. woo ..!

Eternal Sonata
Eternal Sonata

Blue Dragon

Blue Dragon

Sacred 2

John Woo’s Stranglehold

4 comments

More cool 360 games by sadd3j

Granted I do feel a little dirty, feeling like I “sold out”, but I’m too old to be a specific console fanboy anymore. And being a Mac fanboy is more than enough.

Viva Pinata has an actual playable demo now on Xbox Live, I think I’ll try it out tonight.

Halo Wars looks interesting.. but RTS on a console seems even worse than a FPS on a console. Although I read I can just plug a KB in for typing aspects of the 360, maybe Halo Wars will support that.

Fable 2 looks pretty sweet.. but may be too long and “free-roaming” for me to spend time wandering around.

EA’s Army of Two, “Coming 2007”, a third person shooter with emphasis on always having two guys. All based on cooperative play, can’t imagine just playing this with an AI partner.

Army of Two

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The joy of listening. by sadd3j

So today, I brought my 7506’s to work, I wasn’t going to bring these.. but it’s hard to listen to my PX all day after listening to these. As everyone knows, Grado’s aren’t notoriously comfortable, so I guess I haven’t really been inclined to reach for them except when I’m looking for “extreme detail”. I have to admit, these 7506 are really comfortable.. I read that it’s geared for smaller ears (+1 for being asian!) and I’m really taking to their non-intensity.. its making listening to music much less “fatiguing”

It’s like the difference between sitting on the edge of your chair and feeling the heat of the music on your face.. and just leaning back in some deep cushy sofa and just enjoying the “smoothness”.. the closed helps the silkiness since you really don’t have external air noise or anything.

At low volumes, the flatness is more evident. Listening to Wicked right now, it was at fairly low, non-intrusive volume when it came on and I noticed that it felt pretty “distant”. BUT.. I found when I cranked up the volume.. you can really get that “in your face” brightness without it kicking your eardrums over and curb-stomping them (Gears of War reference) with the overall volume level.

Mm.. definitely a good buy. Makes me want a pair for work all the time =(. I like how they’re full size cans too, without being overall ridiculously huge.

1 comment

1st/2nd impressions: Sony MDR-7506 by sadd3j

Second impression: I tried them last night side by side with the Grados powered by the Powerbook. Wow! It was very very different than here at work. Which is strange, cause I used a G4 tower here at work so I assumed the quality would be pretty good.

The 7506’s are quite astounding, far and away better than the PX100’s when listened to on the powerbook. Much easier to compare with the SR80s and while distinctively different sounds, you can instantly tell they’re in the same ballpark.

The SR80’s, due to their openness, definitely have the edge on a bigger soundstage. For my initial rough comparison using only two songs, I found the SR80’s had more presence, a brighter high end and tighter low end. The presence really brings the music to you and it’s more intense and in your face.

The 7506s I would describe as smooth, the bass is definitely more prominent than in the SR80’s (which I thought wouldn’t be the case after trying them at work). The detail is all there, you don’t miss any high end detail, but it’s much less in your face. Like all the reviews read, it’s very much flat and nothing very prominent.

This comparison was done with a flat EQ in iTunes.


Very initial impression: These are not your regular cans. I can’t tell if they suck or if they’re really good.

One thing I can say is, these are not your typical headphones. I only have the PX100s to compare to (since I’m at work) but one thing I can say is they have a very different sound from anything I’ve listened to. I don’t know if I would use these for regular casual listening.

At first it seemed like there was no bass, and very sterile, but afterwards I realize the sound is better described as flat. These cans seem ridiculously brutal. You can hear everything. Nothing is over-emphasized. It also responds very well to EQ settings. I think this is what “studio” and “reference” are all about. If you want bass, you turn up the lower range on your EQ. You can turn up anywhere on the EQ and none of it sounds bad.. it just sounds “honest”. The bass isn’t in your face, but you can hear all the bass detail quite easily.

If I could make a preliminary comparison to the Grados, I’d say they have more emphasis on the mid-range than the SR80s’ more V-shaped sound (deep bass and crisp highs). I think the Grados sound better, but in regards to the production side of it I would say that if you can get your mix sounding good in the 7506, it’ll for sure sound good in the SR80s. Rather than monitoring it in the SR80s and then having it sound not so great in the 7506’s.

They definitely take getting used to.. after all the bass-heavy speakers and headphones. Music doesn’t sound as in-your-face with these. I’m listening to You are Good right now and I can hear everything across the range but it doesn’t feel as “intense” as when listening in the px100’s.

Sony MDR-7506 Sony MDR-7506

6 comments

Eurgh. by sadd3j

So as you know, I’ve been expecting a delivery (which shipped last monday), so last night I came home and saw the Canada Post delivery notification and thought to myself, “sweet. I guess I can pick it up tomorrow before work”… what a lazy delivery guy though.. got the address wrong, didn’t put in any info if it was a letter/parcel or what. It was to “Jonny G” at “38 Grand Oak Drive”..

Ah I wrote it off to him being lazy/unable to read. After all.. Jonny G is kinda at least close to Jonathan C.. and 38 is only one number off from 48! Went into the post office this morning.. and hand over the delivery notice, and she starts looking through the letter drawer and I’m like.. err… isn’t it.. a.. package? She pulls out some 407 URGENT payment envelope.. and I’m like what!

Ahh.. turns out some guy named Jonny G lives at 38 Grand Oak Drive.. and I get pwned. But on the bright side, the tracking for the real one says it got to the “Foreign Delivery Unit” yesterday morning.. so hopefully I can pick it up tomorrow.

Check out this Bioshock video, the beginning is fairly generic (but pretty).. but wait till the middle/end, when he pits the two enemies against each other and starts whipping out the telekinetic stuff.

Bioshock gameplay trailer

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