I recently purchased the Yuin PK3 earbuds after searching long and hard for some portable headphones for my iPod Touch and MacBook. I came across the Yuin PK3 after scrolling through Head-Fi and my local headphone store’s website, Headphonic. The PK3 has received a lot of good feedback from a lot of people and they’re even better than I expected them to be.

Firstly, I will say I’m a bit of a closet audiophile, so some decent headphones for my portable rig were important to me. However, I only rip music to a compressed format (128kbps AAC) for my portable gear, and I don’t use a separate headphone amp or external DAC with them, so there comes a point where the headphones will be too good for the gear they’re used with. I wanted to find that sweet spot in the price vs performance ratio, and have something that suited my simple setup without breaking the bank.

The PK3 is the entry level model in Yuin’s line of earbuds, its big brothers being the PK2 and PK1. I’ve tested the PK3 through a few different sources, including the iPod Touch’s internal DAC and headphone amp, the same on the MacBook, and through an external DAC and headphone amp combo.

Just to be specific, the Yuin PK3 is an earbud, the same style of headphones that come packaged with a new iPod, only they’re black and sound much, MUCH better. Being earbuds, they won’t suit everyone, however. Earbuds generally have an open design which means you’ll still be able to hear what’s going on around you, and a fraction of the sound that you’re listening to in the earbuds will leak out, though it is minimal. Another popular headphone style is the canalphone/in-ear monitor, which generally offer some level of sound isolation because they fit right inside the ear canal. Everyone’s ears and listening environments are different, so you should buy the headphone style that suits you. I chose earbuds because I like to hear what’s going on around me at all times, and prefer their comfort over canalphones.

I definitely found what I was looking for in the Yuin PK3. Here’s why…

Sound Quality

The first thing I noticed when listening to them for the first time was the amount of bass that is present. The bass is easily heard while not being overpowering. But don’t interpret this the wrong way. They’re not the most bassy headphones I have ever heard. The difference is that the bass is more punchy and controlled with the PK3 than any other earbud I have heard.

The PK3 has nice balance along the frequency spectrum which I very much appreciate, with perhaps a slight lean towards the lower frequencies, but not by much. The highs are very present and clear for a headphone in their category, and the mids sit just right (which is also very much appreciated, unlike the iPod earbuds which are very heavy in the midrange).

Most important of all, for me at least, is the fact that I can listen to the PK3 for long periods of time without being fatigued. Their sound signature is very pleasant to the ears. There’s nothing worse than listening to music through headphones that give you ear fatigue or a headache after a while.

Just to note, using an externally amplified source for the PK3 won’t make much difference to their sound. I only noticed slight improvements in bass and stereo soundstage, and I really do mean slight. So, for those with external amps in their portable rigs, I’d look at the PK2, or the PK1 which is harder to drive and designed to be used with an amp. Both of these offer improvements in sound quality over the PK3, but I can’t vouch for them personally as I’ve never listened to them.

Design and Build Quality

I must admit, I was a bit skeptical of how robust the Yuin PK3 would be. I mean, how much can you expect from a pair of AU $50 headphones that are made in China? But I was pleasantly surprised. The connectors are all gold plated, the plastic driver housing seems durable, and the cord is thin but not particularly flimsy (at least not the worse I’ve seen, and a thicker cord often means it’s more rigid and less flexible, which can be annoying as it stops the cord from ’sitting’ right). A weak point on any earbuds is where the cord joins into the driver housing. The PK3 has a thick stem which helps to prevent any weakness there.

They’re also very ergonomic and fit into my ear reasonably well. I say reasonably because earbuds usually don’t fit my ears extremely well, either constantly falling out or hurting them from too much pressure on the edge of the ear canal. Everyone’s ears are different, but it’s pretty safe to say that if you’ve used earbuds before and like them, you won’t have a problem with the PK3.

The Yuin PK3 comes in two different flavours, the J-cord and the Y-cord. For those who don’t know, the J-cord (A.K.A asymmetrical) has the cord on either the left or right side longer than the other, and the longer side is designed to be worn around the neck. The Y-cord style (symmetrical) has the cables from both ears the same length, and is usually worn in front, under the chin (the iPod earbuds are an example of this). Personally, I’m a fan of the J-cord, so that is what I purchased. There are differences in the material used for the cord with each design (I’m not sure if this is the case with all Yuin PK3 earbuds, but it is what I’ve experienced first hand). The J style has more of a smooth plastic feel to it, whereas the Y style is more rubbery and possibly less prone to tangling as it seems to bounce back into shape more easily. Whichever style is ‘better’ is a matter of personal taste.

The cord is 120cm long, which is on the short side. I’m about 5′3″ tall, and it’s just long enough for me to use them comfortably connected to the iPod Touch in my pocket. There’s only about 5cm of excess cord. So, for those who are taller than me (which is pretty much everyone), you may need an extension cord. Just remember to get a good quality cord with gold plated connectors, or you’ll reduce the sound quality.

Above: The package contents of the Yuin PK3 including earbuds, foamies, 1/4″ adapter, instruction manual, wooden box, box sleeve, and plastic storage container.

Price vs Performance

In a nutshell, you can’t beat the performance of these earbuds for their price, at least not anywhere I’ve seen. There’s a huge market for portable headphones, and unfortunately it’s populated with a lot of sub-par products that are way more expensive than they’re worth. The PK3 outshines the rest in their class, and at AU $50, they’re a steal. Easily the best earbuds I have heard, and I can’t wait to try the PK2 and PK1 one day.

They also come with some nice accessories including a quality gold plated 1/4″ adapter (click-on not screw-on), included foamies and a cute little wooden box and plastic container to store them in, which just makes the price look even better.

Conclusion

The PK3 is a great sounding earbud with a price tag that’s easy to swallow. They’re bassy without being overpowering, and have clear highs and the right amount of midrange. They’re also durable and come with all the accessories you need. I recommend the PK3 to anyone looking to upgrade their portable headphones, especially if you’re looking to replace the standard white iPod earbuds. I’ve yet to find an earbud that even touches them for the price. I’ll definitely be using the PK3 with my portable rig for a long time yet.

Macs sure are getting popular these days. I’ve found myself giving advice to people lately who’ve been asking which computer they should buy, and whether they should try out a Mac. A lot of people are hesitant about making the ‘Switch’, and rightly so. A Mac is different to a PC. It’s a completely different experience. It does the same things but in a different way. So, for those wondering about whether they should make the Switch, here’s a list of questions to ask yourself to help you decide.

What will the computer be used for?

Do you only need to surf the web and check your email? Do you plan to play games on your computer? Are you a developer or designer who works with specific applications? It is crucial to pinpoint your exact requirements to make sure your computer will do everything you want it to.

For the average user who just wants to surf the web, check email, listen to music, watch movies and upload their photos, a Mac would be a great investment as it does all of these things extremely well and comes with everything needed to do so right out of the box. It also has the advantage of being very easy to use for the non-experienced computer user. Even for the experienced user, a Mac computer is a great benefit, combining a robust operating system with a beautiful user interface.

For web developers, graphic designers, photographers, movie makers, and many other creative professions, the Mac is often the platform of choice by many professionals. This is largely due to the amount of professional software packages available for the Mac computer, such as Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Final Cut Pro, etc.

For gamers, Mac computers are still at a disadvantages against PCs when it comes to playing games. Macs can play games, either buy purchasing games specifically made for Mac, or installing Windows on your Mac via Bootcamp. But if playing computer games is your primary reason for buying a computer, a Mac would be a poor choice compared to its PC counterpart. With a Windows PC, not only do you have full support for the games you want to play, but you can upgrade your hardware very easily when your graphics card, processor, etc, gets old or suddenly dies.

One thing I will mention is that Mac computers make excellent home theatre computers and media servers with their optical out combined with the headphone out port, and Front Row that comes with every new Mac.

Is being able to upgrade important?

One of the many differences between Macs and PCs is the upgradability factor. Whilst both Macs and PCs are comprised of many different parts from many different companies, the major difference is that Macs are sold as a complete package in which you can’t (or rather, you’re not supposed to) pull apart and tinker with, other than the RAM, hard drive and battery which are generally user-replaceable. It’s also much harder with a Mac to get to the ‘guts’ of the computer, as they’re generally sealed up rather nicely. The only exception to this is the Mac Pro, which has upgradability and expandability in mind, but still not equal in scale to a PC. With a PC, it’s easy to buy separate parts and build your own custom computer. If a part fails, you can return it separately without voiding your warranty.

A lot of people view the lack of upgradability is a disadvantage for Mac computers, but in this way of thinking they miss the benefits. Since Mac computers are sold as a complete package, the user can be guaranteed that all of the parts work together perfectly well and are tested and optimised to give the best performance. Not only this, but technical support and warranties are much better and more straightforward with a Mac since you’re only dealing with the one company, rather than several different companies for several different computer parts.

Personally, upgradability isn’t as important to me as it used to be for one simple reason. Technology moves so fast these days that a simple PC upgrade every two or three years usually requires you to buy several different parts because your new processor and RAM needs a different type of motherboard, and the graphics card requires a higher wattage power supply, etc. It’s near impossible to future-proof yourself when it comes to selecting computer parts because technology changes, plain and simple. Obviously, the exception would be the PC gamer who wishes to stay on top of the demands of recent PC games by upgrading his/her graphics card or CPU regularly.

Is price a major factor?

While it’s common to hear that “Macs are more expensive than PCs”, this isn’t necessarily true. Building a PC part-for-part like a Mac would cost approximately the same amount. The difference is that there are only so many models of Mac computers, and therefore pricepoints, to choose from, whereas it’s almost limitless with PCs. Cheap laptops (sub US$500) that come with Windows now exist using yesterday’s technology, but there is no equivalent of this for a Mac. The cheapest Mac notebook computer is the 2.1GHz MacBook which costs US$1,099 at the time of writing. Obviously, this is a factor for some people who only need the bare necessities for web surfing and email, etc.

Is security and virus protection important to you?

All new Macs come with the OSX Leopard operating system, which is based on Unix and is extremely robust against viruses and other malicious attacks. While not indestructible, they’re much more protected than PCs running Windows which are extremely vulnerable to attacks. This could become an important factor in your purchase decision when the computer is for a non-experienced user who may not know that you shouldn’t click on that particular browser popup, or download that particular file. It could also mean spending less on anti-virus, spyware and malware programs over the years.

Final thoughts…

Most people know I’m an Apple fan. I love Mac computers, and rarely use anything else these days. I often recommend them to people looking for a new computer due to their ease-of-use, style, excellent operating system and applications, value for money, and great product support. However biased I may be, I won’t recommend a Mac to someone who clearly will not benefit from one. Cheap Windows based PCs are easy to find or build these days, particularly using older technology that’s being phased out, and casual to hardcore gamers would probably be best going for a Windows-based PC for their gaming needs. Ultimately, what you decide should be based entirely on your individual computing needs.

Over the last couple of weeks, several events have occurred concerning the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD format war, and it now appears a clear winner has surfaced.
First, Sony made an announcement claiming that Blu-ray had won the format war. Whilst Sony was just spitting out the number of sales on their Blu-ray discs and players, and HD-DVD was still very much alive and available, the announcement signified a major turning point and a possible (and probable) end to the format war entirely.

Then, Netflix announced they will only stock Blu-ray in the future, with a limited amount of current HD-DVD titles still being available until they are phased out at the end of the year. With the amount of customers using Netflix now, this is a pretty big deal.

From the Netflix website:

Netflix carries hundreds of high-definition movies in the Blu-ray format, and adds more every week. You can browse Blu-ray titles in the Blu-ray Genre. Because most of the major studios release their high-definition titles exclusively on the Blu-ray format, Netflix no longer carries movies in the HD DVD high-definition format.

Then Microsoft bit the bullet and announced that the Xbox 360 add-on HD-DVD player has been officially discontinued. It was a predictable move, one that we were all waiting for, but I’d imagine it would still make a lot of people quite angry that their HD-DVD add-on players no longer have much of a future, if a future at all.

Then came the major turning point. Toshiba announced it would no longer be producing HD-DVD products. It didn’t take long after that for the movie studios who had originally backed HD-DVD to switch over to Blu-ray.

Now, it appears there’s a Japanese electronics store that is so ashamed of selling the losing HD-DVD format player to its customers that it’s allowing them to trade their HD-DVD players for Blu-ray players over the month of March.

Despite all of this, I still can’t help but wonder if the reason why Blu-ray won is because of the name. ‘Blu-ray’. It rolls of the tongue. People like it. It’s easy to say.

One thing’s for sure though; even though there might be a few angry people around for a while, it’s good that the format was is finally over. Having to purchase two separate players, fork out the cash for a combo player, or choose between them both was beyond ridiculous. When it comes down to it, people just want to watch their movies and not have to regret a purchase decision. Many of us had avoided hi-def discs and players completely until a format had finally come out on top. It was only a matter of time, and it couldn’t have come any sooner.

It was a long time coming, but reemixx.com finally has a theme I’m proud of. The theme is by Alexandru Cosmin and modified by Yours Truly.

There’s a few minor changes to be made, code to be validated (thank you W3C…) and bugs that need to be squashed. If you notice any of said bugs, let me know so I can squish ‘em. Also let me know about anything else you’d like to see on the blog.

Recently I’ve been catching up on a bunch of episodes of my favourite video podcast, The Totally Rad Show. I’ve seen a few previous episodes where the trio reviewed some comic books and graphic novels, and it sparked an interest. Sure, I read a few random comics as a kid, mostly Marvel comics like the X-Men and Spiderman, but never really took it seriously. For some reason, I never found superhero comics very interesting. I guess I didn’t quite ‘get it’ with all the men and women running around in capes and tights. Perhaps that influenced my opinion of comics in general, which is why I never fully got into them. However, I’ve just made an interesting discovery.

There are many, many, more comics and graphic novels that aren’t about superheroes than I first thought. In fact, there’s a whole bunch of comics with more adult themes and weird, dark and fascinating stories that really appeal to me. A lot of them are from DC’s publishing line called Vertigo, but there’s also plenty of others as well. I was simply amazed with the sheer amount of non-superhero books that are out there.

Why hadn’t I heard of these earlier?! Well, probably because I fell into the trap that is “comics = superhero stories”. It’s a common misconception. I’d imagine most people who aren’t into comics think of them this way, and I was no exception. Comics have a lot of prejudice against them. I never thought about it enough or was interested in it enough to bother doing any research, and because of that, I missed out on a lot of good stories.

So, recently I’ve been doing my research. iFanboy, another great podcast from Revision3, really helped me in figuring out what comics I should start with, and the kind of stuff that’s more suited to my taste. They have a couple of episodes called ‘Five’ and ‘Another Five’ that give a short review on the must-read comic books out there.

Needless to say, after hearing of all these titles, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I now have a list of comic book titles that’s almost a metre long, and I plan to read them all at some point. I wanted to dip my toes into the vast sea of comics with something that would really pull me in. So, I ordered the first two trade paperbacks of Y: The Last Man. They should arrive sometime this week.

I’ve also made a decision to buy trades as much as possible, as buying individual issues could get a tad expensive and harder to store. And I’ll be honest, I’m impatient and would rather read multiple issues together at once.

After I’ve finished Y: The Last Man, and possibly a few others (such as Preacher) then who knows…. I might even try some superhero comics. Perhaps Batman or the X-Men. The only problem here is that there’s already so much history in the Marvel and DC universes, it’s often daunting and feels impossible to catch up. I’ve decided I don’t really care about the continuity, and I don’t mind (and probably prefer) reading standalone stories, as long as they’re good stories. I mean, that’s what it’s all about, right?

I feel like a kid again, and it’s great.