My Birthday: connectors are Shure good

It was my birthday yesterday we had pleasant but quiet evening. On a blog-relevant note, I got a Shure MPA-3c "Music Phone Adapter Cable" as a gift. It's a cable that plugs into the iPhone and let's you use any pair of headphones (such as my nice in-ears ones), but it also has a microphone on it and also a switch within the cable so you can control the iPhone just as with the standard iPhone earbuds. In my opinion this is a must-have item for iPhone users, and no other cable or adapter is comparable (even Apple Store staff we not consistently well informed on this issue).

In-ear headphones were first recommended to me by Eric Bourque (computer scientist and former musician) and they are well worth the hefty price tags. They side right inside your ear canal and block out extraneous sound without being bulky; they provide good sound quality, and they preclude your having to turn your earphone volume up (thus preserving your ears). It's worth getting high-quality set since they come with different inserts to assure a comfortable fit for your particular shape of ear. I have had a couple of pairs and the ones made by Shure (like the SE310-K and or SE530PTH) are by far the best with respect to comfort. I also have a cheaper pair made by Bose and the erognomics are much worse (to the point I never use them), even though the sound quality is as good.

The Shure cable has a decent microphone, is nice and sleek, and works perfectly. It also allows you to use the iPhone for audio and/or simultaneous telephone conversations in the car too.

You can find them at the Apple on-line store (currently with a 3-week back order) or the retail stores (where they are usually sold out, but they are a bit cheaper at
Amazon.com [link to item] Note that the SE530PTH combine the features of this cable with a pair of in-ear phones.

The full Shure part ID is MPA-3C-K-EFS