What the Hell is Hi-Fi anyway?

I'm going to be comparing my Bose Spoundsport Wireless earphones ($150) to my Mpow Cheetah Wireless sport earphones ($23).

{"Mpow"? Never heard of them!} Exactly.

And you would think there would be no comparison. I mean c'mon. It's Bose.

But before I begin, full disclosure:

The Bose were free. Like, I found them on the ground kind of free. So, to be fair, they could be like, super old, possibly damaged, who knows. You think I'd just up and buy $150 earphones? HA.

 
 
The Fit
The Mpow have an over-the-ear design with their drivers kind of sitting over your ear at a downward angle, while the Bose have a little piece of silicone that fits inside your ear to help them stay put. The eartips on the Mpow are stiff, while the tips on the Bose are super soft and malleable. 

I have to give it to Bose for comfort. They are way more comfortable to wear over long periods than the Mpows. However, I think the Mpows stay better, and since they are both "sport", that kind of makes a big difference. Plus, the over-ear design reduces movement noise. 

The Wire
And on that note, the wire that connects the two sides are very different in each brand. In the Bose, the wire is soft and floppy and a little sticky. It reminds me of a wet spaghetti noodle, and it's super annoying because it sticks to your neck and they're impossible to properly fold up to put away. The Mpows, on the other hand, have a kind of weird pre-folded design like a Pretzel that you have to forcefully unwind when you want to use them. Even after using them for years, I still have to deduce how to unfold them each time and check to make sure I'm putting them in the right ears. But as annoying as that is, the wire is stiff and non-sticky, and barely noticeable on my neck. Plus, it springs back to that pretzel shape when you put them away.

Mpow wins this one.

Connectivity
Both units connect to my phone with no hassle, even on initial setup. The Bose talks to you (which is kind of creepy, actually) and tells you what it's connected to. The problem I have with them goes beyond a connection to my phone, however. It has a + and - on the wire that are inoperable for volume control. Now, to be fair, it may just be my unit. I mean, it's entirely possible that the person that owned them before me got all pissed when they stopped being able to control the volume of their music using the wire and tossed them on the ground. I mean, they did spend $150 on this shit lol. But it's also entirely possible that it may just be an iOS compatible device and I may not be able to control volume this way. Which is complete bullshit. I probably wouldn't be able to answer calls with it either. The Mpow has its volume control on the right driver. You can answer a phone call with it too. But you can't pause or skip any tracks, unfortunately. But as it stands, it at least works.

So another point goes to Mpow.

Sound
The moment you've all been waiting for. The Bose has to win this one, right? I mean, what else did I spend $150 for (hehehe) if not for the expensive drivers in the earbuds, amirite? 
Well hold your horses, buddy. It's not that simple. It's true that I'm not a true Hi-Fi aficionado. I don't spend the big bucks on my music tracks. (In fact, I don't spend any bucks on my music tracks). But I did want to truly put the Bose to the test to see what all these Hi-Fi shenanigans were about. I wanted to know if I, the lowly introvert*, could make out the difference between cheapo earbuds and a good quality pair. I even downloaded a couple of apps that would test the ranges of my earbuds. 
And the truth of the matter is, is that I couldn't. I believe the Bose has a lower bass range of an extra -5db before I stopped being able to hear it, but that was about it. I tried a couple of songs that had a good range of sounds (from Classical to Trance) but the only difference that I could discern was that the Bose pair are inherently quieter (as in, I had to turn them up a notch for the same sound volume as my Mpows). So that, coupled with the fact that I can't control the volume using the inline controls means that they're pretty worthless to me.

So who wins?

Actually, the super cheap and light wired ones I carry with me when my wireless ones run out of juice. Plugging those cheapies in gives me better sound than anything wireless that I could provide. But no really, the Mpows win hands down. It makes me really glad that I didn't actually spend $150 on these Bose ones, because I would have been sorely disappointed! 


*Yes I know that didn't make any sense. I did that on purpose.

 

Touring Seattle

Derek made a comment to me about the fact that I wanted to be a tourist in "my own city" [in Seattle, close enough], but I think my response should grace posters everywhere: "You've got to see it sometime". 

Maybe something a bit more eloquent is in order. Still the same in essence, though. Everyone is a tourist of their own city once. Eventually you will see the things and do the things, even if it takes years. And Seattle is such a large and daunting place. The traffic is a nightmare. The streets are crazy. And I can't stand driving in it - my anxiety goes through the roof. So, if it isn't within walking distance of the Link Light Rail Station - I've not seen or done it. But Derek has seen and done the things. And been an Uber driver all over it. So naturally, he was the perfect guide when we decided to hang out yesterday.

The first thing I did was on my own: Ride the Ducks. I know what you're thinking. I was gonna die. I don't blame you. Their reputation precedes them at this point. But that's exactly the reason I wanted to go. I wanted to do it before they um.. *cough* went out of business.

 
Let's cut to the chase. Was it worth $35? Not really. The guide was very entertaining, and of course driving into the water was pretty cool. But it's definitely more for the actual tourist and not the fake tourist like me. It was a neat experience though. I'm glad I still did it. 
We did get into a scrape, however. A car swerved a tad in the lane and because the duck boat is so big it takes up the whole lane. The car's back bumper tapped us, and we had to sit around for about 20 minutes while they exchanged information. The tour guide earned his tip from me right then.

Anyway, so after that, Derek was stuck in traffic coming down from Everett so I decided to cross another thing off my list: The Amazon Go Store. [for the uninitiated, I included a link explainer] Downloaded the Go app, walked in, checked out all the pricey stuff and decided on some Pumpkin Greek Yogurt. I had wandered into the original Go Store, so I ended up right next to the Amazon Spheres, and because I was within the Amazon "complex" (30 acres, I think?) it was set up for employees to grab food and eat it at a counter so I did so. They had microwaves and spoons and stuff. Pretty neat. The Spheres are pretty awesome too. It's too bad that you can't go inside without a tour appointment. 

 FYI, this pic is unedited because I'm too damn lazy for this shit today.

So I met up with Derek down there and we headed towards another place on my list: Cubes Baking Company. It's thanks to Evening Magazine that I even knew about any of these places. 

But on the way, we ran into Archie McPhee's, and had to stop. It wasn't on my list but it was on Evening Magazine! Fun store.

Anyway, when we got to Cubes, I had a snickerdoodle concha. It was delicious.

{Concha is a typical Mexican sweet bread. A concha consists of two parts, a sweet bread roll, and a crunchy topping. Conchas get their name from their round shape and the striped, broken "shell-like" appearance of their topping. Wikipedia}

But in this case, it was cubed. Because Cubes Baking Co.

After Cubes, we were within walking distance of another list item: Molly Moons Ice Cream. I settled for the coffee ice cream with fudge. It was too expensive. Good, but too much. I'll keep to Ice Cream Social in my neck of the woods.

Now that I was kind of full, we were going to find some stuff to do until I was ready for my dinner list item: Next Level Burger (I chose these places solely on the fact that they are not within walking distance of a Link station.) 

We went to Kerry park for some views (I had brought my camera), Denny Park for more views, drove around Magnolia for the pretty houses, and ended up at another very small park for another view of downtown. 

 
Across the street had been an old brick condo with a nice manicured area that I wanted to go take pictures of, and we found a Windemere open house at the complex. A unit was being shown!! We decided to join a pair already waiting to be let in so that they could see the place. 

 
Seattle: $450,000 for 550 sq feet with single pane windows and no parking spaces. But hey, it was across the street from a park with a view of downtown and brand new appliances. So... cool? 

After that, we drove to Alki beach and at this point it was close to sunset. We walked and I took pictures of the sunset and decided to cross yet another item off my list: Lime Bike!! They were all over the place at Alki so I rented an electric version for a few minutes. That was fun.

At this point we were both getting hungry so it was time to head up to Roosevelt for some Next Level. It was inside the Whole Foods (figures). They specialize in vegan burgers. I had my mushroom and quinoa burger with vegan cheese and tempeh bacon, which was mouth-wateringly delicious. Oh man, that burger was freaking GOOD. Next level for sure. I hope they expand southward. I would totes go there more often. 


After that, I told Derek to drop me off at the Starbucks Roastery so that I could cross another item off my list. We knew there would be no parking here so this is where we parted ways. By this time it was 8pm.

Let me tell you, this place is pinnacle hipster. I went to the very back, where they openly roast their beans and have the "Experience Bar" (I'm not kidding, this is what they call it). I tried the Brew Experience, where they offer the same roast brewed two ways, so I chose Starbucks's own "Clover Brew" [explainer link] and Pour Over. And believe it or not, I could taste the difference. It was subtle, but noticeable; and Clover tasted better: not as bitter.  I ended up with probably 16oz of black coffee total for $17 (oi) but I managed to drink it all. Black. 

YOLO, amirite?

I found a small batch roast of Barrel-Aged Whiskey Infused whole beans (with no price. If you have to ask, you can't afford it) and ordered a Cordusio to go, which ended up being like 6oz of espresso with some chocolate powder so I added sugar and milk because I was done YOLO'ing. 
 
And that was it. I walked back to the Link station and headed home. What a day! Crazy amazing though. Derek had fun too and we're gonna do it again sometime for sure.