It's Over
I'm in mourning.  After a year and a half of almost continual use, an earsleeve post broke off my beloved Shure E3C portable earphones, and there's no way to fix it. Oh, I can still hear through them (kinda) but it's just no good any more. I have to retire them, and I don't want to. You may think it silly, getting worked up over a set of portable earphones. Well, you get emotionally attached to equipment you use every day (at least, I do), and I practically lived in those 'phones.

Honest Work
Crutchfield's Creative Department is housed in a pleasant, skylit office, well-suited to the type of work we do here — the atmosphere's cool, serene, with plants everywhere and subdued lighting — my husband says it reminds him of a library. But 22 people jammed into a space not much bigger than a large classroom gets rather crowded. While we do our best not to disturb each other, noise distraction is inevitable.

Most of us solve the problem with headphones. When you spend 8-10 hours a day in headphones, finding the right pair for you is as important as finding that perfect-fitting pair of jeans. If you don't love them, you're not gonna wear them.

Crazy Love
I really fell in love with my Shure E3Cs.  I took them to the gym, the office, home — anywhere I could. I picked them up two years ago, to replace the unwearable set my MP3 player came with. Since Shure made some of the equipment I use in my home recording studio, I was willing take a chance on the name and pay a little more than I normally would for portable 'phones.

The E3Cs are sound-isolating, in-ear 'phones. Some big-eared folks (like my husband) can't get past the "in-ear" idea, but I love it. I have comparatively tiny ears and the in-ear style means my 'phones stay put — my E3Cs didn't fall out, shake out or get in my way the way earbuds do and because there was no headband to contend with, they didn't interfere with my glasses or my hairstyle.

And they sounded so good! It was nice, owning something that special. And they were definitely special — Shure uses studio-grade microdrivers with an extended lower range, so when they were seated correctly (in-ear 'phones really do go into the ear, like earplugs) I got audiophile-level sound. I even tried wearing them to master music in my home studio with good results.

Can't You Hear Me Knockin'?
They weren't kidding about being sound-isolating — when music played, I absolutely could not hear anything else. Great feature! Concentrating on my work was so much easier — I was in my own little musical wonderland. But I've discovered that's not necessarily the best place to be, at work. Sure, I couldn't hear the phone conversation going on in the next cube any more, but I also couldn't hear my own phone ring, or my office mates asking me questions.

Adding to the confusion, my sound-isolating Shures not only made it impossible for me to hear people talking to me, the E3C's unobtrusive profile made them disappear under my long hair, so no one could tell I had headphones on.

If I Should Love Again
Although I'm very, very sad about my broken headphones (I can't bring myself to throw them away), I must admit, this is an opportunity to find a set specifically for the office. I considered upgrading to the Sure SE-420s (which have 2-way drivers and even better range and definition), but given the drawbacks I discovered with the E3C's, I think I need something a little less sound-proof and a lot more obvious to wear at work.

I just checked, and Shure doesn't make on-ear and over-the-ear style 'phones so, I'm (reluctantly) searching for a new brand. But that's a post for another day. Right now, I need to go borrow a pair of headphones.

Song title references:

• It's Over — Simon & Garfunkel
• Crazy Love — Van Morrison
• Honest Work — Graham Parker
• Can't You Hear Me Knockin'? — The Rolling Stones
  
• If I Should Love Again — Dean Martin