Can’t study

It’s 11:00 PM and I’m really uninspired, so I can’t seem to do any studying. I look at the words and they just don’t sink in, something about Pakistan (pronounced Baakistaan in Arabic), non proliferation treaties, and probably something about Israel/Palistine (pronounced falistineen)… Anyway, my mind is wandering.

One thing that I’ve been trying to figure out is a longer term solution to my listening habits. I’ve been using some cheap Sony headphones since I got here and I’m sick of them. As long as I’m sharing a place, I’ll keep using them, but I’ll be moving into my own place in Jan. so I need some speakers! I have a nice sounding table radio back home, but it’s a little heavy, plus I’d need to buy a step up transformer, which is also heavy. My mind started to wander, it doesn’t take much for me to start thinking about audio stuff… Of course I immediately thought of a USB Digital to Analog Converter connected to an amp and then some speakers. That isn’t going to happen, I need something a little more reasonable.

I happened to come across some Phillips and Sony mini systems that really appeal to me. Phillips is actually selling one that has a vacuum tube front end(!) and a class “D” digital amp, all for under $400! That has a lot of promise, I hope they didn’t screw it up. As much promise as it has, it’s way beyond my budget and travel space limits. Both Sony and Phillips has stuff around the $150 mark that looks more reasonable, they even accept usb devices and the Sony one also has Bluetooth wireless streaming! Technology is great…

Here’s the thing, the unit that is $150 back in the states is over $350 here! If I bought it in the States, it would be the wrong voltage and I’m back to using a transformer and might as well just use my table radio… I’ve thought about buying computer speakers here, but once again, the voltage would be wrong when I got home. Plus, I can’t seem to get a good price on decent stuff. What would cost around $30-$40 back home starts around $50 here…

I think I’ve found an answer though. Logitech makes some USB speakers called the V20 that have been getting really good reviews. They have the advantage of being powered from my computer’s USB port so it doesn’t matter where I am, I can always use them! They also come with a hard case for traveling and that will make it really easy to bring over here. At $50, I’m not expecting them to be better than my optimum set up, but I think that they’ll do the trick and be useful both here and back home. Now all I have to do is save my pennies between now and when I get home so that I can get them!