Defective merchandise

I noticed this morning that one of the D-ring attachment points on the hard case I bought for the Bang & Olufsen H6 headphones was hanging by a thread, so I notified Amazon.com that I was returning it.

They sent me a UPS shipping label, which I applied to the original shipping box, stuck it into the right saddlebag of my K75S and cruised down to one of the UPS drop boxes in Jonesboro.

Now to choose another case...

Making the best even better

How do you make an exceptional pair of headphones sound even better?

After reading several reviews of the Bang & Olufsen H6 headphones, I came to the conclusion that the OEM cable leaves a little to be desired, so I followed several reviewers's advice and ordered a more robust cable, costing a mere $15.80. It arrived via UPS a few minutes ago and I can hear the difference immediately. The bass is richer, without being overpowering or boomy.

The Mark of Dora

For the second time in a month, Dora got a little rambunctious jumping onto the couch with me and raked my right forearm with one of her claws, drawing blood.

She seemed apologetic both times and set to licking my wounds. The first one healed quickly with no sign of infection and I have the same expectation this time.

A new feature

Bang & Olufsen has created the Beoplay App for IOS and Android that lets your smartphone interface with your H8 of H7 headphones to tweak the sound. The ZIK Parrot headphones have had a similar, but somewhat more sophisticated app for several months. The Beoplay App also lets you connect with a pair of A2 Bluetooth speakers ($399 each) and assign left and right stereo channels to them.

I'd give them SIX stars if I could

Here's my Amazon.com review of the Bang & Olufsen H6 (Second generation) headphones:

Bang & Olufsen's H6 (Second generation) headphones are the best I've ever heard. I thought the B&O wireless H8 headphones were impressive, but this second version of the H6 left me absolutely stunned.

I've listened to a huge variety of music for most of the past week, trying to find the words to explain how they are so much better than everything else I've heard and, after hours of transcendent listening, it comes down to brilliance and clarity. I can hear individual instruments and nuances with greater clarity than ever before and it makes my entire music library a completely new listening experience.

(One of my requirements of a good set of headphones is that they be able to show me things in my music that I never knew were there. The H6s make every song a new discovery.)

Marco Ament, a blogger who has compared more than 30 sets of headphones, is in love with his Second Generation H6s and ranks them as the absolute best of all the headphones he's reviewed. You can read his thoughts at marco.org.

The H6 'phones have a near perfect balance across the acoustic spectrum, from rich bass through brilliant mid-range to sparkling highs.

I'm not crazy about being tethered to my music source with a cable, but that inconvenience is a small price to pay for such amazing performance.

I'd give the H6s six stars if I could.

Technical difficulties

I installed a new D-Link AC1900 Wifi router to evaluate for the Amazon Vine Program this morning, which necessitated updating all of the Wifi connections in the house and acquainting them with the new password. I also checked the LaCrosse temperature and humidity sensor that I use to keep tabs on the freezer. I was relieved to see that it's working but was alarmed to see the freezer interior temperature being reported at 68°F!

Then I noticed the probe had somehow found its way to the outside of the freezer where the temperature is, indeed, 68°.

O.M.G.!

My review copy of the Bang & Olufsen H6 headphones arrived this morning and I am absolutely stunned.

I thought I had the best possible headphones last year when the Amazon Vine Program sent me a set of Bang & Olufsen H8 Bluetooth headphones with Active Noise Cancellation.

They were my all-time favorite headphones. Until this morning.

I hate being tethered to my iPhone by a cable, but that's a minor inconvenience compared with the stellar performance of the H6s.

Updates

Garmin pushed out updates for my Zumo 550 and Nuvi 1350 LMT GPS units today so, not one to put off such things, I hooked them up to my desktop and let Garmin Express have its way with them.

The database still doesn't know about the two closest gas stations to our house, or about the Mexican restaurant that's also about a mile away.

Hacking a dead guy

I have an email this morning from wwharris - Welton Winans "Art" Harris that proves hackers have no respect for the dead.

My old Indianapolis News compadre Art died on March 11 of a heart attack and I don't think he's emailing me from his vase in a Zionsville columbarium about some investment opportunity.

Here's a photo of Art and his black Lab Jake that I shot in front of his log home. He used the photo in his campaign for a seat on the Zionsville Town Board and won. I always contended that people thought they were voting for Jake.

Why do I need another pair of headphones?

If you've followed my blog very long, you know I'm a sucker for good headphones.

I decided years ago that headphones are the absolute best way to experience music. I've never heard speakers that can come anywhere near the listening experience of a good set of headphones for clarity, tonal range, imaging, all the stuff you want in music.

I was ecstatic last year when the Amazon Vine Program offered me a set of Bang & Olufsen H8 Bluetooth headphones to audition and review. They are by far the best set of headphones I have ever used and I was in anguish earlier this year when the Bluetooth function died. Happily, Bang & Olufsen's product support folks are first rate and they sent me a replacement set after determining they couldn't repair the original H8s.

Everytime the Vine program offers me decent headphones, I jump on them. A few weeks after the H8s arrived, I received a pair of ZIK Parrot 2.0 Bluetooth headphones. They're good, but I like the H8s better for comfort and sound.

Then I accepted an offer of 3M WorkTunes Wireless Hearing Protector with Bluetooth Technology and AM/FM Digital Radio headphones. They turned out to be perfect for mowing the lawn and protecting my hearing at the shooting range.

And a few weeks ago, I auditioned a set of Bang & Olufsen Form 2i headphones - relatively inexpensive corded on-ear heaphones that work great with my Kindle Fire tablet.

So when I woke up this morning and discovered I was being offered a pair of Bang & Olufsen H6 (second generation) wired headphones, I almost passed on them thinking nothing could ever compare to the B&O H8s. But the headphone junkie in me couldn't help clicking on the "Send me this item" button. After all, $299 Bang & Olufsen headphones for only the gift tax impact? Why not.

Since then, I've read some reviews of the new iteration of the H6 and am excited to get my hands on them. Most notably, a reviewer named Marco Amament, who has an extensive comparison of 29 sets of headphones on his web site marco.org, raves about the new H6s and singles them out as the best he's ever heard. You can read his reviews at: https://marco.org/headphones-closed-portable

Testing Belkin's product support

The Amazon Vine Program sent me a Belkin Power Rockstar Battery Pack to review this week. It works perfectly with one exception: The included 3¾" lightning cable won't work with my iPhone 6. It is an alarmingly tight fit and generates an error message on the phone warning that "this device may not be compatible." And it isnt. Won't charge with the Belkin cable, but works fine with my OEM Apple lightning cable. I wrote a review for Amazon.com reflecting that shortcoming.

I decided to test Belkin's product support this morning. I spent about 15 minutes on an online chat with someone named Saranya that resulted in being assigned a Belkin case number and being referred to their 800 number. There, I encountered a young man who said his name is Hero who searched high and low for a replacement cable, but the best he could do was a 6" cable that would not fit into the receptacle on the battery pack like the original cable and would, therefore, be useless to me. The other option was to replace the whole package, which required sending them a photograph of the battery pack and its two cables in exchange for a shipping label for the return. I went with the second option.

An incidental observation is that Belkin, like most other companies whose product support I've called, has hideously distorted music on hold. I think it's intentionally distorted in the hope that it will discourage people from staying on the line.

O'Reilly's loss, my gain

Our 2002 Subaru Forester uses oil, but I have no idea where it goes. There's no blue smoke from the exhaust and no drips under the engine.

Maria reported the oil warning light came on during her drive home from work last evening, so I fired up my BMW K75S and rode in to town to buy some Castrol 10W-30W high mileage synthetic oil. I stopped at O'Reilly auto parts first because it was the first store I came to. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for me, their charge card equipment was on the fritz, so I had to ride another half-mile down U.S. 40 to the Auto Zone store.

The 5-gallon jug of oil that was $30 and change at O'Reilly was about $7 cheaper at Auto Zone.

Last Saturday was the 71st anniversary of the atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima. I had the honor of meeting Paul Tibbetts Jr., the pilot who flew that first-ever atomic bombing mission, a few years (and pounds) ago at a militaria show in Louisville, Ky. And, yes, I thanked him for what he did for his generation and mine and all successive generations of Americans.

Despite what revisionist historians would have us believe, it was a necessary mission. Those who want to kill us today would do well to remember we are the only nation on earth to use atomic weapons and we did it twice. So far, in the war on terror, this has been us using precision munitions and being nice. They don’t ever want to see us in a blind rage.

Inconceivable

There are two of the Euro-style hinges on the door to the slider that holds our kitchen trash basket and the upper one let go this morning.

I fiddled with it without success. Even looked at a couple of non-helpful YouTube videos.

Since I already had to go in to town on other business, I stopped by the hardware department at Lowe's in hopes that I could get a solution to my problem.

I found myself talking with a red-vested Lowe's guy who looks a lot like the guy who kept saying "inconceivable" in The Princess Bride.

"Yeah, I have the same problem at my house," he said, adding that he hasn't figured out a fix either. But, he said, a new hinge would probably develop the same problem.

So I came home and fiddled with it some more and finally figured out which screw seems to keep it from disengaging.

Ack!

This is the brutal summer heat I've come to hate, loathe, despise, and dread.

Day after freaking day of temperatures in the 90s with heat indices in the 100s. I'm so sick of being held hostage by the blazing heat and so ready for cooler weather, even if it does mean the end of the summer "travel" season.

Waiting for the UPS truck

I'm waiting for the UPS truck this afternoon because these three Amazon Vine review products are listed as out for delivery - a set of Bang & Olufsen wired headphones, an HD remote surveillance camera and a Wifi router.

I got a call earlier from Grass Roots BMW Motorcycles telling me they finally got a fully functional starter relay in for my K1200GT. It's $170 plus labor, but the improvised fix they did for me a few months ago is working like a charm, so I'm passing on the new relay.