Last week I became the proud owner of a set of Creative Aurvana In-Ear2 earphones which retail for £89.99. And these are the proverbial “bee’s knees” – oxygen-free copper cabling and gold plated connections. They are also really quite light and compact.

Now, I’m not the kind of person who gets excited about unboxing, but the packaging for these headphones is superb. Considering the contents the box is not overly large and a window on the front shows off the earpieces. Open up the box and slide out the plastic surround and you will come across a small, neatly folded black cardboard box – this contains an assortment of eartips (2 pair of small, 1 pair of medium and 2 pair of large – the other medium pair are already on the earphones), aircraft adapter, cleaning device and some tiny manuals. Back in the main box there is a handy case which the earphones can be wound into.

Below are 3 photos I took showing the box contents (click on them for a larger view).

My usual headphones of choice are a relatively cheap (£20-£30) pair of foam-pad earphones. The Aurvana’s, in comparison, come with rubber eartips and fit snugly in your ear canal. As a result up to 95% of sound is blocked. Like sticking fingers in your ears, though, you end up hearing your own breathing a lot louder – none-the-less it does provide a much quieter listening experience without the background noise.

There is some sound leakage from them but it’s not excessive.

I’ve tried the earphones with a selection of music from Will Young to The Prodigy and all sounded clear and detailed. I love the soundtrack to the recent Star Trek movie, so that had an airing – the chimes in the opening number, for instance, I’d never heard before. Nor had I heard the musicians making various noises in the background. I also tried them with a BBC audio Podcast and it was immediately obvious the improvement in sound as I heard every rustle of script paper and could tell where all the edit points were.

Now, I’ll admit, I’m no audiophile. But, thankfully, a friend is so I asked him to try them. He stores all his recorded music uncompressed and uses earphones that cost many hundreds of pounds (and this isn’t including the £100+ it cost to have some custom eartips made). He thought the Aurvanas were excellent for the money and particularly liked their small size. He found them comparable to Shure SE210 earphones, which have a price of £125 (and they are a lot bulkier in size).

I think these really are excellent – they look and sound brilliant and are extremely well presented. It’s such a shame that, thanks to breaking my last MP3 player, I’m reduced to using them on my mobile phone!

As a fully certified geek then I am, naturally, a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek. Both.

And I particularly love the music.

Now, most people generally agree that Wrath of Khan is the best Trek film. The soundtrack, by James Horner, has been available for some time, but as a stunted 9 track version. However, a recent perusal of Empire showed a new version available, now with 23 tracks. Basically, the long-awaited “complete” score. Brilliant. I had to have it.

The CD is produced by Screen Archives, who don’t have a presence in the UK. Now, you can buy this CD from their website and arrange for international postage, which would cost approx. £17, or they are available via Amazon’s Marketplace, which costs a little over £13. In both cases it ships from the US. Naturally, I chose the latter and received it at the weekend.

I’ve not a chance to have a good listen yet but, as you can imagine, it really is excellent with all of the soundtrack previously missing. If you’re a Trek fan, it’s highly recommended.

It’s now just a few hours since I got to watch the new Star Trek film. And unlike last week, when I went to see Wolverine, I’ve recognised that when I can’t sleep soon afterwards as a direct result, lying in bed tossing and turning is not the answer. Hence I’m up, writing this review in the early hours on my Netbook.

Not many people realise just how much of a Trek film I’ve been in the past, thanks to my more-recent Star Wars conversion. I think I was put off Trek in the end by too many insipid films and tv series that didn’t little more to expand the “franchise”¹. Never-the-less, I can recite Wrath of Khan word-for-word and can turn onto most episodes of Next Generation and identify the episode within a few short seconds.

So what was JJ Abrams, he of Cloverfield, MI:3, Lost and Alias, going to make with a series that most people considered already dead?

Well, he’s been bold². Unbelievably bold.

Ok, let me try and explain. The film, if you didn’t know already, takes us back to a young Kirk, when he first commands the Enterprise, and meets all the other characters in Trek that we know so fondly. The bad guy is a Romulan and, I don’t think I’m giving essential plot details away, he’s from the future. And there’s the device. Or McGuffin, as it’s known. Because this guy, Nero, has changed the past. He changes everything from Kirks upbringing to how he gets his command. Yes, die hard Trekkers, tear up your Encyclopaedia of Trek because this film changes it all. JJ Abrams has envisaged a new version of the Trek universe and has found a plot device to do it. And unlike most films, there isn’t a fantastic time-travelling conclusion that puts everything back to how it was. The Trek universe has changed and it’s staying that way. And doing that needed a lot of balls.

Having said all that, the bad guy wasn’t that exciting – he’s certainly no Khan. As with most “first” films it spent a lot of time setting up all the introductions and allowing you to get to know the characters, so the second film may be better with a lot more time to dedicate to more of an action romp.

Let’s turn to the actors now. Chris Pine was unexpectedly brilliant – he WAS Kirk – and a stand out for me. All the other characters were spot on too. Chekov gives early comic relief, with Scotty providing it later. However, I have to give maximum kudos to Karl Urban as McCoy – simply fantastic.

References to Trek past (or is that future?) came thick and past, with various quotes from Wrath of Khan and even a mention of Captain Archer from Enterprise.  In some cases I think they even overdid the references, almost crowbarring them in every other sentence.

The effects – provided by ILM – were as excellent as you’d expect and the whole thing had the retro feel of the original TV series without looking too 60′s and odd. Sound effects old and new were mixed together and you’ll have to wait until the final credits to hear the original music. But when it does come, it’s a modern mix of the original series music, complete with the singing, set to a cheesy, but somehow still good, credit sequence.

So, conclusions.

It’s a very good film and a fine reboot to bet things restarted again. With a bit more action and a finer script next time around, it could seriously threaten Wrath of Khan as the best Trek film. But not quite yet.

I was worried what JJ Abrams would do with Star Trek, but I shouldn’t have worried. He’s brought it into the 21st Century with humour, action and a touch of very classy retro.

Oh, and before I forget – there’s no extra scenes during or at the end of the titles! So no need to sit in the cinema until the bitter end if you don’t want to. I do that for you

1. an expression often used and just goes to show that they think of Star Trek more as a money making exercise than anything else [↩]
2. no “boldly gone” jokes, please [↩]