Review: Blaupunkt Comfort CN-112 Noise Cancellation Headphones

I ordered the Blaupunkt Noise Cancellation Comfort CN-112 headphones from ebay. The MRP is Rs. 9411 and you can purchase them on EMI basis also from ebay. I ordered the headphones on 21/02/2014 and on 22nd February I called the seller to check the status of my order. He assured me that it's already packed and I will be getting my headphones on 24/02/2014. I was pleasantly surprised by this quick response from the seller. 

So I got the headphones on 24/02/2014 as promised by the seller. The cardboard/duct-tape packaging was good and I was satisfied with the packaging. The box was a little bigger than expected. The box contains the a hard case - for carrying the headphones tucked nicely inside the slots which prevents shake, also to store the 3.5mm connecting cable, in-flight adapter, 2 AAA size batteries, and a 3.5mm to 6.3mm jack pin. Apart from the headphones, rest of the items are nicely stored in a small zipper pouch inside the hard case. There are operating instruction manuals in 3 different languages.

The headphones look very much like the ones professionals like DJ use. These are on ear headphones and the ear cups fit very softly on your ears and head without applying too much pressure. This is important because if you plan to use the headphones for a longer duration it can cause pain around ears.  It has very soft foam on the ear cups for comfort and the cups can fold flat if needed. The cord is detachable making it even easier to pack into its neat case. The controls for the headphones are located on the left ear cup. The controls are Noise Cancellation toggle switch, Active Noise Cancellation dial and the 3.5mm pin slot. The right ear cup houses the battery slots. The battery power is used only when you switch on the Noise Cancellation. So you can use the headphones even without using the battery power. 

Coming to the performance part, if I have to say it in one line, I will say that these headphones are not extremely loud when you use your iPod or mobile phone as the input. But after using the headphones for about 30 minutes I realized that the sound level is just right for longer usage. The bass is really good and heavy and the vocals come out really clear. I was listening to some trance music and the 3D surround sound enhances the listening experience. 

Switch on the noise cancellation and you notice the difference. The sound gets so much better and clear with the noise getting cancelled. You can control the amount of noise you want to cancel by adjusting the ANC dial. I felt the sound becomes more 'open' when you switch on the noise cancellation. The cancellation is good and I could not hear the person talking who was sitting right next to me. I could hear him a little when I asked him to shout. I haven't tested these headphones in a noise environment like train etc. as yet.

As I said, you can use the headphones without using the noise cancellation feature(batteries) and you can use the noise cancellation feature without plugging it to a source of music and it works pretty well. You might want to use later feature when you want to get some sleep in the flight or train without listening to music.

Overall I am very much happy with the sound quality of the headphones and at this price point it's a great deal.

KTM 390 Track Day

KTM 390 Track Day- February 2^nd 2014

KTM organized its first ever track day exclusively for Duke 390 customers at MMSC race track and I was a part of it. Customers were informed through Facebook and emails 10 days before the event and were given basic description and requirements to participate in the event. It was mandatory for the riders to have full riding gear. There was no registration fee charged and the participation was completely free of cost for the customers.

On the day of the event, riders started assembling at the venue at the reporting time of 7:00 AM and registration started at around 07:30. Registrations included the following:

• Signing the indemnity bond
• Rider numbers were allocated and corresponding stickers (2no.s) were issued to the riders
• Riding gear (gloves/knee pad) was allocated to riders on first come first serve basis

There were about 80 riders from Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Coimbatore apart from Chennai. The registrations process took around 45 minutes after which the riders were asked to fix the stickers on their bikes, one on the headlight and one on the rear number plate. Then there was a basic check-up of the bikes and minor adjustments were made on all the bikes such as chain slack adjustment, chain lubrication, tyre pressure check and each bike was signed ‘OK’. Then the riders were asked to enter the pits where breakfast was served to the riders.

All the participants were divided into 3 groups according to their rider numbers. KTM had tied up with Apex Racing academy for the training requirements of the riders. A small briefing was made by the KTM employee who charted out the flow of the event throughout the day. Safety and discipline instructions were given by Apex and MMSC track officials such as importance of flag signals, avoiding overtaking etc.

The day started with Group 1 going on the track for 40 mins for a free-ride session, this was without any training or classroom sessions. The track officials were careful enough to send the riders on track with sufficient gap in between them so as to avoid cluttering on the track. After this the Group 1 riders were taken to the classroom session by Apex officials and Group 2 went for the free-ride session on the track. In the first classroom session, riders were explained about the importance of correct racing line, and they were asked to practise the 4thgear-no brakes drill on the track in the next riding session. Meanwhile Group 2 and Group 3 continued with their free ride and classroom sessions, one after the other respectively.

After the second session on the track, riders were again taken to the classroom and were explained about cornering techniques, out-in-out line on the corners and riders were no longer restricted to riding in 4^th gear. After this the riders went on the track again for about 30 minutes. This was around 1:30pm after which lunch was served.

After the lunch Group 1 riders were taken for the classroom session and this was the last classroom session. This time the importance of vision and  ‘where to look’ was explained to the riders and how to tackle individual and particular corners was discussed. It was fairly interactive session and riders were encouraged to ask questions. We were not asked to lean much by changing the body position at the corners because according to Apex guys, the tyre profile of KTM 390 allows the rider to lean sitting in the centre of the seat and tucking in the legs to the fuel tank.

There was a tea break at around 3-3:15pm.

All the bikes were fitted with transponders to record the lap timing throughout the riding sessions on the track. The classroom and riding sessions for all the groups were over by 4:30pm. After which there was a small closing presentation/briefing by the KTM employee explaining about the purpose of organizing the event and another VP from Bajaj-Marketing also addressed the crowd. Top 3 riders in terms of lap timing were mentioned and the event witnessed no fall/accident throughout the day.

After about a week KTM shared the link on their Facebook page for the riders to track their individual time sheet and observe the improvement in lap timing over the day.

Overall the event was organized very well and there was no confusion ever on what’s going to happen next. Bajaj employee mentioned that they will keep organizing such events in future also. It was a great experience.