Here’s what the box looks like:

At the very top of the package is the eSATA card, shown here:

The card has a PCI-e x1 connector.  To install the card I powered off the computer, unplugged all of the cables, opened up the side of the case, and removed the slot cover of the slot in which I wanted to install the card.

Next I slid the card into the slot and screwed it in.

With the card installed, two eSATA ports are now available in the back of the computer.

After starting up the computer I got this message:

It’s too bad that Vista didn’t have the drivers locally, but as the following pictures show, the drivers were on Windows Update, making the driver install very easy.  Clicking on the little “installing drivers” icon in the system tray brings up the install status.

On to the enclosure itself.

Here are some pictures of the enclosure with the cover removed:

The back of the enclosure looks like this:

For better or for worse, the ban in the back glows blue.  The fan also seems easily replicable if I were to ever want to do so.  It is pretty quiet though.

When I start up my computer with the enclosure plugged in (whether drives are in it or not) I now get the following message from the BIOS about RAID.  I don’t want to use RAID, so I just ignore it.

The although the enclosure supports hot-swapping (inserting and removing drives while the computer is running), it should be noted that for the drives to be properly installed securely the cover has to be removed to gain access to screw holes.  It seems that for temporary drive access where the enclosure isn’t moving, it isn’t necessary to screw the drives in.  Other than the screws, the drives simply slide in through the front door.

Plugging in the enclosure to the eSATA card and installing drives into the enclosure didn’t require Windows to install any drivers.  Taking advantage of the hot-swapping, I installed all of the drives while the computer was on.

Here’s a picture with the drive enclosure filled with drives.  The bottom three are Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB drives, and the top one is a Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB drive. (The serial numbers are blurred out.)

The trickiest part of this enclosure was putting the cover back on.  This is because there are a bunch of prongs inside the case that fit over the edges of the enclosure.  This is a good design, as it make the cover fit more snugly, but I simply didn’t realize that it was designed like this at first and had trouble screwing the case back on.

Finally, the enclosure comes with 11 thumb screws for securing the hard drives in place (2 per drive) and holding the cover in place (3 in the back).

Ah, gratuitous amounts of storage.  It’s so nifty.

Packaging shot:

First a word of caution:  In-ear headphones are a personal preference.  They literally stick into your ear canal (they are often called canal headphones).  You’ll get amazing bass, and a really good sound isolation, but if you don’t like the feel than in-ear headphones are not for you.

On to the Ultimate Ears!  The first thing that set these headphones apart from previous ones that I have used is how they fit around my ears.  They stick into my ears, which I expected, but they wrap around my ears and slide comfortably down my neck.  I have found that this reduced strain on my ear canals, and is over all more comfortable than the expected drop of cord from my ear canal in front of my ears.  The length of cord that wraps around my ears is also re-enforced with a flexible metal so that I can fit the wires around my ears and have them fit perfectly from then on.
 

The package also includes several interchangeable tips.  The gray one is foam, the rest are latex.

The package also includes little cleaning device that I didn’t get a picture of.  The device looks like a needle threader, but a bit more stylish.  It’s function is to remove the ear wax from inside the earphones.

As for the sound quality, it is fantastic.  I mentioned earlier that in-ear headphones get great bass, and this is true of this pair of headphones as well, but the Super Fi Studio 3 get a fantastic range all around.  I remember listening to one song a while ago (I will fill it in if I remember what it was), and hearing imperfections in the recording.  I highly recommend any Ultimate Ears headphones to anyone who wants great sound.

A side note: My experience with Ultimate Ears customer service has been phenomenal.  I had a problem with another pair of headphones made by another company, Rivet, which was bought by Ultimate Ears in the time between when I got the Rivet headphones and when they broke.  Ultimate Ears was prompt in their reply emails, and the customer support representative was able to help me get a replacement set.  (Since the Rivet headphones were no longer available, Ultimate Ears gave me a discount on the ones I have now.)  Ultimate Ears was recently bought by Logitec, however, so I don’t know if their customer service is still that good, since I’m not familiar with Logitec customer support.

The take away: If you love music, get a pair of Ultimate Ears.