Best headphones you've ever heard/used

Thank you everyone for awesome feedbacks. The two headphones I'm looking for are for different purposes.

The in-ear phones are for use with my iPod, and the wireless headphones are for night time listening in my bedroom. I need them to be wireless because my bed is about 10ft away from my audio system and I really don't want to sit next to it with a chair.

Thanks again,

Well, you could always buy a 10 foot extension cord. 10 feet of extension cord is likely to cause far less degradation than going wireless. I would rather have one great set of headphones or earphones than to split your purchase over two pieces just to overcome the 10 feet between your system and bed. If you decide to buy etymotics, the best price I've seen was from....

http://headroom.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=3&subTopicID=26&productID=0020100000

I, personally, have not heard the Etymotics. They are $40 more than the Shure E3's. I'm happy with the Shure E3's, but that's without hearing the Etymotics. Either the Sennheiser 280 Pro's or the Shure E3's will sound great with an i-pod and Etymotic also makes a set to go with players like the i-pod.

If you're looking to get bang for the buck and don't like things "in" your ears, go with the Sennheiser 280 Pro's, they'll work on a plane or in your bed with an extension cord. If you're not on a budget and don't mind earphones that must be inserted, demo the Shures and Etymotics.

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10 feet's not a problem. Get a long cord.

On the Bose n/c phones, I have had Sony $200 n/c phones for three years or so and was sitting next to a traveler with the Bose jobs, so I listened to both through my Total AirHead. I did not think there was much between them in sound quality, but the Bose definitely had better noise supression, but this probably came from acoustic isolation (something the Sony does not have) rather than from a better n/c circuit. The Bose are far more comfortable.

I know when I compared my Sony n/c phones to a pair of $100 Sennheiser 495 (open back) in an office environment (not too much background noise) the Sony's sounded terrible.

I am pretty happy with the Bose headphones on a 'plane. I am not happy to own a Bose product though - they are my first and only. I'll look out for travelers with the different sets mentioned here and try to get a comparison on board - that's the only meaningful test for me.

I have a friend who bought the Sony n/c the same time as me, and he no longer uses that technology. He uses the Etymotic-type and claims he gets just as much noise supression with that design.

Me - I don't like earbuds at all - so the Etymotic are out.

Regards,

Concerning the in-ear phones, I own the Etymotic ER-4P and the ER-4S. Both models are highly regarded by the folks at Headroom.com. However, I recently bought another in-ear phone--the Shure E2c. They are now my favorites.

1. They seem more durable than the Etymotics
2. Everytime you move your head or move the cable, the Etymotics rumble; the Shures are quiet.
3. The Shures cost only $100 new.
4. The Shures are less colored as measured by an electrical engineer named Siegfried Linkwitz.

Here is a quote from his website:

"There are definite differences between the three earphones that I tested, though not so much in their sound, if you equalize two of them. The ER-4S definitely need equalization, otherwise their sound is quite colored, which is easy to spot on most recordings. The MDR-EX71SL could almost be used without equalization since the canal resonance shows only on certain program material. This might be acceptable for general listening but not for use as a sound reference. The E2 meets my sonic requirements right out of the box. These are the sturdiest phones of the three in all aspects. Vibration transfer from the cable is low, on par with the Sony and far better than the Etymotic. Sound isolation against ambient noise is not quite as high as for the ER-4S, but higher than with the EX71SL. The $100 price tag of the E2 falls between the EX71SL at $50 and the ER-4S at $270.

I want to emphasize that anyone who makes critical evaluations of loudspeakers needs to know the quality of his source material. Any one of the three earphones that I investigated can become a useful reference transducer."

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/reference_earphones.htm

One drawback to the Shures for my ear canals is that the Shures do not fit inside the canals as well. So I take the silicone inserts from the Etymotics and put them on the Shures. Voila! The fit is great FOR MY EAR ANATOMY. YMMV.
But you can buy the inserts directly from Etymotic for $14 for 5 pairs. Etymotic calls them Flanged Eartips.

Good luck.
Jon

I would definitely not recommend the EX71SL. I bought these headphones and I found them very muddied. The midrange is completely butchered. The bass is satisfying once you get a seal but the sound is just... horrible. What a waste of $50.
The etymotics are better, I havent heard shures, but they're supposed to be good. Basically you do compromise on any of these mini-phones, no doubt about it. Id pick the sub $200 HD-580 over the top of the line etymotics any day of the week. The Etymotics are still the best I've heard in a small package.
For at home listening, I would pick (in this order) the Sennheiser HD650, the HD600, the HD580 or the Grado SR-125 (havent heard any of the higher end grado's but I assume they'd be move up the quality range just like the sennheisers do.) I dont like any of the new Sennheisers as much (the 590s, etc.)
My opinion is stay away from Sony. At every price range above $40, someone makes a better set of headphones for the same cost.
Of course I haven't heard mega-buck 'phones like the Stax, so my choices are in the under-$500 category.
Also if your budget permits, buy a headphone amp. It opens up the music tremendously. Even the battery powered Airhead will greatly improve your iPod listening experience.