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Best headphones you've ever heard/used

Well, the subject says it all I guess. I'm looking for two sets of good quality headphones.

The first one is an earphone for use with my iPod. I'm looking for a small pair of compact in-ear earphones. I take long boring flights to Asia often so it'd be nice if they were high quality and helped out with noise canceling. I've heard good things from Shure. Any other recommendations?

The second one will be for night time listening in my bed. These headphones can be big but hopefully not too heavy. I also need them to be wireless for at least 15ft.

Thanks in advance,
spacekadet
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Stax Omega beats all.
wstritt
170 posts
 
For the iPod on the plane, you might try one of the Etymotic earphones. I have a pair of the lower priced ER-6's that have worked well for me on planes w/iPod. I understand there is now a special 6i model just for iPods (don't know if there are any real differences from the 6). There are also more expensive versions.

Haven't tried the Shure's but generally same idea.
timo's avatar
timo
610 posts
 
Agree w/Wstritt re: Etymotic Research in-ear phones. They cancel noise while sounding quite good for such a small transducer. Check out their Website.

For home use I like the Sennheiser HD-650 circumaural headphones. Detailed, yet smooth and musical, not irritating.
sidssp
1,077 posts
 
I have a 40G iPod and many pairs of headphone of different types. For nighttime listening, I like the Sennheiser HD-650. Many people will tell you that iPod cannot drive the Sennheiser but it is just not true unless you like to listen to heavy metal at 100db. The HD-650 is not as light as ear plugs but it is very comfortable to wear for long time. I highly recommend it to be used with an iPod, especially if you like classical, female vocal, and jazz.
metralla
945 posts
 
Etymotic in-ear headphones (and probably all ear-buds) don't have noise cancelling per se, but do supress the external noise levels by virtue of their design. And they apparently do it very well. I use Bose noise cancelling headphones on the 'plane with a CDP and a Total Airhead.

For your second application, why do you want wireless? You won't get really high performance if you require wireless.

Are these also going to connect to your iPod, or are you planning to run these from your main system?

Regards,
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