Best headphones you've ever heard/used

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.

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,

Don't know about small headphones, but the Grado RS-1 with RA-1 amp (runs on batteries so it is portable) is good. Some consider it to be bright. I'd have to agree that it is not as smooth as the senns (I have both senns 600) but with the RA-1 amp there is synergy.

The Grado is no bargain. The Senns are.

I listen to the Grado's more. It's just more intimate to me.

etymotic er4-p.

wonderful!

I also travel a lot. I've tried a few things. Shure E3's sound great and cost $179. I also have a pair of Sennheiser HD580's. They sound terrific, but they are "open" which means they are worthless on a plane because they let too much noise in. Also, don't know what your sleeping situation is, but the open headphones also let a lot of sound out, which means if someone is trying to sleep in the bed next to you -- you will bother them. So, though I love the open Sennheisers, I hardly ever get to use them. I also bought a pair of Sennheiser 280 PRO's, which are closed headphones. I have a buddy who bought the Bose "noise cancelling" headphones and we took a flight together.
IMO, the Sennheiser 280 Pro's sounded better than the Bose and the Sennheisers only cost $100 compared to the $300 he paid for the Bose. "Noise cancelling" means the hedphones have microphones in them. They pick up the ambient noise and then the headphones put out a tone that "cancels" the ambient noise. It does work -- the ambient noise disappears, but the noise the headphones put into your ears means you are getting noise mixed with your music. With the Sennheiser 280 Pro's, they are closed, so that blocks out some of the ambient noise and then when you play music, you cannot hear anything outside. If you get the Sennheisers, play music through them for about 40 hours before using them -- they really improve and then sound good. I haven't tried the Shure E3's on a plane yet, but they sound a little better than the Sennheiser 280 Pro's, so I would bet they will sound better than the Bose Noise cancelling headphones as well -- and cost more -- and when I have them in my ears, I cannot hear anything outside, so based on that, I would bet they will also sound great on a plane. If you need something for travel and to keep from bothering those around you, the Sennheiser 280 Pro's are a great bang for the buck. One other issue -- you've got to decide whether you like having earphones "in" your ears or headphones "on" your ears.