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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
henryhk
648 posts
 
anyone tried the new Qualia (Sony) Headphones?
brucegel
151 posts
 
try the grace headphone amps...I own the 901 and senn-600 and it is a beautiful thing
redwoodgarden
150 posts
 
To reiterate what Marakanetz posted here on 7/8/04, Stax Omega beats all! For $3,000 for the headspeakers and driver, I hope so.
henryhk
648 posts
 
Agree a lot with dbk. Since my last post I purchased a Total Airhead amp and boy does it make a world of difference: also use a Cardas cable specifically designed for the IPOD-amp connection which improves things incrementally. I own the Shure 3C, EC5 and Etyomic 4NS. Btwn the Shures, E5C outperforms by a wide margin, as it should be given the price difference: soundstage, clarity, definition, treble, bass, u name it. Btwn E5C and Etyomic I feel its a matter of taste and comfort: The former certainly accentuates mid bass and warmer in tone: but resolution I think is just as good but given the mid bass bump can camaflouge things at times. Etyomic sounds more clear and a more open sound stage but can be analytical at times...and is less good in terms of just rocking out if that is what you want. I use both depending mood, music and gave my 3C's to my son. Remember one of the keys is to have recorded your music in Apple's loseless compression or non-compressed file formats such WMA or via Exact Copy. You can't correct faults at the source. One thing that was not mentioned in terms of comfort, Etyomic sticks out and cord issues are sometimes (only sometimes) as some mentioned earlier, but note the E5C is designed to be hooked into your ear from behind: wrapping around from back to to top of ear and into it: if you wear glasses then sometimes it can become a bit of a balancing act. The other full gear (?) headphones are all very good and superior in a lot of cases but are bulky and not great for travel. I would also add neither the E5C or the Etyomic models are good for say running etc if that is what you require. Shure's 3C is probably a better bet in that case (and using a smaller player such as the new Nano IPOD etc).
drarthurwells
7 posts
 
Sony SA5000. Best dynamic headphone this side of the Sony Qualia 010.

Amazing for the money.

A top quality CD player and amp can really show how good they are:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1129003545&openmine&zzDrarthurwells&4&5#Drarthurwells
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