Should I buy headphones?

Because of thin walls in my apartment complex, I use headphones a lot in the evenings. My favorite are Stax Signatures with dedicated headphone amp. I use Sennheiser HD600s at work. Neutral sound with plenty of detail. At Audiogon prices, highly recommended. Though some say Sennheisers are difficult to drive, I haven't had any problems in that regard.

Listening to headphones takes a little getting used to since the sound resolves in the plane of your head rather than in front of you. There are "solutions" that give a greater sense of space such as the Stax ED-1 and Headroom headphone amplifiers. They will not actually convince you the sound is coming from in front of you. I find these good for certain types of music but they reduce sound clarity to some degree. Fine for pop but a real problem for listening to jazz or classical.

While I prefer the experience of listening to music through my floor standers, the sound quality from the headphones mentioned above is outstanding. However, depending on my mood and musical selection, I can find listening to headphones distracting. But most of the time, they allow me to truly enjoy the music when my neighbors are asleep or colleagues are busy working.

There are a lot of good phones out there - I own several like the Koss Electrostats - AKG - Sennheiser - but the most fun and good sounding are the Sony Surround wireless DP-IF 5100. These allow you many options including digital input for direct connection to your CD or DVD player and several options for playback - They are fun to listen to! The wireless feature also is convenient - 499 price tag retail - I find myself not wanting to listen to the others.

Living out in the hills of Tennessee, I can play my music just as loud as I darn well please. I don't have to worry about thin walls, irate neighbors, etc. The headphones do come in handy for those interminable periods of time when my power amp is back at the factory getting retubed. I echo Jbweaver's comments about the Sennheisers. They really help when I need a music fix.

Ever since my daughter was born, I found myself listening more to headphones than speakers. While I still prefer listening to speakers, I have adapted to headphones. You can find much info on headphones at headfi.org and headwize.com. Search their forums for reviews and comparisons. While I like the Sennheisers, my personal preference is for the Grado RS-2. That said, there is no absolute here, just preference. You will find endless debates in various forums on Grado vs Sennheiser, with no clear winner. If your preamp has tubes, it might match up well with the Sennheisers, as they seem to do well with tubes. Grado's tend to have a richer sound. Sennheiser's have a little more detail. ymmv.