This was complete overkill, but a couple years ago I had to do a whole lot of flying, was without much of a social life, and kinda depressed. So I bought me some of these:

http://www.ultimateears.com/_ultimateears/products/superfi/superfi5pro_description.php

Ridiculously expensive, and it takes a good long while for a first time user to get acclimated to the fit of really snug in-ear phones, but when matched with an iPod and filled with lossless music, it makes plane rides and any kind of commute just so much better.

An added benefit - part of how these phones sound so good is that they create a mechanical seal in your ear canal with their rubber flange/gasket/whatever-it's-called, so they block out a TON of outside noise without the need for electronic noise cancellation.

Rimbaud III wrote:
I have the black ones, and they have no bass response whatsoever. I'm worried that the ones I have (purchased through the Marketplace on Amazon) are Chinese knock-offs.

That could be a function of them not sitting in your ears properly. Have you tried using the different sized tips?

It is a problem I run into with (typically cheaper) In Ears that are supplied to us from different production companies.

I just use the shitty buds that came with my toy, or Sennheiser HD-25s. The HD-25s only get pulled out on flights and the occasional coach/rail trip. I plan on finding something else though one day. The 25s have good isolation, but aren't all that comfortable for extended durations (and Australia is a long flight from anywhere (without them I cannot understand the dialogue on inflight movies over the engine noise)). Nor are they truly Hifi. But a good tool they are.

For listening to music on my MP3 I just use $20 Sony headphones.
I break Headphones a few times a year so keep my 7506's at home.
Fixing Headphone is a huge pain in the ass.

enframed wrote:

phenomenal.

i have the closed version of these (dt 770) and i agree.

i don't use them with the ipod though. what's the point..

AKG K-271



They're really nice.

i'm in the dt770 club as well.
the best pair of headphones i've ever heard.

but i have a giant hard on for a pair of open backed phones.

so i'm wondering if anyone out there has compared the beyer 990s to an open backed grado.

let me know if you can.

Sony MDR-V500 atm.

Those sony mdr headphones with the curly cue cords love to fall to the ground with a loud crash. they fold up nicely though.

I think they actually may sound better than the grados, but I usually only listen to the grados using a computer as a playback device. they definitely are nicer than the sony's in comfort and fatigue. I never really understood the fatigue thing until I started using some logitech thx computer speakers to listen to music. holy crap. makes you want to turn that shit off after a few songs.

The Shure e2 buds for serious music listening, a relatively cheap pair of Sony noise-canceling phones for work, and RF wireless Sennheisers at home for when my girlfriend is asleep.

miranda hm-860 - made in china - pretty good. my previous headphone was shitty 4-dollar shit.