When I bought my $150 Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones, I heard parts of my favorite music that I had never heard before. I spent the next several weeks re-listening to all my old favorites and discovering new nuances in the music. For audio quality, nothing beats a good pair of headphones. But headphones are bulky.
I had assumed that earbuds had terrible audio quality like the default ones that come with e.g. an ipod. Wrong. For someone like me without the sensitive ears of an audiophile, the $25 JVC HAFX1X earbuds sound almost as good as my $150 headphones, but they can be stuffed in my pocket.
They fit great in my ears and have decent (physical) noise-reduction. I also like the red color of the cords, which makes it stand out and not (e.g.) accidentally stolen by one of my friends when we all bring our earbuds to the office.
head-fi.org indicates that Audio-Technica’s ATH-M50, while excellent, are probably not quite as good sound-quality-wise as Ultrasone’s HFI-580, which are also twenty bucks or so cheaper.
These things are so wonderful, I own two of them: one for my computer and one for my TV. I waited months for them to be released—before then, lossless wireless couldn’t be bought for any amount of money. Their main attributes are:
Lossless digital—not analog, not lossy compressed digital (unfortunately, their input is analog—as far as I can tell, digital inputs can’t be bought for money)
Open-ear—comfortable to wear for hours (warning: leaks sound if others are present in the room, not the best idea for cubicle headphones)
Sounds amazing (I am not an “audiophile” but I know quality when I hear it)
Powered by NiMH AAAs, recharged by contacts in the cradle so you don’t have to take them out (I swapped the included batteries for low-self-discharge Eneloop brand batteries, which have higher capacity—it’s been years and I haven’t had to mess with them since)
Aside from portability (they aren’t), their only downside is that they appear to spam the 2.4 GHz spectrum fairly heavily; my iPhone and iPad have occasionally had trouble connecting to wifi while I’m wearing the headphones (I don’t yet have a 5 GHz router for the iPad). This doesn’t bother me because my computer and consoles are all connected via Ethernet cables (I had to string one 50-foot cable through my apartment, but it was worth it).
Very portable, very light, good bass, highly rated on head-fi.org, extremely cheap. I wear them instead of earbuds because I don’t like things inside my ear, and the open air means I can still hear stuff around me, so they’re even good for work. Very comfortable over long periods.
JVC HAFX1X Headphone, Xtreme-Xplosivs ($25, Amazon 4.5 stars, 364 reviews)
When I bought my $150 Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones, I heard parts of my favorite music that I had never heard before. I spent the next several weeks re-listening to all my old favorites and discovering new nuances in the music. For audio quality, nothing beats a good pair of headphones. But headphones are bulky.
I had assumed that earbuds had terrible audio quality like the default ones that come with e.g. an ipod. Wrong. For someone like me without the sensitive ears of an audiophile, the $25 JVC HAFX1X earbuds sound almost as good as my $150 headphones, but they can be stuffed in my pocket.
They fit great in my ears and have decent (physical) noise-reduction. I also like the red color of the cords, which makes it stand out and not (e.g.) accidentally stolen by one of my friends when we all bring our earbuds to the office.
head-fi.org indicates that Audio-Technica’s ATH-M50, while excellent, are probably not quite as good sound-quality-wise as Ultrasone’s HFI-580, which are also twenty bucks or so cheaper.
This is probably true, at the time I was recommending ATH-M50s to everyone I don’t think the HFI-580s were so cheap.
Sennheiser RS 180 Lossless Digital Wireless Headphones (~$330)
These things are so wonderful, I own two of them: one for my computer and one for my TV. I waited months for them to be released—before then, lossless wireless couldn’t be bought for any amount of money. Their main attributes are:
Lossless digital—not analog, not lossy compressed digital (unfortunately, their input is analog—as far as I can tell, digital inputs can’t be bought for money)
Open-ear—comfortable to wear for hours (warning: leaks sound if others are present in the room, not the best idea for cubicle headphones)
Sounds amazing (I am not an “audiophile” but I know quality when I hear it)
Powered by NiMH AAAs, recharged by contacts in the cradle so you don’t have to take them out (I swapped the included batteries for low-self-discharge Eneloop brand batteries, which have higher capacity—it’s been years and I haven’t had to mess with them since)
Aside from portability (they aren’t), their only downside is that they appear to spam the 2.4 GHz spectrum fairly heavily; my iPhone and iPad have occasionally had trouble connecting to wifi while I’m wearing the headphones (I don’t yet have a 5 GHz router for the iPad). This doesn’t bother me because my computer and consoles are all connected via Ethernet cables (I had to string one 50-foot cable through my apartment, but it was worth it).
I second this recommendation. I’ve used Sennheiser RS120 Headphones for years and they’ve been amazing.
They are (according to reviews) approximately similar, but at a ~$70 price point depending on where you get them instead of ~$330.
The major difference is that the 120s are analog (that’s what “RF” means). On the other hand, at 900 MHz they won’t interfere with 2.4 GHz wifi.
Koss KSC-75 Headphones ($15, Amazon 4 stars, 693 reviews)
Very portable, very light, good bass, highly rated on head-fi.org, extremely cheap. I wear them instead of earbuds because I don’t like things inside my ear, and the open air means I can still hear stuff around me, so they’re even good for work. Very comfortable over long periods.
I can confirm that these are very good. They’re $16 on Amazon right now.