www.headphone.com

If you must do in-year etymotics are definitely good. For at home I really like full cup headphones (ooh so comfy).

The ER-6i's are rather nice. The rubber flange ear-buds are crap (I suspect they're too small for my ear canals) but the foam buds fit well and so far I'm very impressed with their clarity. I also got the sensitivity thing -- while I could just dial the volume on my iPod up to maximum with the NC-11s, that would be positively painful with the ER-6i's.

So it's back to listening to Freudstein, the Dresden Dolls, Chicks on Speed, and VNV Nation ...

I think you'd be surprised at how much difference you can hear with the SR-60 or -80s and other 'phones of the same price -- both are under $100. You're not the only one with bad ears -- try a couple of decades mixing live PA. ;)

On the price/quality front, Grado is so far ahead of everyone else that it isn't even funny. The SR-80s often rank higher for sound quality than the Senn HD-280s, which cost two to three times as much.

Of course, Grado sells expensive phones -- the RS-1s aren't cheap in anyone's book. But I urge anyone who really enjoys music to try the SR-80s or SR-125s with a good input source. The difference in clarity is amazing.

If you insist on isolation, the ne plus ultra of the line would be the Etymotic ER-4P. However, one warning with them -- the drivers are very sensitive and stable, and they can reach ear destroying levels. The ER-4S isn't useful in portables, it needs an external amp (it's built as an in-ear stage monitor)

 I'd get the ER-6 instead -- you don't need high gain when you're wearing isolaters, and the ER-6i has both that and the white "I've an iPod, mug me" cords, if you live in an area with that problem.

I need isolation. When not playing games, any 'phones I use will likely be worn while walking alongside a main road that is also a fire engine and ambulance route and a bus route. They need to be able to block out the sound of big diesel engines revving on an uphill stretch, with added sirens.

I should also add that my hearing isn't what it used to be twenty years ago (I wonder why?) and really high-end audiophile stuff is ... meh; I simply can't tell the difference between $500 speakers and $5000 speakers (although I certainly can tell $50 from $500).

Allow me to add a Grado rec. These are killer phones, and changed the way I view music. And I'm reencoding all my music to higher quality now due to eriko's statement about 'brutally honest' sound, I can't listen to poorly encoded MP3s. I'm also saving for a headphone amp, as it makes a big diff.

Amazing headphones.

Gotta second the Grado recommendation. Grado sound is amazing. My "pocket audophile" setup is several tracks loaded onto the iPod with lossless compression and a set of Grado SR-125s.

Do note, however, that when -dsr- say "no isolation", he isn't kidding. The reason Grados sound as good as they do is the open design (which allows the diaphragm to move with little resistance.)

Not only do they not isolate, they project a bunch of sound. The would be a bad replacement for late-night SimCity activity.

The *nasty* thing about 'phones like the Grado or the Senn HD280s is that they're brutally honest -- and you'll find a number of tracks that you can't listen to, since you hear all the recording and encoding flaws. It is worse with poorly encoded mp3s and the like (one thing about AAC -- while it doesn't have the fidelity of a vbr mp3 or ogg that's properly encoded, it seems to be much more forgiving -- I've never had an AAC that was unlistenable.)

Non-crappy, won't destroy your budget headphones, all of which are full-size types:
- Grado SR-60, US$60 - excellent sound, no sound isolation. You'll be able to hear Feorag asking you why you're up in the middle of the night.

- Sennheiser HD280Pro, US$100 - excellent sound, excellent isolation. You won't hear the chainsaw murderer until he turns on the chainsaw behind you...

- Sony MDR-7106, US$100 - almost perfect sound, good isolation.

I should have said, I can't use normal in-ear headphones -- my ears are a funny shape. Ear-plug type phones that fit in my ear canal are fine, as are full-sized headsets, but the normal in-ear ones tend to fall out every ten seconds or so.

I can't use behind-the-neck headsets, either -- at least, not when my hair's at full length (which it isn't, yet, but I'm growing it out again).

What I'd suggest is get a pair of Zip-Linq retractable-cable headphones - easy to transfer between devices, or keep in a coat pocket. The sound quality's no worse than standard in-ear headphones.

http://www.ziplinq.com/retractable-cable-audio.html

Well, I don't put up with crappy speakers; I've plugged my line out into a mini stereo installation here of quite decent quality.

It makes a difference.

By a strange coincidence, there's some discussion of this on demon.tech.pc, with Oz (another farmer) being somewhat bemused by both the appeal of MP3 and the low quality of computer speakers.

Well, with my ears I can't really hear the difference between a CD and the usual MP3 compression, though I can still recognise AM radio quality. And I have a pair of OK speakers on the computer which, while not technically handling bass, have distinctly better LF response than some I've heard.

I'm not sure I want to risk one of those cheap 5:1 speaker systems on my DVD player. The trouble is that age and noise cause hearing loss, and the tinny high-freequency that all that the tiny little speakers can put out is the first to go. I don't care about anything about 12kHz, but that's what they seem to be charging for.