headphones

Maybe. Depends on what you want headphones for. Getting good sound quality together with good isolation is not a trivial task.

If you don't need isolation and you're listening for pleasure and not looking for something very analytic, try the Grado SR-60s, for around $75. They are very clean-sounding.

--scott

Not at all. Try a pair of Grado SR60's. The sell for $79 at Amazon. I haven't tried out all of the headphones listed in the article, but the Grado's have been giant-killers for over 20 years. I still own my original set and recently bought its slightly more expensive cousin the SR80 ($99) for another location. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

DF

Doesn't seem that pricey to me. In other words, you can spend a lot more than that if you want to and get something great. You can also spend less and get something rather good.

--Jeff

jrsnfld wrote in news:f385f589-28ca-44c0-9599-d793d26e450c@

Or...

AC

It depends upon how fussy you are, how you're planning to use them (home stereo vs. portable), how much time you spend listening with headphones, and how much disposable cash you have on hand.

Others have already mentioned the Grado SR60's, which are a terrific bargain, but are not the most comfortable headphones on the market by any means.

I don't think, BTW, that any of the phones in the WSJ article are suited to use with portable devices, and most would probably require a separate headphone amplifier to achieve sound worthy of the $$$ spent.

Bill

LOL! Handmade in Bavaria with ruthenium coating, no less!

The Amazon reviews of that turkey (peacock?) are absolutely hilarious! And so are Amazon's recommendations ("What do other customers buy after viewing this item? The $34.95 Koss PortaPro!").

At that price range I might consider moving up the ranks of Stax earspeakers and amps. But then you can't really use those with your diamond-studded iPad special edition...

--Jeff

Ah! The headphones for the now-infamous 1 percent. I must have my broker order 23 pairs (one for each pair in my modest dwelling, not counting the 16 bathrooms) and have tutors sent over to instruct my staff of valets on their proper use and installing on my head. Allen

I second the comment on the SR-60s. They sound terrific and I find them to be very comfortable. I did "upgrade" the stock ear pads to the silly looking, yellow Sennheiser pads and I find those to be even more comfortable.

I seem to remember someone on the internets claiming that the SR60s sound better when driven straight from a source[cd player] and the SR80s sound better when used with a dedicated headphone amp. I don't know if that is true, just what I read when I was trying to decide between the two models. I also don't know if plugging the SR80s into a receiver that your CD player is hooked into could be considered a dedicated headphone amp setup.

They have improved a lot... three or four years ago they redesigned the earpads and the new configuration is a LOT more comfortable than the older designs. The old ones were like having your head in a vise.

--scott

That's interesting. I carefully compared the 60s to the 80s once, and I think it was direct from the source CD player, and decided the 80s were slightly better--at least enough to justify the price differential. Now I don't remember exactly what was better. Anyway, I bought the 80s as a result.

A dedicated headphone amp (I used a relatively cheap Creek headphone amp) worked wonders with the Grado SR80s. The improvement over using the headphone jack in other components was larger than the difference between the 60s and 80s in the other test.

--Jeff

Depends what you mean by good. I've got a pair of good quality Sennheiser headphones which I've had for years, and another pair that I gave to my father as a birthday present many years ago, and got back when he died.

Both feature neodymium-iron magnets. The current eqivalent would be the HD650 which costs about $420 from Amazon.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

I have what I assume is the same Creek amp - the OBH-11. Actually I have two of them, one for home, and one for the office. Works wonders with any headphone, if the headphone jack on your amp doesn't have sufficient power.

Bill

The PortaPro headphones are supposed to be pretty good - does anyone have any firsthand experience with them?

Bill

I don't think that you need to be an "audiophool" to appreciate the difference between a good set of headphones and a piece of crap.

Bil

Alan Cooper appears to have caused the following letters to be typed in news:Xns9F837EA51C1A4amcooperoptonlinenet@209.197.15.254:

"The ear capsule development is the shape of butterfly wings to reason."

That's the sort of thing you just can't put a price on.

-- Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!! "I don?t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don?t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate. I think we need a national conversation to get to a better Medicare system with more choices for seniors." Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on "Meet the Press" 15 May 2011 Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers.

Seems very boutique-y to me.

If you're talking $100-130 then yes, that is about the range where things start getting interesting.

Depends on what you call good.

If you are talking about headphones that are commonly used by pros around here for more critical applications, then consider that the MDR 7506 and HD

e450c@

There is actually such a special diamond-encrusted iPad, but I guess the reviewer just joking about having one

I don't quite get why the reviewer is so sarcastic but still gives the product 5 stars. Maybe that's part of the joke.

wkasimer wrote in news:360726c1-78e2-4ebb-a002- snipped-for-privacy@c25g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:

Yeah, does it need to be goldplated with silver core wiring??