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Best headphones you've ever heard/used

Well, the subject says it all I guess. I'm looking for two sets of good quality headphones.

The first one is an earphone for use with my iPod. I'm looking for a small pair of compact in-ear earphones. I take long boring flights to Asia often so it'd be nice if they were high quality and helped out with noise canceling. I've heard good things from Shure. Any other recommendations?

The second one will be for night time listening in my bed. These headphones can be big but hopefully not too heavy. I also need them to be wireless for at least 15ft.

Thanks in advance,
spacekadet

Showing 2 responses by metralla

metralla
945 posts
 
Etymotic in-ear headphones (and probably all ear-buds) don't have noise cancelling per se, but do supress the external noise levels by virtue of their design. And they apparently do it very well. I use Bose noise cancelling headphones on the 'plane with a CDP and a Total Airhead.

For your second application, why do you want wireless? You won't get really high performance if you require wireless.

Are these also going to connect to your iPod, or are you planning to run these from your main system?

Regards,
metralla
945 posts
 
10 feet's not a problem. Get a long cord.

On the Bose n/c phones, I have had Sony $200 n/c phones for three years or so and was sitting next to a traveler with the Bose jobs, so I listened to both through my Total AirHead. I did not think there was much between them in sound quality, but the Bose definitely had better noise supression, but this probably came from acoustic isolation (something the Sony does not have) rather than from a better n/c circuit. The Bose are far more comfortable.

I know when I compared my Sony n/c phones to a pair of $100 Sennheiser 495 (open back) in an office environment (not too much background noise) the Sony's sounded terrible.

I am pretty happy with the Bose headphones on a 'plane. I am not happy to own a Bose product though - they are my first and only. I'll look out for travelers with the different sets mentioned here and try to get a comparison on board - that's the only meaningful test for me.

I have a friend who bought the Sony n/c the same time as me, and he no longer uses that technology. He uses the Etymotic-type and claims he gets just as much noise supression with that design.

Me - I don't like earbuds at all - so the Etymotic are out.

Regards,
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