Because of thin walls in my apartment complex, I use headphones a lot in the evenings. My favorite are Stax Signatures with dedicated headphone amp. I use Sennheiser HD600s at work. Neutral sound with plenty of detail. At Audiogon prices, highly recommended. Though some say Sennheisers are difficult to drive, I haven't had any problems in that regard.
Listening to headphones takes a little getting used to since the sound resolves in the plane of your head rather than in front of you. There are "solutions" that give a greater sense of space such as the Stax ED-1 and Headroom headphone amplifiers. They will not actually convince you the sound is coming from in front of you. I find these good for certain types of music but they reduce sound clarity to some degree. Fine for pop but a real problem for listening to jazz or classical.
While I prefer the experience of listening to music through my floor standers, the sound quality from the headphones mentioned above is outstanding. However, depending on my mood and musical selection, I can find listening to headphones distracting. But most of the time, they allow me to truly enjoy the music when my neighbors are asleep or colleagues are busy working.
Listening to headphones takes a little getting used to since the sound resolves in the plane of your head rather than in front of you. There are "solutions" that give a greater sense of space such as the Stax ED-1 and Headroom headphone amplifiers. They will not actually convince you the sound is coming from in front of you. I find these good for certain types of music but they reduce sound clarity to some degree. Fine for pop but a real problem for listening to jazz or classical.
While I prefer the experience of listening to music through my floor standers, the sound quality from the headphones mentioned above is outstanding. However, depending on my mood and musical selection, I can find listening to headphones distracting. But most of the time, they allow me to truly enjoy the music when my neighbors are asleep or colleagues are busy working.