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You're kvetching about fidelity, and then wanting to do it over bluetooth.

Are those things even compatible? Doesn't bluetooth do compression and other things which are pretty much at odds with the notion of fidelity.

I think BT is better than it was at the beginning.

I have some Grado wired over ear headphones I"ve had for awhile, and I like them.

However, I don't want to carry wired cans on the plane with me, just one more thing to get tangled in backpack and in the way in flight, etc.

Also, I believe most of your wired over the ear headphones are not noise canceling, which is a plus on a plane.

Small electronics repair has died entirely...

I'm probably the exception that proves the rule, but a while back I did actually send a pair of headphones in for repair. $30 instead of $100 replacement cost.

I have the Grado Labs SR60i, and they cost about $79, but they sure sound great. Check them out at http://www.gradolabs.com/page_headphones.php?item=f4ba8830232696b5f580bd531134b668

I purchased them online from http://goodcans.com/HeadphoneStore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=83&zenid=16a9581e498c2dc5bd2481384bd45a74

They are especially known for their flat frequency response, and allowing you to hear what other headphones can not reproduce. In my experience, this has been the case. They are incredibly well-built, for the price. The cable for them is very flexible, but also rather thick. I am very happy with them.

If you want to have a full blown no holds barred freaking audiophile experience worthy of a 10,000 home set up, walking down the street here's how you do it:

1) Never listen to any music you buy from Apple or same. They compress the music until it's shit and no, their ALAC isn't worth a damn:

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Comparison_Table

No really, you don't have to have golden ears to hear the difference. Either take the time to burn tracks from CDs into a totally loss-less format like FLAC or do what I do and screw digital music for now, it's not ready for prime time- buy used CDs they're literally sonically perfect, (even too perfect for some vinyl lovers).

Get yourself a portable, skipless CD player (which are sadly getting hard to get in decent quality anymore) and pair it with the most expensive version of this headphone you can afford, new or used,

http://www.gradolabs.com/page_headphones.php

disregarding entirely the in-ear variety because you said you want something *really* good.

I own the SR325is and it blows everything else away including the highest end Bose (junk) Sennheisers etc etc etc.

The separation of the sound and incredible detail is nothing you're going to experience this side of $6,000-a -pair home speakers. If you've been listening to digital audio, you've never even HEARD whole parts of the recording.. literally you'll hear things in the music, like, percussion parts, you didn't even know were there

. Not to mention the actual quality and timbre of the vocalist's voice.

This is the way to roll.

A $70 pair of SHURE earbuds has made all the difference in how I listen to music

Sorry, but no earbuds are worth $70. They are simply evil and will destroy your hearing. Get yourself some proper earphones, something that cups the ear and ventilates.

One word for you: Grado. Highly recommended and reviewed at audiophile places. The lower end models price out at about the same as those earbuds, but with a superior sound. I recommend the SR80 - probably the best headphones in the price range. See Grado Labs - a small company in Brooklyn that still makes their stuff in the US.

Disclaimer: I have no fiscal interest in Grado -- I just like their gear. I have owned a set of SR60 for over a decade, and I use my 4 year old SR80's at work. The SR-225 headphones I got for Christmas last year from my wife never leave the house - they are that good (And a bit pricey). These are the best sounding headsets I've ever owned or used.

I was upset when these came out, my HD-650s aren't top of the line anymore.. That said, man are the 800s ugly.

My SR-80s are very good headphones for the money (~$100) and rival the HD650s. One of these day's I'm going to listen to a set of RS2is, one of their upper-mid level headphones.

I was upset when these came out, my HD-650s aren't top of the line anymore.. That said, man are the 800s ugly.

My SR-80s are very good headphones for the money (~$100) and rival the HD650s. One of these day's I'm going to listen to a set of RS2is, one of their upper-mid level headphones.

I like my Grado SR-60 cans 95% as much as my older Stax electrostatic ones. They really are that good.

Well, while over the ear cans are very inconvenient for the gym, they are great for the home or office I think....and you're gonna generally get much better sound, as that the drivers can be larger and of better quality.

I've really grown fond of Grado cans for the over the ear type. They get good reviews, and I find the sound is really great. I like the SR 80s, they are a good medium low price set. Nice long cord too!

I got a pair of the SR 80's after doing some research.

MAN...these things sound good and are reasonable in price.

Shure offer headphones with a button that shuts off the music and feeds in sound from outside. I use Grado headphones which are open-backed; they don't attenuate outside sounds at all, I can hear the outside world through them perfectly clearly and hold a conversation normally, just with music superimposed onto my hearing. Why should sensible, responsible users of headphones be penalised because some idiots listening to earbuds at deafening levels walk into oncoming traffic? Hell, why are the authoritarian fuckwits running New York seemingly outlawing everything they even vaguely disapprove of?

sony still makes the best headphones

Eh. If you're into that sort of thing. I still like my Grados more than anything. They're sexy. Well, not everyone thinks so to look at (they're not exactly modern-looking headphones and can be an acquired taste), but they sound great, and that's all I care about.

For the money you can't beat the grado sr60 or sr80. These are high end headphones that sound absolutely phenomenal. They are both priced at under $100. You can't beat these headphones for the money.
http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/sr60.htm

(Links at the bottom)

I've been using a cheap pair of Sony behind-the-ear's at work for a while. Easy to put on, decent sound (little muddy), cheap, and doesn't look like my other phones. At home it's Sennheiser HD497's, incredible sound (good alternative to Grado SR-60's I hear). The 497's are about 60-70, and they're open design so you can basic hear everything around you not muffled at all. Same with the sony behind-the-ears, you can still hear around you and you can simply pause the music to hear people.

I tried the Sennheiser PXC-250's, same physical design as the 100's but with active noise cancelling. Even with the noise canceling *off*, the phone physically blocked out a lot of noise (surprisingly). Good for music, bad for coworkers.

Personally, I'd got with behind the ear Koss porta pro's (KSC55's probably). They're slightly less intrusive than over-the-head phones, that series of koss's are supposed to be the best bargain phones (ie. under $30), and they're really easy to pull down to your neck when a coworker wants to talk. That's important, as at my 1 year review one of my feedback from coworkers was "he's always wearing his headphones". Programming for 8-10 hours straight in the only office in the building without a window of any kind? Heck yes. I'm still going to wear phones, but I have to be careful not to appear "unapproachable" to the higher-ups. Aww, screw it. I'm doing important work, they don't need to disturb me.

(I think it's outside the scope of the OP's requirements, but I can't say enough about the HD497's. Music sounds incredibly different listened with those compared to cheap phones, cars, computer speakers, etc. There's just a whole lot more there that you never realized. Love it, I want to listen to music all over again just in these phones.)

Sony MDR-G52LP's, $20, ok but not as good as the Koss (so I've heard). Little muddy.

Koss KSC55, ~$20, behind the ear, titanium diaphram, cheap and good

Grado SR-60's, ~$70, bigger over the head, "best under $100"-kine (open design, can hear everything)

Sennheiser HD497's, ~$70, more bigger over the head, "the other best under $100"-kine (open design, can hear everything)

*Don't pay attention to frequency response numbers, 20-20000hz. Means nothing. Go try some phones, goto the Apple store and plug your personal ipod into the bose triports and listen to something you know well. If you're not rushed, you might notice a big difference.

Is it? I wouldn't know, since I haven't listened to the radio since I got my first iPod three years ago.

I agree! I hate advertising. That's why my Apple iPod is great! I find it especially useful when I use it with Apple iTunes to download all that great music by Kanye West.

I listen to my iPod all the time. Even on the can.

If you have problems with the constant pressure, you might be out of luck.

If you want good headphones, but don't mind sound leaking in/out, then I'd recommend an open-air set like Grado makes. I have their 125s. Half the price of the Bose noise cancellations.

I find that it's both easier to listen to the music at moderate/low levels AND I can still hear enough of what's around me to not get snuck up on at work. Although it's still easy to filter out (mentally) the noise around me. My officemate, however, didn't approve of being able to hear the cymbals continually leaking out of the headphones, so I had to switch back to my denons, which are significantly more fatiguing.

Take a listen to them (if you can find them). Although they may not be what you need due to the open-air nature.

I've also found Koss to be relatively equal to Bose in build quality, higher in sound quality, and WAY cheaper.

Sennheiser has definitely gone downhill in the last 5 years or so. Their new models aren't at all like their older ones.

The SR325 headphones I have are something special.

Do yourself a favour - check them out, including their "budget" models ;)

A wooden headphone amp and wooden headphones would look good with it too.

and they sound awesome. :)

You don't mention what you'll be listening to. I certainly wouldn't recommend the same speakers for somebody who was going to listen to rock as somebody who was going to listen to baroque.

And yet you got 4 recommendations. Heh. (Of course, they were all completely different. No surprise there.)

Just get yourself a good pair of headphones and call it a day. You'd have to spend significantly more to get speakers that sound as good.

Sennheiser's and Grado's are the best bet for superb audio quality, however I would never go out in public with a pair of Their design team is still stuck in the cold war design era. But damn, they sound good. Your typical Senn's wont be as high of sound quality, but near close, and the exterior design is generally very sleek.

Hear, hear! Where's my mod points when I need them? This one deserves a better score than the "but why" just above.

My GF/partner of one year is a sound art student at RMIT in Melbourne, Down Under; I've learned heaps through going to concerts with her, discovered artists such as Darrin Verhagen, Philip Samartzis and more. It can really challenge your senses and make you experience sound in a totally different fashion.

Although, let it be said, most of my office mates think I'm slightly mad for listening to it - I do pretty much have to confine the experience to my Grado Labs SR325s; they find my listening to Pet Shop Boys less disturbing [yep, I'm a PSB fan]. As if their jazz is any better! No offense to jazz fans intended, the sole purpose is to highlight that we all got different tastes but what is considered "accepted" is often a bit skewed.

Cheers.

I must be a bit anal about sound quality and find even 128kb/s a bit lacking - the Grado Labs SR325s I have at work are almost a bit too for my own good in this respect. So I'm not too much into music piracy and do often have gigs left of my 3GB monthly ADSL quota.

However, CDs copied to the Media Player using the highest quality setting are pretty darned good - I can't discern any difference in quality.

If they provide say 192kb/s WMA files, I'd be inclined to buying music if I could really use it for all my personal uses; burn to CD, copy to my work and home PCs. And of course if, I could actually find something interesting to buy! (I find most of the 'run of the mill music' being published these days more annoying than anything).

The price must be right though, considerably less than for real CDs. Even though I don't really know where to put my 400+ CD collection anymore, I still like getting the physical product. E.g., I have a very nice collection of Pet Shop Boys, Faithless, Depeche Mode and a few other favourite artists; there's something to be said about the physical product...

I must be a bit anal about sound quality and find even 128kb/s a bit lacking - the Grado Labs SR325s I have at work are almost a bit too for my own good in this respect. So I'm not too much into music piracy and do often have gigs left of my 3GB monthly ADSL quota.

However, CDs copied to the Media Player using the highest quality setting are pretty darned good - I can't discern any difference in quality.

If they provide say 192kb/s WMA files, I'd be inclined to buying music if I could really use it for all my personal uses; burn to CD, copy to my work and home PCs. And of course if, I could actually find something interesting to buy! (I find most of the 'run of the mill music' being published these days more annoying than anything).

The price must be right though, considerably less than for real CDs. Even though I don't really know where to put my 400+ CD collection anymore, I still like getting the physical product. E.g., I have a very nice collection of Pet Shop Boys, Faithless, Depeche Mode and a few other favourite artists; there's something to be said about the physical product...

I'm in my first open-plan office in three years, after having a private office. I'm also dealing with a bunch of type-a consulting types, who need their questions answered NOW NOW NOW. For them, I wear open-air headphones that fit over my ears, so they think I can't hear them. This encourages them to use IM (still an interruption, but they don't type as much as they talk) or email. It also leaves me able to hear peripheral conversations, so I can take the headphones off and jump in when necessary.

The only time I listen to music is to drown out excessive noise or lyrics-laden music from elsewhere in the office. The CEOs think music == good working environment, and have an amp stack in the corner of the main office area. When the music comes on, it's time to go home, because no work is going to get done. If the volume isn't high (rare), I crank up repetitive techno as white noise, so my brain doesn't kick into language parser mode when it should be in code generation mode.

The other big big big issue is tools availability. I've been using VisualAge/Java for years, and am in the process of switching to IntelliJ IDEA. Decent method, field, argument, class, keyword, and template completion, and a decent classbrowser with hierarchy browsing support, are essential for coding without having to switch context to look through javadoc, when you just need to find out if the method is toUpper(), toUpperCase(), upper(), etc.

Drink a lot of water, diet coke, whatever, so you have to take a lot of pee breaks, hopefully every 20-30 minutes or so. Gives the hands a rest, and gives you that essential "time away from the keyboard" so you can refocus on the problem and see it from another point of view. Sometimes it's hard to think of the solution if you're coding it up.

The audio fidelity on the whole is as good as can be expected. We all know what MP3 encoding does to your tunes if you have a reasonable speakers

All mp3 decoders are not created equal and I sure wish reviewers would dig a little deeper. If they go beyond navigation and I/O features and cover audio quality, it's typically only to mention background hum or hiss or a wimpy headphone amplifier.

mp3 at high bitrates created with a competent encoder (LAME is one) can sound pretty good. Decoding with cheap 16 bit DSPs such as the TMS320C54x used in the Rio One is hard to do-- you have to watch out for error accumulation (e.g. please round to zero instead of simply truncating).

If you don't believe me that decoders differ, consider these tests of PC decoders. Unfortunately, no one seems to do such detailed testing on embedded decoders.

I'm giving my Rio One to my nephew who will be so thrilled to have it that if he hears the high-frequency errors on playback of middlin' bitrates (192kbps), he probably won't mind.

I don't know what I'm going to replace it with, though. I know I shouldn't expect much out of a $80 player powered from on AA cell, but there's no guarantee that a $400 Rio Riot or iPod will be glitch-free: they might have spent the whole power and cost budget on LCDs, hard drives and amortizing development.

A StrongARM-based PocketPC might be the answer- plenty of horsepower to run less compromised 16 bit decoder or even a 24 bit or floating point one. It should also be able to decode ogg vorbis....

By the way, instead of reasonable speakers, I'm using a good pair of headphones. Much more bang for the buck when it comes to revealing audio defects, though the Sonys tend to be a bit shrill (well the older V6s that I have) for long-term listening. These are the same model we used when I was at E-mu for all normal testing. The only thing more revealing was the elements from a good pair of Sennheisers in a set of noise protection muffs to cut background noise by 23dB. Also, some of the ATC guys have Grado electrostatics.

With a decent pair of headphones you can pretty much shut out the rest of your surroundings. I recommend a pair of Grado SR-60's.