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Only douchebag and stupid assholes drive around with headphones on.

As long as you aren't driving around with a pair of these on, you should be able to hear with most earbuds just as well as you can with your stereo turned up to a reasonable listening level (let's say around 80-90 dB SPL or so).

[My favorite speakers are] utterly compatible with everything from an original Walkman to an iPhone, because everything still uses that headphone jack.

Not for long though. Apple wants to phase out 3.5 mm.

Being small little speakers, they have the benefit that in a relatively short distance you can't hear them at all. Which means the wife and I can have music that people 30 feet away can't even hear -- which is a bonus when you're in the back yard or lounging by a pool and don't want to disturb other people.

Know what else has great sound, can't be heard from a short distance away, and sells for $50? Koss Porta Pro.

What'chu talkin 'bout, Willis?

Koss Porta Pro don't just look retro, they're the real deal. They've been mostly unchanged since 1984, and Amazon has sold them since 1990 (up to 1,200 reviews now). It's nice to see a company stand behind a product instead of cycling them every 6 months.

So would something like these Koss Sparkplugs be bad for my ears if I listen to them at a reasonable volume (which is made easier thanks to the noise cancelling foam)?

No need to buy new headphones when the foampads crumble to dust, get them here or at your well-stocked hi-fi dealer's.

I actually own three PortaPros (a question of convenience) and I think they're worth every penny. One of these even replaced an expensive set of Grados which I used with my home stereo. They're about the only headphones to which I can listen for several hours in a row without discomfort (I wear glasses and set the "Comfort Zone" sliders to "Light" on both sides).

You mean these? They're much cheaper here. If you want them a little less ugly and don't like the volume control, there's also these that use the same driver. This model (and the really ugly big brother PortaPros) is considered a 'sleeper' model by many.

Goes a long way to explaining why they last longer than the standard cheap Rat Shack crap.

Get these--great audio quality, and open design. http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc ^sc^KSC75

I think the real culprit here is improper Volume (loudness) settings and not headphones/earbuds.

I have some real nice Princess Leia style headphones, and even though they totally surround the ear, I never set the volume so high that I can't hear someone speak to me with a normal tone of voice. Hearing loss runs in my family, so keeping a reasonable Volume setting is very important to me.

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.

I have a pair of KOSS and they rock. The only problem is they are far more sensitive that standard headphones so when listening to the move on a plain I have to turn the volume down to its lowest setting and even then it's a bit too loud, then the intercom kicks in and you can't turn that down below %50 so you get your brain blown out.

I have now solved this problem by purchasing an in-line volume controller, I have this turned right down and the movie right up so when the stewardess comes on the intercom to tell you all about the retail opportunities they offer, you can hardly hear her, this drastically reduces the urge to throttle her.

I have the predecessor to these.
http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/04ProductPrin t/SPARKPLUG

I saved myself a whole bunch of money and bought some in-ear headphones that use foam earplugs to block out noise.

Mine is a pair of Koss The Plug headphones. Honestly, they're not very good by themselves, because the foam earplugs that come with them are very poor - it's impossible to get a good seal with them. I replaced them with a pair of my own earplugs modified with a hole through the middle (for the 'acoustic tube' that channels the sound into your ear). With that one change, they become a decent pair of headphones. The sound is still weak comparied to some professional in-ear headphones that you can get for 10-20 times as much money, but they are better than your standard earbud.

But on the upside, they also block out background noise much better than my friend's Bose noise canceling headphones that also cost 10-20 times as much money.

http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/02ProductPrin t/THEPLUG?OpenDocument Try this instead.

I got them at Radio Shack (Canada) for $35.

http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/02ProductPrin t/THEPLUG?OpenDocument/ for product information.

Check out Koss' "The Plug" earbuds.

Have you ever used foam earplugs? You know, the disposable ones that you have to squeeze and roll up tight before you put them in your ears?

If you have, then you've got the idea behind these $12 earbuds.

They're regular earbuds, except that the sound travels down a little pipe that goes through the middle of some of that earplug material. You squeeze the foam, put it into your ear, and it expands to fill the space. So, minimal external noise gets in, but the sound comes right through.

I've found that I turn the volume way down with those things in. I just don't need it very high any more. Also, they have the best bass response of any earbud I've ever tried - that's not saying much, but I'll add that they have better bass than a lot of much more expensive headphones I've tried.

With that said... I want a pair of the Bose noise-canceling headphones too.

about one year ago. i set two limitations to the design of my "lan party computer"

1. it must use standard components (to make it easier to find parts to buy)
2. it must be cheap (at least cheaper than a comparable laptop)

this is a list of components that i used to build the system.
i updated parts of the list to reflect what components i would buy if i was going to build it today.

case mini tower $60
monitor 14" lcd $600
motherboard micro atx $100
processor P3 800Mhz 100FSB $160
ram 256MBpc100SDRAM $100
video Geforce2GTS64MB $195
keyboard mini-keyboard $40
mouse cordless optical $70
hard drive 40GB ide $100
cd-rom drive Plextor16/10/40A $250
floppy 1.44MB Generic $10
sound card SB Live Value $40
network card netgear FA310TX $20
cat5 cable 14 feet $20
headphones koss td61 $20
carry strap GearGrip Pro $35

other stuff:
cable bag a small, strong bag to attach to the side of the case to hold all the cables
power cable with 3 outlets that have 3 prongs each to accommodate the power cables for your system and monitor

i attached the lcd monitor to one side of the case and the cable bag to the other side. i put all the cables attached to the computer inside the bag to get them out of the way. then, when i went to a lan party i would only have to take one power cable, one network cable, the mini-keyboard, cordless mouse, and headphones out of the cable bag. everything was already connected at the back of the computer so there was no onsite setup involved.

i also screwed a piece of plexiglass onto the lcd monitor to protect the screen. (yes it was stupid to drill holes into a monitor that i just spent $900 on at that time, but it worked)

i had a lot of fun with that computer. i even dropped it down a flight of stairs once and the case was bent and all the pci cards popped out of their sockets. i put it back together and it worked fine.
the only downside to building this system was that it weighed about 30lbs. although if you spent more money on a lunchbox case with integrated lcd it would still weigh a lot.

unfortunately i never took any pictures of it for posterity and i ended up dismantling it for parts about 6 months ago, but i'm sure you get the idea.

-stan