Sam, some high impedance/low sensitivity phones don't work well with portable players, but the headphone outputs on typical receivers, including your 606, should work well with most, including the two I mentioned. Beware of the hype from some sellers making claims about mysterious sound improvements if you buy the special amplifiers that they sell.

If you're looking to save money, compared to the original amount that you mentioned, give particular attention to the Grado.

I was most happy with the Sennheiser 595's I had. Owned them for over two years and for about a year and a half they ran straight from my receiver and I was perfectly happy with them.

You can't go wrong with the 595's. The 595's are also very good with games and movies. You probably can't with grado's either, but some don't like grados as much.

What music do you listen to the most?

It's a decent mix of music these days, although I find myself listening to a lot of folksy stuff (Garcia, Rice, Bella Fleck), blues and classical. On the flip side of that, I also love the White Stripes, Shins, Postal Service, Belle and Sabastion, etc. Not really hard rock or metal. Think the 595's are up for that?

I don't think I would ever really use them without being hooked up to the receiver, since when I'm on the move I tend to prefer in-ear headphones. And I'm in Baltimore city... and would rather keep a low electronics profile while outside... ha ha.

Any specific online dealers you can recommend? So far it looks like ebay is coming up with the lowest prices.

- Sam

Senns trounce grados in classical and blues. If you were more of a rock guy it would be more of a toss up.

Look in the "For sale" section on head-fi.org. Otherwise, Amazon.com seems to have the most consistently competitive prices.

Not much of a classical listener but Grados do very well with the Blues.

The one thing I don't like about the Alessandro MS1 is the cord. On my brothers set of Sennheisers (not sure on the model) the cord is detachable and is only connected to the one side (very nice feature). On my Alessandro MS1 the cord has a Y portion so 2 cables run to each the L and R. You have much less flexibility with the cord this way and sometimes I find that they cross eachother which is annoying.

On the cord side, only the Sennheiser "studio monitoring" series (HD595 is a good example) has that type of connector. The others (HD600/650) have the Y-split cables.

I simply adore my HD650's.

I bought both AKG701's and the HD650's last year and spent a couple of weeks listening to both. I also bought a handful of headphone amps too, as I knew that both headphones really needed amplification. And they both do, no question.

The AKG701's are more clinical; good bass, clean midrange, but nearly too-bright highs for me. They are absolutely lovely headphones to behold - they're built well and look 'expensive'. The HD650's are different. They don't look all that special. Just like big black headphones. Their sound is more 'laid back', but not too much. Strong and powerful bass, beautifully warm midrange (but not too warm), and clean controlled highs. The real test came with music that involved rich & detailed midrange stuff - Diana Krall's voice, YoYo Ma's cello, etc. On those, the HD really shined over the AKG's. Stunningly beautiful.

The AKG's were fantastic headphones, but they weren't quite the 'nth' degree of amazing (to me). I would have been quite happy to keep the AKG's, but the HD's just did it for me. I'm also a fan of B&W speakers, which are a tad too warm for some. So it is entirely likely that the HD's just meshed better with my brain. YMMV, of course.

So I returned the AKG's and kept the HD's. I have mine powered by a Little Dot MKII Tube amp. It is my office setup, and I dare say that it rivals the sonic bliss of my M80v2 setup at home.

And the others are absolutely correct about open-back headphones. Most 'audiophile quality' headphones are open-back. Which means you can more-or-less hear everything around you while you're wearing them. And the sound from the headphones escapes into the surrounding environment as well. If the goal here is for you to be able to pulverize your eardrums while your significant other sits at the other end of the couch in sonic ignorance, you need to look for sealed headphones. Otherwise, they will hear your music. HD650's, AKG701's, and all Grados (I think) are open designs.

If you're looking for sources for headphones, check out HeadRoom. They are a great company to deal with and their prices are usually competitive. All they do are headphones & accessories, so they know their stuff. They will stand behind their 30-day return policy and will help you with questions or problems, unlike what can happen with Fleabay. Feel free to email them and describe what you want to do, and they will most certainly recommend certain models that will fit your budget & desires. And no, I don't have any relationship with them other than being a satisfied customer.

Good luck! And don't spend too much time over on Head-fi. That place will suck your wallet dry.

Golden,

If you are going to be using your receiver make sure to measure the distance from the headphone jack to your seating position. You might need to buy an extension for your headphones. In my own experience using a receiver it is always better to have more cord unlike using a portable device or computer.

I considered the AKG 701's but almost every review I read suggested the their sound greatly benefits from the use of a headphone amp, which I didn't want to get into. I settled on the Audio-Technica A900, which I'm happy with. I agree with the magicman's suggestion of considering the Denon D2000's as well.