Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Headphones?

Absolutely, alan. My ear canals are pretty picky about what goes in there. I gave up on the iPod-style earbuds a long time ago when I couldn't get any I tried to actually stay put. Now, it's either circumaural or in-ear for me.

I absolutely refuse to do earbuds, I find they hurt my ears just to put them in.

Soo many choices....
Oddly, I find the ear canals more comfortable than the ear buds. My ears just don't seem to have a bud friendly shape. Don't even care for Bud beer! Don't find the ear clip versions comfy either when I wear glasses to read or work, so my choices are narrowing down.

Actually, I fly to Ottawa tomorrow for a couple of days so I might just go out and see what is around local. That should narrow it down a lot further.

I don't blame you for not liking Bud beer, but of course you don't like it if you are pouring it in your ear. Beer goes in your MOUTH, not your ear. Mabye you tasted the Bud beer in your mouth and thought....hmmm this stuff must be better if I put it in my ear instead. It tastes awful!

Got them! It turns out that it was not the 650 that I tried (I was stunned when I saw the 650 and they did not look like what I had tried!). Nevetheless, the sound is really, really good. Not anywhere competing with M80, but in my living room, the bass is really deep and balanced, instrument attacks and releases are accurate and the headphones have nice dynamics.

Pretty happy with my purchase! Now, all I have to do is find a friend that has a headphone amp to see (hear?) if there is a noticeable difference with the jack out of my 805.

The Sennheiser PX-100's were well regarded. I picked up a pair for about $60 a year or so ago.

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD580s (almost the same as the 600s) and their newer 595s. I really, really like both but give the edge to the 595s since they're a bit more forward with more defined bass (the 580s are a bit laid back). I thought about the 650s at one point, but decided I wanted to try a slightly different sound (the 650s are pretty much the natural evolution from the 580s, whereas Sennheiser went a slightly different route with the 595), and I wasn't disappointed.

The other nice thing is that the 595s are much easier to drive, and though they obviously benefit from a nice headphone amp (I use a great, cheap little tube amp called the Little Dot II++), they sound decent enough out of your standard headphone jack (even the iPod can handle them well).

Have you tried an upgraded power cord with that tube amp yet?

To revive a thread from a couple of months ago, I ended up with the Ultimate Ears super.fi 3 Studio. They came with multiple in ear fittings. I dropped down to the smaller size, and they fit well. I like them so far, definately hearing details I didn't hear with the buds that come with the iPod.

Time to do this again though. My wife got an iPod classic for Christmas (from me) and now she wants headphones to go with it. She has a birthday in 6 days, so this is something I can pick out for her. She wants standard headphones, no clips. She doesn't like buds, and is having trouble with the standard ipod buds. They should be portable, since they will be for ipod use.

I'm looking at these based on the cnet reiview, but wanted other suggestions as well.

Portable headphones, standard band (no clips, buds, etc) some noise cancelling for flying would be helpful, under $100 price range.

Note: she would readily admit that she is not an audiophile. Her main concern will likely be something comfortable and portable, but I of course, want to get her something that sounds good too. Any other suggestions?

Sennheiser HD0280 Pro, possibly. They are quite large, but will offer better noise isolation than active cancellation. Pretty comfortable, decent sound.

I don't trust C|Net to review anything; they tend to be very, very advertiser driven.