Headphones

Well, ended up extending the budget and going with two...one for home and one for office. I chose an Alessandro MS1 for home, which sounds great so far, and have a Panasonic HTF600 inbound for work use. Hopefully it can make me as happy as the Alessandro.
 
The Sennheiser HD201 headphones that cost $20 are pretty damned good, but we're missing an important point here:

Pretty good... compared to what? And by whose standard?

There is a similar thread kicking around here about digital cameras, with some people claiming that their cell phone takes pictures just as good as a Nikon D3. Well, discriminating viewers can *easily* tell the difference, let me assure you.

The same is true of headphones and earbuds. There is a serious difference between a $200 pair of Shure ear buds and those white-cord ear buds that come free with an MP3 player. Cheaper earbuds use coil speakers which are cheap to manufacture but do not produce rich bass or accurate high and mid-tones. High-end brands use miniaturized speakers which are a lot harder to make and thus a lot more expensive, and they reproduce the full spectrum of sound with a high degree of fidelity.

I would compare the MP3 player/ ear bud dynamic to the rifle/ scope dynamic. Basically, if you think of your scope as an "accessory" to your rifle, you will be more likely to buy a cheap one. But you would be wrong. A scope is *not* an accessory to a rifle: it is the second part of a 2-part system. It's quality and value should be at least as high as the rifle's.

The same is true of ear buds. Too many people think of them as an "accessory" to their music player. So they don't mind using the el-cheapo free ones that came with their music player, or they'll only spent $40 or something. But they are wrong. Ear buds are *not* an accessory to a music player: they are the second part of a 2-part system. It's quality and value should be at least as high as the music player's.

Case in point? My MP3 player is a $60 Sansa Clip+. My ear buds are $200 Shure SE310's. Believe me, I am a much happier and more satisfied music-listener than the guy who did the opposite ($200 MP3 player, $60 ear buds).

I also own the Sennheiser HD201 I mentioned above and the 280 HD PRO mentioned by another poster. Both are excellent. But you can definitely hear the difference and tell the difference in quality.
 
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