Journal: News & Comment

Headphone research

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As is typical of me before I buy something, in advance of grabbing my Sennheiser HD 280 headphones last week, I did a bunch of web surfing to find out what the best model might be. Noel asked me to relate what I found.

I started with Dan Frakes's old TidBITS articles on the topic, which took me to headphone.com and GoodCans. In the end I narrowed my search down to the HD 280s, similar closed headphones from Sony (MDR-V6 and MDR-7506, which are the same except the 7506 is easier to find and about $50 more expensive), and the Grado SR60s (apparently astounding, but not very noise-isolating). Sennheiser's PX100s (available in white or iPod black) would have been a good option if I didn't already have some comparable Sony MDR-G72 streetstyle portables.

You might think that spending $140 on headphones is crazy, but if you want crazy, how about $1600 for mahogany-housing Grado RS1s and a matching wooden headphone amp? Or some Stax or AKG "earspeakers"? Crazy, man, crazy.

Especially if, like me, you've been playing drums for 17 years and compromised your hearing a bit.

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