I am a headphone freak, my fiance thinks I’m crazy. It’s because I try/buy so many pairs of headphones looking for the right one. I’m not so interested in an amplifier since my iPod is my primary player and I don’t really want it to be any bulkier than it already is. Minidisco.com has a good selection, including a lot of Japan-only items.
I also really don’t dig in-ear buds, I find them kinda gross, hard to deal with when not in use, hard to get a great fit, and while they block outside noise, they amplify noises like chewing and walking.
Hats make over-the-head annoying and I used to love the Sony MDY-G72 behin-the-neck model. They stopped making those and the replacement is ungly and considerably bulkier (altho the G74’s sound really good). Now I’ve got a nice pair of the Senheiser p60’s (i think) that are decent.
When I’m less worried about portability, nothing beats my GRADO SR80’s. On a plane or in front of a computer I like the Bose Noise-cancelling headphones. they don’t sound as good, but they do an amazing job with the hum of afan or a jet engine.
I have started to rip everything to 128 bit AAC, and find that it sounds pretty good. I only notice compression in a quiet room with my studio headphones. It seems wasteful to do the whole lossless thing since files on the computer are intended for portability. What I have noticed is that some CDs are recorded much better than others, and it’s hard to tell where compression artifacts start a nd crappy original source material begins.
I rip straight to MP3 and have a $100 pair of Titanium headphones and my iPod sounds great.
I am a headphone freak, my fiance thinks I’m crazy. It’s because I try/buy so many pairs of headphones looking for the right one. I’m not so interested in an amplifier since my iPod is my primary player and I don’t really want it to be any bulkier than it already is. Minidisco.com has a good selection, including a lot of Japan-only items.
I also really don’t dig in-ear buds, I find them kinda gross, hard to deal with when not in use, hard to get a great fit, and while they block outside noise, they amplify noises like chewing and walking.
Hats make over-the-head annoying and I used to love the Sony MDY-G72 behin-the-neck model. They stopped making those and the replacement is ungly and considerably bulkier (altho the G74’s sound really good). Now I’ve got a nice pair of the Senheiser p60’s (i think) that are decent.
When I’m less worried about portability, nothing beats my GRADO SR80’s. On a plane or in front of a computer I like the Bose Noise-cancelling headphones. they don’t sound as good, but they do an amazing job with the hum of afan or a jet engine.
I have started to rip everything to 128 bit AAC, and find that it sounds pretty good. I only notice compression in a quiet room with my studio headphones. It seems wasteful to do the whole lossless thing since files on the computer are intended for portability. What I have noticed is that some CDs are recorded much better than others, and it’s hard to tell where compression artifacts start a nd crappy original source material begins.