I'm planning on buying high end headphones (by high end I mean about $200...if necessary, basically I want these to be last pair I'll need to own for the next 10 years), and I'd like some buyer tips. I'm thinking around ear would be the best, since that would offer the best noise isolation, right? (What are pros and cons of around ear, on ear, and in ear?) Also, I'm considering getting one with noise isolation so I can listen to my music comfortably in a car, or more likely, in a crowded room. How does one differenciate between noise isolation providers (or do you?)?

And I don't want headphones that end up amplifying the bass sound unproportionally, because that drowns out the other sounds, especially with metal or bassheavy music. Also, they should be decent when listening to audiobooks.

And what are headphone amps? I read that they should be used if you're listening with your ipod or CD player or from your computer. How much do they help and what's a good one of these?

Are you planning on using these for listening to music, or for producing as well?  If it's pretty much for listening and don't want these huge dorky looking things on your head, you can always go for some nice in-ear earbuds that offer noise isolation.  You can find some pretty decent ones that offer noise isolation from around 20 dollars to 400 and up dollars, depending on what your budget is, and how much clarity you want in the sound of your headphones.  The amount of noise-isolation might increase depending on the price (I honestly don't know), but I'm guessing that since you aren't looking for somehting that could serve as an in-ear monitor level of noise isolation (what bands use when they perform so that they can hear themselves and don't kill their hearing at the same time), I don't think it would really matter that much. 

Whatever you get though, make sure that you get noise isolation, because by getting them, you will defintely save your hearing in the long run, and that seems like it would be a good investment, especially if you don't want to end up like grandma

the main cons that i can think of for the in-ear ones, is that at least on the pair that I have (which is a rather cheap 20 dollar skull candy thing, but they work fine for isolating noise, and have a decent enough sound that I can hear a clear improvement over the headphones that I previously had for listening), is that you really hear the sound of the wire moving in your head, but this is because the in-ear is designed to create a seal within your ear so that you don't hear outside noise.  It can be grating a bit at first to get them in and to stay in too (but most offer different size covers, so that depending on the size of your ears, you can adjust the headphones so that they stay within your ear canal better)

A topic you may have missed: http://www.gamingw.net/forums/index.php?topic=8799.0

this guy is looking for a moderately cheaper set, but at the very least a few people popped in to post a few you may be interested in. anyway i don't know anything about headphones, but i thought this may help.

luck mate.

http://shsc.info/HeadphoneGuide

a pretty good guide

Well really a reason I don't want in or on ear is that I'm under the impression that they would either a) hurt my ears more with prolonged use or b) not sound as good when compared with around ear, so ideally I'd be getting this for serious music listening sessions. When just going portable like walking to class I'd be using my same ol same ol in ear phones...although maybe getting a new pair of in ears would be good for the portable part anyway...idk I'm green on this subject.

Oh thanks for the link and guides, i'm scanning those now.

Well really a reason I don't want in or on ear is that I'm under the impression that they would either a) hurt my ears more with prolonged use or b) not sound as good when compared with around ear, so ideally I'd be getting this for serious music listening sessions. When just going portable like walking to class I'd be using my same ol same ol in ear phones...although maybe getting a new pair of in ears would be good for the portable part anyway...idk I'm green on this subject.

Oh thanks for the link and guides, i'm scanning those now.

The problem is that you shouldn't assume that all in ear or earbuds sound like the shitty headphones that come with your ipod.   Once you start getting into the higher end stuff, you get a pretty good range of clarity, especially with the in ear ones.  Of course, its hard to beat the sound of a really nice closed-back around the ear headphone though, just because they have the possibility of a larger speaker, and generally would be cheaper in terms of sound quality per dollar that you spend on them.

As for the comfort, the in ear ones can be a bit uncomfortable at first, but you get fairly used to them after a while, although hearing the movement of your cord can be a bit grinding at first (but once you actually start listening to music with it, will go away very quickly.  Doesn't go away as quickly if you are watching a movie or something though, but that is just the nature of those types of headphones. 

But really though, if you spend 200 dollars on a pair of in ear headphones, you will be pleasantly surprised with just how nice they sound (and then complain about the fact that you are listening to 128kbps mp3 files)

Are there a lot of good in-ear headphones that offer sound protection of over 30 db?

I've never used a pair of ear buds or canal phones that felt comfortable!

I use Sennheiser HD-595's for my music listening. I've had them for over 2 years and even while treating them like utter crap and bringing them with me everywhere they're still going strong. They're open supra aural so they leak a lot of sound when you have the volume up. You can also hear the outside world very clear with them on and the music off. They do not noise cancel. I don't use them in loud enviornments very often so this is a non-issue. I listen to lots of metal music and they work very well with it... better I think with acoustic music because they're a little on the warm side but still good with metal/bassheavy music.  I don't have an amp but I use usually use EQ settings to seperate the bass and treble a bit because they have a rather flat sound (not to say they can't push some insane bass and treble because they can).

Remember that with any audiophile headphones you will want to rip your mp3s at 320kbps.

Well I went for the Sennheiser 280s. They should be on their way now and be here in a few days at most. All the reviews I've looked at have been overwhelmingly positive, so I'll give me impressions afterwards.

Eh, I still would have gone for the 555's unless you need the noise canceling.

Eh, I still would have gone for the 555's unless you need the noise canceling.

Well I've already ordered them, so it's a little late. Plus the 555s are around $80 more. I think I may be happier with the 280s because my case is fairly loud and my neighbours like to work on their cars all night and then race them up and down the street at like 3am.

Remember that with any audiophile headphones you will want to rip your mp3s at 320kbps.

haha yeah.. wait, no thats pointless

*wants great sound reproduction* *still uses a lossy codec* NOW THISI S QUALITY!!!!

Sony V6 monitor headphones are probably your best bet. You can find them under $100 and they won't color/modify/adjust the sound like a lot of  I use them for home listening to records late at night or when I don't want to use speakers. They're not so great for portable devices though(unless you're sportin' a FLAC player), but like dom said if you're exclusively listening to mp3, wma, any other kind of lossy-compression audio, a computer without a good sound card, or an average bookshelf stereo, there's really no reason you'd need to drop $120+ on a pair of headphones that would go underused. It's like putting a performance exhaust system in an early 90's Kia.

You can find some Shure sound-isolating earphones on ebay for under 100 that would be perfect. E2Cs are a pretty solid choice.

haha yeah.. wait, no thats pointless

i was assuming he meant if you were still gonna use mp3s as your primary format, I'm pretty sure everyone knows they are lossy.

lossy is a kind of dumb word. lets make a new one.

lossy is an awesome word what are you sayin about

I am curious whether anyone's used a CMoy or other pocket amp with a portable device. Would you recommend them if you had a pair of nice headphones?

unless you're listening to lossless audio formats on the go and have a very high-end pair of bulky headphones that require quite a bit of power, I really don't really see the point.

i was assuming he meant if you were still gonna use mp3s as your primary format, I'm pretty sure everyone knows they are lossy.

lossy is a kind of dumb word. lets make a new one.

if youre gonna use mp3s then rip to -v0 anyone who rips to 320kbps is an idiot

oh true. yeah you can probably spare the what, 60 mb on average increase? unlike flacs which will hit a gig usually.