Notices

sennheiser cx500. Happily using with n810. Nice sound for the compact solution.

The N810 amp is quite horrible. With low-impedeance headphones the noise floor is right up there in the music, almost as bad as the noise introduced by headphones with active noise canceling.

In-ear phones, like for example CX500 mentioned, really transformed the listening experience for me, but the sound quality depends entirely on getting a good seal. Without a good seal, it will sound tinny and rubbish, and you might reach for the volume control and turn it up. Also, having an airtight rubber thing jammed into your earcanal is something not everyone can get used to

Where do you even get the yellow pads now? The last replacement set I got were boring grey...

I guess I thought of myself as an audiophile once - relaxed my standards a bit now. I find the N800 playing mp3s just fine (depends how good the encoding is in the first place), and maybe I don't expect perfection from it anyway.

For fairly inexpensive mobile listening, I have been quite happy with the Sennheiser PX-100. I can't stand in-ear headphones...

On the N800 they might not be ideal for you as the impedance is fairly high - the N800 can't drive them super-loud. But still, worth a look.

I'm a Beyer man myself. Closed cup all the way. DT770 Pro FTW

They might suck your N900 dry though...not to mention your wallet ($200+)

The N810 is plain aweful as a media player; dreadful sound - no headphone is going to improve on that.

eBay. Just search "sennheiser grado".

Yes, ofcourse.

With LAME 3.96 VBR-0 (--preset extreme; scene standard) only 11 out of 100 people are able to differentiate with original (in this case CD quality). With LAME 3.96 320 kbit CBR (--preset insane; highest quality possible with LAME) only 6 out of 100 people are able to differentiate with original (again, CD quality). Whereas the size difference between 320 kbit CBR and VBR-0 is considerable.

Therefore, I'd encode to --preset extreme or go with FLAC. Because if you care for that insane quality you might as well keep it lossless.

Older MP3s might have different, worse quality, such as 192 CBR (previous scene standard) or older LAME versions. There are also more MP3 encoders and decoders, and I have experienced various bugs in Apple's MP3 decoder in iPhone OS 2.x and 3.x (on iPod touch), as well as in Winamp 2.x.

I'd read reviews. Pick the one I like most. Try it in store. Preferably on the target device(s). Or order via internet, if don't like, send back.

Then you're not an audiophile (anymore) and will never become one (again). I mean, in the long term it isn't worth it to damage your ears, and its then rather unreasonable to buy high quality headphones. Age also has influence on hearing capability, as well as other factors. E.g. a blind man typically hears better than an enabled person. If you go to a concert you may better wear earplugs. And the bass you gotta feel, not hear, that is where headphones are an itch of a tease. Although I guess that counts a bit less for your genre.

I currenly use cheap ear buds (koss sparkplugs and some generic sony in-ears) but I've been planning to get me some nice headhones. I'm thinking about some classic Koss PortaPros. I had those when I was a teenager (they have since been lost, broken or stolen) and I remember them being awesome.

I haven't seen any of those in local shops, so I haven't had a chance to listen to them. Since I don't particularly trust my 15 year old judgement, and the internals have most likely been updated I'm wondering if these are good headphones or if there's something equally comfortable with good sound quality in a similar price range?

Worth noting that these bad boys were first released in 1984, same year as WASP released the album that would steer me towards the darker side of music and Bathory laid the foundations for Black Metal. #justsayin

@mece: PortaPros are still highly rated in that price range, and they've released some sort of special anniversary edition if I'm not mistaken..
You might want to look at Sennheiser PX100 also, they're small, portable and foldable phones in similar price range as PortaPros and easy to find at retail outlets.

hm. I tried listening to a song in WMA lossless vs 128 mp3.

i think the earphones did create something of a choke point. I noticed improvement definitely. Particularly in the background. I could hear the instruments clearer. it was very interesting.

How good are the px100's at playing rock? the only cd I have is of a local band so its not like they were the *best* choice for ripping to wma lossless but, it was interesting.

The px100's may be a good choice even if they don't lead into audiophilia because I wouldn't mind a better set of headphones then these earbuds I've stuck with forever.

How badly do the px100's leak sound? apparently the grado's are almost like speakers.