[fjhuerta]

Uhhhhh... this is a far too easy one.

The Koss KSC Sporta / PortaPro line.

I've seen them mentioned here, but really... they deserve a far bigger post.

I mean, these little headphones could almost compete with a set of Grado SR-60s. As a matter of fact, I can easily think many people would prefer them!

I had a set of Sportas. I modified them, using the exterior shell of some Sennheiser HD-490's I had around. I changed the drivers, and I ended up with Sportapros with removable cable and a cool exterior appearance. Many people who heard them, and who didn't know what I'd done to them, preferred their sound over that of my Alessandro MS-1s (which cost around 6 times more than the Koss!).

I foolishly gave away my headphones, but I still think that, out of my collection, those were the ones that had the highest bang for the buck level. By far.

I also own and enjoy the AKG501s and HD-580s. The only reservation I have about the AKG501s is that they need far too much power to sound allright. I'd say my X-CansV2 are insufficient for them (!!!), at 1 watt of RMS power.

The only headphones I own that I'd tell you to stay away from are the Bang & Olufsen A8s... what a terrible piece of hardware they are.

EDIT: I forgot... my best headphones are *still* the Etymotic ER-4S canalphones. I don't really expect to own anything better than them.