Hello all, I posted awhile back asking about this same price range (probably a year or two ago), and ended up coming away with the Thinksound Rains, which I loved quite a bit. While not [i]perfect[/i], obviously (what will be for less than $100?), I really loved the "acoustic" (quoted for lack of a better adjective) sound they produced.
Well, a few weeks ago they took a turn for the worse and the left driver stopped working. I tried cleaning it as best I could thinking maybe they'd gotten gunked up or something, but nothing brought it back to life. And let me say, listening to headphones with only one channel is maddening.
So, now that Christmas and the associated spending is over, it's time to replace them. I'm again looking in the ~$100 range (I have a little flex room either way, but I don't really want to crepe up towards $150). I've read good things about both the TS02s and the RE0s.
The type of music I primarily listen to are jazz (big band and combo, anything from Gordon Goodwin to Miles Davis or Bill Evans), classic rock (Zeppelin, Boston, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Rush, Journey, etc.), classical and symphonic, and a little bit of pop or hip hop here and there, though those are drastically less important than everything prior.
I probably care most about preserving the quality of the jazz sound, since it's the genre where a live setting is most important IMO. Clean upright bass is much more important than devastating electric rock bass, crisp piano or trumpet more important than synth effects or falsetto vocal gymnastics, and so on. Of course, if all of these could be great, all the better, : )
So, while I'm using the TS02s and the RE0s as jumping points, they're certainly not what I'm limiting myself to, and any and all suggestions are welcome.
Thanks!
