I've been in a long-term relationship with my AKG-271s for a while now. But, you know how it is...itchy feet (itchy ears?)...tempted by that kinda retro-cool thing going on at Grado... But (a) how much noise leaks OUT of Grado phones? I listen mostly at the office and I don't want to disturb...

Following on from Commando's open-cans-in-the-office thread below, can CD3000 users advise as to the amount of sound that leaks in/out of these babies? I've been through AKG501s (too open), Shure E5cs (too isolating) and now AKG271s in search of the perfect office headphone. The Sony's seem...

My experience is that the E5c definitely benefits from amplification. The sound is a lot more open and uncongested than from the headphone socket on my cd player.

If anyone's still out there....I took delivery today of a Marantz 2250B (circa 1974?) from eBay. I've also invested in a old Parasound DAC that popped up on a dealer's site. So now, sitting on my desk in a rather large stack, I've got: sony CDP-XE500 (acting as transport) $40 parasound...

I've just won a Marantz 2250 for $60 on e-Bay. Claims to be working apart from a missing power-on switch. It's local, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it. In case it needs a bit of TLC, does anyone know anyone who's good with these vintage amps in the San Francisco Bay Area...

JMT he say: only hiss or buzz you should get through a headphone amp is from the source, not the amp itself. he can put in 47 ohn output resistors (can anyone explain what that is?) but doesn't guarantee to eliminate noise if it is apparent with these phones. No word back from Dr Xin yet...

As far as volume is concerned, you speak the truth, MadDog. The problem is not that the Shures are hard to drive in that sense, but very, very sensitive. Plugging them into the headphone jack on my pc, for example, I can here every instruction executed by the CPU. A horrible racket. Plugging...

I posted on the headphones forum in follow-up to lindrone's excellent Ety vs Shure review. Thought I may as well try here as well: I'm looking for a decent headphone amp to put between a decent (albeit budget, previously-owned) Sony CD player on my desk at work and a pair of Shure E5cs. I'm...

Great review, Lindrone. Very informative. Given your comments about how difficult it can be to drive the E5c, what portable amps might be up to the task? I've got a decent (albeit budget, previously-owned) CD player on my desk at work, but it has no headphone jack. What would you put between...

Thanks to all who took the time to reply. Minidisc appears to have more advocates in terms of pure sound quality than HDD, and I'm not too bothered about having to make a few SP recordings in real time. I've got an optical out on the back of my CD player. Plus Minidisc offers longer battery...

Thanks Fish Tank X - I have ordered the ER-4Ps, though, not the ER-4Ss, so power output shouldn't be too much of an issue. It sounds, so far, that Nomad gets the vote for best-sounding HDD....and Sharp DR-7 gets the vote for best-sounding of the current crop of minidisc portables. It also...

I'm just about to take delivery of a pair of ER-4Ps, which I plan to use on business flights and also at the office. I'm looking for an audio source that will do them justice I'm not wild about scouring garage sales for a vintage PCDPs - though all power to those of you who do - so that seems...