I bought the Beyerdynamic DT250-80 a couple years ago for exactly this purpose. After 2 years of nearly daily listening, I still think it's a great office headphone... no leakage, good isolation especially from low frequencies (read: computer fans, hard drives). You can usually tell when people...

I own & enjoy both the AKG 240S and Beyer DT250-80. I think two important questions that haven't been asked yet are, what kind of music do you listen to, and is isolation important? Sound -- AKG has a bit more extension, heavy on the bass side. It does sound a bit boomy unamped, but depending...

You can get a right-angle adapters of various sizes at Radio Shack for ~$5 each.

This review of the Senn 25-1 is really thorough and discusses a number of different portable 'phones. Worth checking out: http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72883

I think the 240S can be driven to reasonable volumes out of portable sources, though they do sound better given more power. If you are not an audiophile, and esp in an outdoor/noisy situation, you might not even notice deficiencies in sound. However, with respect to your requirements: * I...

I think the Beyer DT250-80 is a very decent choice in this category. DT250-250 is also probably a good choice; sadly I haven't heard it but it has the same physical profile, and can allegedly be driven unamped if you aren't so picky. They're black and quite low-profile as full-sized circumaural...

I agree that KSC-55 could be a very good option, though the headband is fairly snug. This of course can be a good thing for exercise, but you might find it too tight. Again KSC-35 ear clips don't have this problem, but while I find them fairly comfortable, I personally couldn't wear them jogging...

AKG K240S is a good, fun all-around headphone that can be had new for $100. It has a very decent soundstage, that I find works well for classical (K501's soundstage is a bit more impressive, however). Unlike the K501, it can be driven to reasonable volumes unamped, even from a portable, but the...

Quote: Originally Posted by weinerc Can anyone help me understand the specifications of the headphone section? How do they compare to an external headphone amplifier? Better? Worse? Same? Interestingly, someone just asked a question almost identical to this over in the Source...

cosmopragma is right; the best choice, if you have the disk space, is of course to rip losslessly. You might even be able to store your entire collection losslessly (using the new Apple Lossless encoder if you want to keep using iTunes), and, if you can't get enough lossless music onto your iPod...

I would add that E2Cs (and other canalphones, but most others are more expensive) are not only uber-portable, but highly recommended for mass-transit commuters. E2Cs can be found for $80 new if you look around, and of course for less used. If you travel often via bus, train, subway, or airplane...

Jan Meier commented on this very topic, here: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=46108 In short, the MkII has component upgrades that make it sound better.

As for resolution, if you only listen CDs (or audio ripped from those CDs), then 20-bit vs 24-bit shouldn't make a difference, since uncompressed CD quality audio tops out at 16-bit/44.1 KHz. I think the main scenarios where higher res is useful are if you are using better-than-CD sources, or...

The impressions people have in this thread indicate that the analog output of the Sonica generally superior to the Xitel's: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32749

I'm looking for a budget (< $100) USB sound card for hooking up my laptop to a Corda HA1. That's the *only* thing I'm going to use it for; I don't plan on ever carrying this around while traveling, or trying to run headphones directly out of it. So, I'm hoping to maximize audio quality by being...