The best phones I've tried so far. I tried some well-burnt-in beyerdynamic and others in similar price range in a store, and I have owned the 601 before. I also own closed cans, e.g. the K271, and before that, several others further down the price range. The previously owned 601 was my first open system pair, it took some getting used to coming from cans - but I quicky noticed the advantages especially for certain types of music, e.g. the actually open sound vs. canned. Sits well on the head due to clever adjustment mechanism.   I use these...