Why? Ultimately pretty simple. The AE works well for me in winter commutes as a balanced compromise of comfort, usable isolation, sound quality discernible in portable use, weight and social acceptability (for what I'm genuinely prepared to wear out in the street). Better than: SRH840, AH-D1000/2000, ATH-anything (of course I've directly compared the ESW series), Q010-MDR1
SL, K518, K181, DT250-80, HD280, HD215, HD25-1, MDR-D66SL, MDR-7506, MDR-7509HD, HFI-750/780, Beats Solo HD and more...
... with the latest failed candidate (pre-AE2) being this:
(and the reasons for failure differ of course. Only closed or semi closed / otherwise isolating full-sizes mentioned here, but obviously I've had others)
Furthermore, not only has the AE been my choice for winter commutes, it's the longest-lived continuously owned, somewhat regularly used headphone in my collection since I joined Head-Fi. As I said, they are a compromise - but for example they offer significantly more practicality, usable isolation and comfort than many other phones which might sound better under ideal conditions, they also do sound better than some widely-recommended-on-Head-Fi phones which are similarly-priced (or cheaper and are referred to as Bose-killers), and what's more they are not the dorkfest that most closed phones which are popular here are.
If I had to pick the next best overall compromise, it'd be the better sounding / better isolated, visually inoffensive and equally tractable HD25-1... but the thing gives me a raging headache after just over an hour. For the longest time I did keep a 25 in my stash, but it just wasn't being used over the Triport due to the comfort issue, so I finally got rid of it last year I think.
I'm not part of the Head-Fi common peer group. I actually buy (re-buy even, when I don't have a reference phone to hand... I make a point of not trusting my audio memories) then try competitors in the actual use I plan to put it to and don't have the label anxiety that seems to pervade here... that for example a headphone that is less tractable, no less expensive, and sounds no better than something from the 'wrong name' but comes from the 'right name' gets lauded.
After a very long search and literally thousands of dollars wasted buying and reselling headphones, it appears that the AE2 is the replacement candidate I'd been seeking over the 3+ years I've had the AE's. That a huge amount of money has been wasted is undoubted, but as a dedicated, if frequently absent these days (wonder why?) Head-Fi'er, I probably wouldn't have done the search any other way... unlike many Head-Fi'ers who'd form a predetermined peer-influenced 'opinion' at the Apple Store after 30 seconds, or more typically just read something plausible and parrot it as their opinion
