[fewtch]

Do you have any criteria for liking and/or owning headphones other than sound quality, build quality and (possibly) looks? I mean, anything unusual...

I rather enjoy owning cans that aren't talked about much on the forums here, and/or aren't very well known in general. Other than SQ, I consider it a strong point of my Denon cans, and am thinking about getting a pair of Senn HD-580's (which I liked the sound of at the recent Seattle meet, and which aren't talked about much anymore either). Guess I just don't like reading posts where people pick apart the cans I usually listen to, altho it's a bit less fun when you can't recommend your preferred cans to anyone because they're discontinued.

But it's nice to not feel like a member of the herd sometimes... my preamp/phono stage is also an obscure 1979 Technics model that almost nobody's heard of. Seems like I gravitate toward gear like that.

 

[blr]

Two important factors that I consider when purchasing phones are comfort and sensitivity. Depending on the purpose sensitivity is a concern since most of the portable equipment nowadays has really weak internal amps.
For listening with an amp that's not that much of a concern.

When building a higher end headphone system there is also the questiopn of synergy.