I've been a headphone geek for many years. I started when I was a teenager with the famous Koss Pro 4aa's, then HV-1a's, and then to a pair of Radio Shack Titanium "something-somethings" from the early 90's (which were pretty good, actually). I then moved through a nice sampling of the Grado line, starting with the SR-80's, SR-325i's, and then finally to the top of the line RS-1's. I liked the Grado's to a degree, but always felt they gave me a bad case of listener fatigue. I had heard about Sennheiser's slightly laid back sound, and a lot of positive reviews, so I took a chance and purchased a pair of HD650's along with the Cardas cable from Music Direct. I thought it would at least be a worthwhile experiment because of their 30 return policy. I brought them home and listened for about an hour, thinking that they initially sounded quite nice. I let them break in overnight, and then attached the Cardas cable. At that point I knew my long headphone journey was over. These cans were absolute perfection - finally a headphone that delivered on every point, every aspect of critical listening - and then some. I have been listening happily now for 3 years, and I am convinced that if I ever need to replace these, I would just buy another pair of HD650's - regardless of price. Sennheiser got these right, plain and simple.