Best headphones you've ever heard/used


Well, the subject says it all I guess. I'm looking for two sets of good quality headphones.

The first one is an earphone for use with my iPod. I'm looking for a small pair of compact in-ear earphones. I take long boring flights to Asia often so it'd be nice if they were high quality and helped out with noise canceling. I've heard good things from Shure. Any other recommendations?

The second one will be for night time listening in my bed. These headphones can be big but hopefully not too heavy. I also need them to be wireless for at least 15ft.

Thanks in advance,
spacekadet
Bose -- $299

Shure E3 -- $179

Sennheiser 280 Pro -- $100

Cannot help with wireless headphones. I've tried a few and have never found anything satisfactory. That was a number of years ago, so maybe the technology has improved since then.
Etymotic ER-4p is what I'd recommend. I have the ER-4S, and it remains the best audio purchase I've ever made.
Thank you everyone for awesome feedbacks. The two headphones I'm looking for are for different purposes.

The in-ear phones are for use with my iPod, and the wireless headphones are for night time listening in my bedroom. I need them to be wireless because my bed is about 10ft away from my audio system and I really don't want to sit next to it with a chair.

Thanks again,
Well, you could always buy a 10 foot extension cord. 10 feet of extension cord is likely to cause far less degradation than going wireless. I would rather have one great set of headphones or earphones than to split your purchase over two pieces just to overcome the 10 feet between your system and bed. If you decide to buy etymotics, the best price I've seen was from....

http://headroom.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=3&subTopicID=26&productID=0020100000

I, personally, have not heard the Etymotics. They are $40 more than the Shure E3's. I'm happy with the Shure E3's, but that's without hearing the Etymotics. Either the Sennheiser 280 Pro's or the Shure E3's will sound great with an i-pod and Etymotic also makes a set to go with players like the i-pod.

If you're looking to get bang for the buck and don't like things "in" your ears, go with the Sennheiser 280 Pro's, they'll work on a plane or in your bed with an extension cord. If you're not on a budget and don't mind earphones that must be inserted, demo the Shures and Etymotics.

>
10 feet's not a problem. Get a long cord.

On the Bose n/c phones, I have had Sony $200 n/c phones for three years or so and was sitting next to a traveler with the Bose jobs, so I listened to both through my Total AirHead. I did not think there was much between them in sound quality, but the Bose definitely had better noise supression, but this probably came from acoustic isolation (something the Sony does not have) rather than from a better n/c circuit. The Bose are far more comfortable.

I know when I compared my Sony n/c phones to a pair of $100 Sennheiser 495 (open back) in an office environment (not too much background noise) the Sony's sounded terrible.

I am pretty happy with the Bose headphones on a 'plane. I am not happy to own a Bose product though - they are my first and only. I'll look out for travelers with the different sets mentioned here and try to get a comparison on board - that's the only meaningful test for me.

I have a friend who bought the Sony n/c the same time as me, and he no longer uses that technology. He uses the Etymotic-type and claims he gets just as much noise supression with that design.

Me - I don't like earbuds at all - so the Etymotic are out.

Regards,