On Headphones

Time for another long-overdue post. I'm something of a headphone connoisseur--currently I own nine pairs, each with its own sonic personality. I love headphones because they're much cheaper, less cumbersome, and less disturbing to neighbors than speakers and can transform how you listen to music. Sadly, when you say "headphones" today, people usually think of something like this:

While I think more of these:

(I'm wearing these in my profile picture--note the size; I can see them in my peripheral vision while wearing them)

I suppose it's all personal preference, but I intensely dislike the sensation of having sound piped directly into my ear canals; it sounds unnatural and confining. Though there are expensive earbuds that supposedly can match the sound quality and clarity of larger headphones, their design necessarily limits them in this way, and many people seem content with the standard iPod earbuds. Instead, I like my headphones as large as possible as shown above, with enormous earpads that let the sound come from all around my ears, like a concert hall I can wear and enjoy anytime.

The effects of good headphones (or any good sound system) on how one experiences music really needs to be heard to be believed. I sampled my friend's $100 Sennheiser HD-555s during my freshman year of college, and they basically blew me away. As soon as I'd heard how they brought my old music to life, I knew cost was no issue; I had to buy my own. I keep my old earbuds and $10 folding headphones around as spares, but I can't go back to listening on them; it's just depressing.

Sadly, if you don't have access to borrowing a pair of high-end headphones, it's pretty hard to test-listen them, and spending $50+ on an unknown quantity is understandably hard to justify doing. If you're content with how your music sounds, that's fine. But if you're the least bit curious about what it could sound like, ask around. You might just be amazed like I was.