These cans are absolutely beautiful

Where do I start... well I bought these from an amazon.com affiliate store. They arrived in time for Christmas, and I tried them for the first time on Christmas day. I tested them with the Incubus song Are You In?. They just about glistened with that song. You can hear every little detail that's in there, as clear as day. At the same time, a drawback was also apparent- my brother, who was standing beside me, was shocked at how loud they are to someone standing near you. And they are. I can actually turn the volume up on these all the way and use them as a set of portable speakers if I really want to. To the same effect, you can hear a lot of external sound too, which you can expect with the "open" style headphones of any brand. You benefit from a wider soundstage (since the air can move more). If you're the kind of person who likes to listen with the volume on the highest setting, you will bother people around you. That is, if you can handle these on the highest volume. If you travel a lot, and like to listen on airplanes, you'll find these headphones to be impractical. They don't remove any engine noise- I can hear people talking clearly, and even follow the conversation if I like.

If you like to take your music to school with you, these are a good buy. I just turned the earpieces inward toward my shirt and put them flat when I wasn't using them, and they never bothered me. They've actually become an identifying feature for me, and people notice now when I'm not wearing them. If you're into all that apple style "chic"-ness, your friends will kill you for wearing these. Looking at the picture, you might think they look like they would be worn by the guy manning the radar on a Russian submarine. I think they look cool, but you might not.

In terms of comfort, I have no complaints whatsoever. I think the design changed a little bit since the reviewers who said they found them uncomfortable...I can wear them for hours and hours and my ears only hurt for a little bit when I take them off. They're pretty light, so your neck won't tire if you wear them in the car on a long trip.

I'm not going to lie, the cord is exceedingly long. I think it was made with the armchair listener in mind, because I literally have to stuff the excess in my side pocket to avoid tripping on it or having it catch on someone else's backpack. It is also very very thick, and it doesn't seem like it will break for a very very long time. And I've had it catch on many a chair with nothing bad happening. It might be a selling point for some people- you don't have to be right up against your source. And when the source happens to be the soundcard on the back of a computer tower, it's easy to see how this would be appreciated.

A side note about the earpads- you can change them out without much effort with different pads made by a third-party- look for them on amazon, there are a couple different styles to match your listening preference, and they're not expensive at all. I haven't changed mine out yet, just because I'm happy with the sound they produce, and I don't see them falling apart for another year or so.

Bottom line- if you're interested in the best, most accurate sound you can get for the money, and you won't be bothered by any of the things I've mentioned, buy these. I must say, after nearly a year of ownership I cringe whenever I put on a friend's pair of headphones. The difference is striking. And if you're worried about the price, just think of the money you'd spend replacing the headphones you'd wear out in the lifetime of this pair. Where I'm standing, I save money in the long run and I get much better sound to boot. Plus, these things are handmade in Brooklyn, so if you have a problem with them, you can expect to talk to someone who knows his stuff.

If you want booming, unrealistic bass, buy a pair of sonys. It seems that that's all they're good for anyway.

A last note: one of my friends made fun of them the first time he saw them. Now he's buying a pair of SR80's (the next model up from these).

Update 5/24/2007: After almost two years, these phones are still sounding as good as they did on first use, and they've really taken a beating since then. My earpads have faded to green (:D) and are slowly disintegrating, and think the cable will probably fall apart sometime this year. Honestly, though, I'm surprised with all the snags, twists, and tangles it's put up with, that it hasn't already. If it does, I'll be on amazon the same day ordering another pair, happy that I didn't waste my money buying pair after pair of crappy Sonys.

Update 11/23/2009: These still work beautifully after almost 5 years.