Best Over The Ear Headphones For iPod

If you want better volume and don't want to carry a portable headphone amplifier, look for low impedance/ high sensitivity earphones.

I have carried a pair of Etymotic ER4Ps for about 10 years now. At that time, Etymotic and AudioEars were the only true high-end ear bud style around: http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4-wrfy.aspx

Now others have stepped into the game and I can't speak for them. The ear-plug style isn't for everyone, but one gets used to it. It is the best way to achieve sonic isolation and stay pocket portable. I have always been amazed at the hoards of people sporting $300 iPods happily using the included white ear buds.

I've used the Etymotic ER4P as well. Great sound. The foam insert was the option that worked for my ears. It was a bit uncomfortable after long periods of time.

I use a pair of Grado-80s with my iPod. They are not "over the ear", being open (i.e. supra-aural), but they really make an iPod shine. And they are much more comfortable to me than ear buds or in-ear phones.

-Paul

I have always been a fan of enclosed/over the ear headphones because no sounds leaks if I am in public and they are still suitable enough to produce quality sound at home. I want to upgrade to at least $200 cans.

I use Shure E530s with custom moulded ear moulds.....the only way to get some peaceful listening or silence on a plane I've found. Only quirk of the moulds is that if you have the impressions taken with mouth closed, the sound varies a bit when you chew your lovely in-flight meal. The way around this is to go somewhere that deals with musicians and makes their in-ear on-stage monitors...singers need to hear properly while singing ! Sensaphonics in Chicago ( sensaphonics.com ) is a good place and they also manufacture their own in-ear monitors ( which I have no experience of )

The Shure phones sound great and the moulds improve location in the ear, comfort and sound isolation. For really long flights I use a Ray Samuels Tomahawk amplifier....tiny but magical. If used with ALAC or AIFF files, the Pod sounds very good with this setup.

Basically, I now use my iPod almost exclusively as my source for listening to music after many years of "high-end" audio caper. It is one of the most musically satisfying piece of equipment I have ever owned.

Headphones that I know work well with the iPod and that I own are:

Sennheiser IE8
Sennheiser CX 300
Sennheiser HD 580 Jubilee Carbon
Shure 530
Bose Quiet Comfort 2

All work with the built in iPod amplifier and with all genres of music.

(As a bizarre aside, when it is quiet at home - rarely - I use an Electrocompaniet EC4 as a headphone amplifier - magic)

Hope this helps

Enjoy the music

Bose On-Ear are what I ended up with for general use - they work very well indeed straight from the iPod, whch is what I wanted them to do. Not as good as the QuietComfort 3's (which were much, much better via an amp, it has to be said) but at less than half the price they are most certainly not less than half the quality. Second vote for the Shure Se420's if you can get used to the in-ear type. I hated the feel of them and, oddly, the complete isolation! But they are superb phones.

By contrast I found the Bose over-ear type lacking in just about everything - they were horrible! Same goes for most of the current Senhheiser over-ear range, until you get up to the $700+ end! Via an amp it would be a close call for me between the Bose QuietComfort 15's and the Grado SR325is.

quick edit : I chose the Bose because, for me anyway, they are voiced very well for rock. They are a tad light in the upper registers but voiced nicely in the mid-range and bass. They cope very well with todays compressed rubbish and don't get at all 'tizzy'. If you want something to do justice to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd et al, the Bose will be worth a listen. If you want a more even handed presentation then I'd go for Shure in-ear or Grado over-ear.

For your use I highly recommend the Audio Technica ATH-M50 with coiled (not straight) cord. They sound great out of an iPod, provide about 12dB of isolation from outside noise and collapse down to stow in the included carrying case. They're studio/DJ type headphones so they're rather durable as well.

Bill

I bought a pair of HD228 and find the sound somewhat muddy. I was after some cans with a lot of bass and these did not deliver the fast, dynamic bass that I was after. I've heard the PX-200II might be a better bet.

But I still prefer the ear buds CX400.

Guess I am a fan of Sennheiser.

Bought a pair of these from the apple store in the UK on impulse was so impressed listening on a bog standard ipod touch.

Pricey at 230 of our rotten pounds but good, smooth and clean even with compressed music.

might just be a good fit for you. They fit in the under $200 price range, though they do have higher-end models.

I listened to a pair my kid bought for a half hour yesterday, and even though I do not usually like closed cans, they sound really good indeed. Tight, fast, deep, bass, and great midrange and treble. Vocals like Julie London or Jackson Brown sound really good on them.

Hooked up to a really good headphone amp, they might be absolutely brilliant. They were good enough to make me consider ordering a pair, just listening to them on an iPod Touch. I usually much prefer circum-aural sound, like my beloved Grados. :)

You can pick them up from Goodcans.com, and Bill over there seems to like them a lot. He is one of the people whose opinions I respect and listen to.

I've only had a short demo, but I found the B&W P5 to be good with iPod.

Eloise