Headphones Compared. My Top 10 list.

Always on the lookout for a better audio experience, I've been collecting headphones to see how they differ. Published specifications for headphones don't always reveal how well they reproduce the highs and lows in your music. I've got at least 10 sets of earbuds that came with the media players I've evaluated. I can't find them all. The best in this bunch are the ones that came with my Zune 80. They're the in-ear type with braided cord shown below. The second best came with my Philips player, and are also in-ear. Both are passive noise cancellers, meaning they naturally shut out external sounds that distract from the music. I've got two different wrap around bluetooth headsets. Insignia's from Best Buy, and Wireless Gear from Target (possibly discontinued). Both $50. Very convenient, yet neither do low frequencies very well. Both are better sounding than any of the earbuds. My wired headphones include Sony CD30, Sony MDR-V150, JVC HA-NC80 Noise Cancelling, Maxell NC-11 Noise Cancelling, Philips SBC HN110/37, and Sennheiser 595s.Three are noise cancelling. Of these the Philips HN110s are the best. Second comes the Maxell NC-11s, and the weakest is the JVC NC-80s. The Sony CD30s are my oldest pair and also the worst of the bunch. Sony's V150s are next. Both suffer from very poor bass reproduction. My top three are the Philips, Sennheiser, and the Maxell in that order. Sound reproduction is amazing in both the Philips and Senns. Two reasons I rated the Philips higher is because they were 1/3 the price of the Sennheisers and include noise cancelling that does an excellent job of cancelling background noise.

The last of my collection is the Sony DR-BT50 Bluetooth headphones. Smaller than they appear in photos you'll find on the web, the BT50s don't quite surround my ears. Sound quality from my Samsung P2 is easily as good as from the Philips wired headphones. The Sennheisers completely cover my ears, and are more comfortable, but the Sonys are far more convenient. With no apparent loss in sound quality over the best of my wired headphones, no wires to contend with, and remote control of the player directly from the headphone, the Sony DR-BT50s win my vote as the best headphones in my collection. Just like all my bluetooth headphones they have volume control, FF/RW, Play/Pause, and will also pair with any bluetooth cell phone. Sony throws in an additional Folder +/- command, although none of my bluetooth players utilize it.

My top ten list, beginning with the best:
1. Sony DR-BT50
2. (tie) Sennheiser 595 and Philips SBC HN110/37
4. Maxell NC-11
5. JVC NC-80
6. Sony MDR-V150
7. Sony CD30
8. Insignia NS-BTHDP
9. Wireless Gear 4PR918
10. Zune 80 earbuds.

The Best value in a wired headphone goes to the Philips SBC HN110/37. With noise cancelling, a comfortable fit, and a low price they win hands down.

The Best value in a Bluetooth headset goes to the Sony DR-BT50. Yes, it's 3 times more expensive than the other two contenders. Far superior sound quality and comfort makes it a better bargain, though.

There are hundreds if not thousands of other headphones out there to choose from. My list is only from the headphones I've actually listened to and compared. I'd love to hear what headphones you prefer. Please leave a comment.

4D

HDTV

I tend to be an early adopter, and when my classic 27" Sony TV bit the dust a few years ago I took the opportunity to upgrade to an HDTV. At that time the ONLY HDTV I could find in town was a Sanyo 32" CRT from WalMart. I've still got that heavy (150 lb) Sanyo, but it has been demoted to the guest bedroom in my basement. When I got it there were only two channels broadcasting in digital (ATSC) , and they only had a few shows in full high definition during prime time. Cable and Satellite services had no HD offerings.

Things have changed considerably and now I'm up to 3 HDTVs, with 70 or so DirecTV HD and 9 digital over-the-air local HD channels available on all of them. I've got a 46" Sharp LCD and a 40" Samsung LCD, and all of the HDTVs display the full 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution of the best digital programming. The Sharp is wall mounted in the master bedroom and easy to see from the bed. The Samsung is where that original Sony lived in the main living room of the house.

I'll never go back. HDTV is simply superior in every way to older NTSC standard definition television. Much HD programming also has surround sound audio along with it, and so I've added Sony Surround Sound receivers along with at least 5 speakers and a subwoofer to each room.

I can see some room for improvement, though. The added speakers and nightmare of connection cables that come with HDTV create a mess that is hard to manage and needs to "go away". There is Powerline phone and networking technology available now. I'll predict that at some point your new HDTV will only have a power cord. All audio and video, photos and networking will travel through that power cord. There will be ONE box nearby, that also only has one power cable coming from it. That one box will be your satellite or cable receiver, your HD disk player, your PC, audio decoder and amplifier. Even speakers will come with only a simple power cord, and the sound signals will get to them through the power lines.

That power plug might change a little. I suspect we'll get a new AC/Digital wall plate standard which will identify any wall jack as a data port. It will be backward-compatible with all older power applicances, but provide a whole-house data network to connect every digital device you own.

What do you think?