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Headphones
You have so many music files that your laptop is just an oversize MP3 player. Unfortunately, your neighbor in the cube-farm (or that guy sitting next to you on the airplane) doesn't appreciate your musical taste. You need headphones to fully enjoy your laptop's multimedia capabilities. We've rounded up a crop of headphones to help your laptop sound more like an iPod (and to keep your love of Ashlee Simpson a secret).
 
Shure is now offering a range of consumer in-ear models, of which the $99 E2c is the most affordable. It features a 62-inch copper cable and an adjustment tube that secures the wire comfortably behind your head. To get any bass out of the E2c, you need to push the earpieces pretty far into your ear canals. Shure provides small, medium, and large pairs of disposable foam sleeves and reusable flex sleeves to ensure the best possible fit. While these are not noise-canceling headphones, they block out ambient noise almost as well. The E2c delivers a cleaner aural experience than most earbud models, so you hear greater detail without suffering excessive brightness or harshness. Also, bass definition and power are quite good.
The $49 Sennheiser PX100 mini headphones feature a unique fold-and-flip design that allows the earpieces to be turned 90 degrees. Metal joints on the padded-steel headband help ensure maximum durability, while Sennheiser's Duofol diaphragms and powerful neodymium magnets are intended to produce low-distortion sound. Even the cable is special; the four-foot oxygen-free copper span is superflexible, despite being reinforced with Kevlar. The little 'phones produce a rich sound, with laid-back treble detail. While some listeners will appreciate the lack of harshness, it sounded awfully sweet on acoustic jazz. We would have liked a bit more treble detail with more-aggressive music. On the upside, the PX100 can play loudly without breaking up, a feat beyond the capabilities of most headphones of this size.
The Etymotic ER-6 Isolator carries a list price of $130 and comes with both silicone rubber and foam eartips, which the user can swap. They're designed to fit into your ear canals, like earplugs, to block out ambient noise. However, some buyers may find the eartip insertion rituals a bit daunting or unpleasant (you really have to jam them in). Also, the rubber eartips have a tendency to attract earwax and will have to be cleaned regularly. Overall, the ER-6's sound is extraordinarily fine, and if you want to play loud, the ER-6 can achieve fairly high levels. Listen, and you'll hear a purity to the sound that few 'phones can match; we were constantly surprised by the ER-6's ability to resolve even the most subtle details of our music collection.
Sony's $40 MDR-G74SL headphones incorporate a bevy of new style, comfort, and technology features. Sony claims bass fanatics will be wowed by the new MDR-G74SL headphones, and we agree; the new model really does produce deep and powerful low-frequency sound. This silver Street Style model is foldable, so it's easy to store when you're on the go. The G74SL's behind-the-neck Street Style design won't interfere with your hairstyle or hat. The G74SL's clear sound wowed us, and its bass definition was above average. Acoustic jazz sounded natural, and our live Grateful Dead tracks had just the right amount of heady atmosphere.
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