Denon AH-D2000

With earbuds practically taking over the popular private listening landscape, I can't help but wonder how many people consider over-the-ear headphones anymore. While I love my earbuds, especially while wandering around New York City and riding the subway to work, over-the-ear 'phones provide a visceral listening experience that earbuds can't match. Case in point: the Denon AH-D2000s. The full-size headphones provide deep bass that you feel on your head while listening, and their comfy closed earcups won't disturb anyone who happens to be nearby.

With all the trappings of a high-end audio product, the only thing the AH-D2000's seem to be missing are the obligatory wooden shells on the outside of the cups. If you step up to the more expensive AH-D5000, you can have that too. Meanwhile, the AH-D2000's sport black plastic shells, but those shells are held in place by a magnesium metal frame that's plenty solid and provides enough adjustment for small or large heads, and--at just over 12 ounces--isn't as heavy as you'd expect from that much metal. The headphones didn't weigh my head down, even after multiple hours of listening, and they're very comfortable to wear, being neither too tight nor too loose.

My only gripe about the design, and it is a minor one, is that the leather cover on the ear cups did leave me with a little bit of sweat on the skin below and behind my ears after prolonged listening. (Headphones with cloth-covered pads tend to avoid this problem.) The leather on the D2000's seems pretty thick, though, so you shouldn't run into the problem of it flaking off as you will with headphones such as the Sony MDR-V6.