Shure SRH440

Pros: Great sound quality, very well balanced. I say again: great sound quality! Cord also seems very durable, and the tips are gold-plated. Also comes with a 1/4" adapter, also gold-plated, and a carrying pouch.

Cons: Lacking aesthetically. Also it is very big; it takes a lot to power these cans, but regular MP3 players can still power them sufficiently. Not for people for who want skull-shattering bass. These cans focus on balance and fidelity.

Summary: I got these as gifts for my brother, and I took the liberty of using them before giving it to him. Now I've been using them for 2-3 weeks and I've been pretty much addicted to these headphones and I will be missing them sorely when I do have to hand them over to him.

I personally own a pair of Sennheiser CX300-II (which are just O.K. and shouldn't be worth more than $50), and when I tried these cans for the first time, I was surprised at how *flat* the SRH440 sounded. It was definitely a big transition from the boomy CX300-II. However, after closely comparing songs heard through the two headsets, I noticed that SRH440 is clearly far more superior. As a noob, I used to equate bass = quality, but SRH440 shows you just how wrong you would be to think that. These headphones are pretty hi-fi; they will allow you to capture all the subtle details with great clarity.

Some reviews say that SRH440 lacks bass. This is wrong. SRH440 is more than capable of producing deep bass tones, and indeed the bass is very tight and clear. However, SRH440 is designed to reproduce the music faithfully, rather than sacrifing clarity for deep, boomy basses. That being said, these are only good if you're looking for headphones that will let you capture all the details. If you're a bass lover, definitely look into the Dr. Dre line of headphones, not SRH440. I've heard that SRH840 and SRH750 has great basses too, so maybe those are good (albeit less economical) alternatives.

In terms of comfort, SRH440 is also lacking. Prolonged wear can be rather uncomfortable, as there isn't much padding especially at the headband. Also, these are great headphones, but to be honest these are pretty ugly.

The bottom line is, if you're looking to enhance your appreciation of music but don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on equipments, SRH440 is probably a great starting point. I'll probably throw out my Sennheiser CX300-II now, and invest some money into real earphones. If you love deep bass sounds, then don't get SRH440. If you're looking for very well balanced cans, then SRH440 is a great choice, especially if you don't want to spend a lot of money.