Don't crank headphones, you'll damage your hearing
I auditioned the Grado line a bit ago... I was planning on buying a set of cans for work, too. The RS-80 and RS-125 were very close in sound quality when played through the Denon A/V receiver that was amp'ing them. I liked the grados alot!
I do think they would become uncomfortable after awhile, though, especially with a full day of listening. So I didn't buy, and am still looking...
Etys are supposed to be wonderful, but I just can't afford that much isolation. I sometimes need to interact with other folks
I spoke with some committed headphones freaks, and they recommended the Sony F1's. Apparently they are supremely comfortable, enough that you can listen to them for 4-5 hours at a time. Not the *best* fidelity when compared to Ety 4S, Senn HD600, or the better Grados (RS1 and RS2), but fairly competitive with something in the RS-125 league. I'm not a fan of Sony stuff, but I'm looking for a pair to listen to...
A friend of mine bought the Senn HD600's, and feeds them with a X-Can/X-PSU. Not a bad setup, they actually have a very wide soundstage for headphones. Something seemed missing to me, but perhaps it was the fact there were 15 people in the room wondering why I had headphones on during a party
I need to drag his rig over to the local hifi shop to run a comparo with the Grados, since the Grados didn't have good amplification...
goose, have you heard the grado headphone amp? My dealer doesn't stock 'em, but I've thought about buying one... Their phono pre is pretty, and they mentioned it comes in a similar box