Best headphones you've ever heard/used

I have not compared earphones extensively, but I had a pair of Sennheiser HD580's and I was pretty happy with them, but they are open design so I needed earphones for airplane travel. I bought a set of Shure E3's and the E3's sound way better than Sennheiser HD580's. I never listen to the Sennheisers anymore. When I got the Shure E3's, I listened to them with an ipod for so long, I fell asleep wearing them.

I'll probably catch alot of flak on this but I dumped my Sennheiser HD600 for the Koss ESP/950 and never looked back. To my ears, there was no comparison; the low distortion and low coloration of the Koss made the Senn sound crude in comparison.

In addition I found the Koss to be a little more comfortable. By the way I found a brand new pair on Ebay for $375. It's been said many times that the Senn HD600/650 needs good amplification and that adds to signifcant cost.

There is a downside to the Koss, though. Build quality isn't as good as the Senn. For whatever marketing reasons Koss imagined this as a portable/home unit which compromised build quality. The phones come apart if handled in a certain way. Really, how many people are walking around with a Walkman attached to 6 cell battery pack attached to the dedicated amp unit attached to phones that are about the size of the HD600? What was Koss thinking? It would have been much better to construct an amp with better rca connectors and a dual concentric volume controls that accurately tracks.

I really think the Koss is an overlooked gem if you can find it priced under $400 or so. And, no, I haven't heard Stax phones in many years. I have no doubt that they rule supreme.

Shure E3's are truly amazing with the foam inserts. You roll them up and insert, allowing the foam to expand. That acts as noise cancellation and creates great bass extension.

Can you listen to the E3s at reasonable volume since they are very close to the ear drums?

Rob

Are the SUre E3s better than the etymotic er4-p especially in terms of bass and microdynamics??