How to Buy High-End Stereo Headphones

Headphones enable you to enjoy music without bothering others (or having others bother you). Good headphones reproduce music far more accurately than speakers in the same price range do.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• 1 Pair Headphones

1. Check the Recommended Components lists in the most recent April or October issue of "Stereophile" magazine for both prices and suggestions of models worth auditioning.

2. Read reviews in audio magazines and on the Internet to help you narrow your choices.

3. Look for fully enclosed, circumaural headphones if you wish to block outside noise.

4. Look for supraural headphones if you wish to be able to hear outside sounds.

5. Take some of your favorite CDs to the stores you visit. Choose CDs that will challenge the bass and treble, imaging and soundstaging, and dynamic range capabilities of the headphones.

6. Audition headphones.

7. Compare at least two or three models in a short period before making your buying decision.

8. Make your buying decision based on sound quality, comfort and price.

Tips & Warnings

• If possible, listen to recordings of music you've heard performed live.

• Trust your ears. Don't let a reviewer or salesperson talk you into or out of a particular product.

• You will need a headphone amplifier if you don't have components with headphone jacks. If your preamplifier and CD player lack headphone jacks, you can listen through a cassette deck by inserting a tape and putting the deck in record/pause mode.