I normally listen to music when I'm programming. The type of music varies with my mood and the difficulty of the work I'm doing; anything from piano jazz (e.g., George Winston) to some old-fashioned “heavy” rock (e.g., Black Sabbath). At home I usually play the music over a decent (but tiny) set of speakers with a separate sub-woofer. The sound quality is good, but certainly not noteworthy. Some time ago, I bought a pair of headphones so I could listen to music at work (which is an open environment where I really couldn't use speakers). I ended up rarely using them, as it was a hassle to take them on and off every few minutes when a colleague needed to talk with me.
I recently brought those headphones home, and today I'm using them – Debbie is enthroned near me, and she of course doesn't want my music playing while she's on the phone or watching a video. In some cases (like Melanie Safka), she detests my music and wouldn't want it playing under any circumstances where she could hear it :-)
So I'm using the headphones extensively, really for the first time – and I'm finding the experience to be extraordinary. I'm hearing things in music I'm very familiar with that I don't believe I've ever heard before. As I'm writing this, I'm listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary – and I can distinctly hear details like people walking on the set, and even the (very low level) hiss of the master tape. Even more striking is the sudden sense of location I have for the instruments and singers.
The headphones I have are made by Sennheiser, their model HD 555, which I bought on the recommendation of a reviewer when they went sale on Amazon. These are not the top-of-the-line model, but I'm very pleased with them...
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