Getting an earful

Average performance, works for muzak enthusiasts; serious audiophiles, keep away. Price: Rs3,300; Rating: **

Let’s face it: Headphones are brilliant, but carrying them around or using them on a bus can be difficult, uncomfortable and downright annoying. Earphones come packaged with most MP3 players; while light and mobile, their weight loss unfortunately also translates into low sound quality.

The SE115 attempts to break this taboo, while looking cool. Although the colour options are helpful for the fashion oriented, they don’t do much for the sound. That part is handled by comfortable buds, which come with multiple tips (in case you lose or tear the first pair) and a tiny carrying case that ensures dust won’t stifle the sound. The SE115 also does a remarkable job of increasing the bass, giving it a full sound, without converting it into a sonic assault on your brain.

Once again, hip hop lovers will rejoice, but classical and jazz enthusiasts might be disappointed.

Website: www.shure.com

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Feel the music in your bones

Clean, comfortable sound. Price: Rs25,000; Rating: ****

These headphones are sonic gentlemen. They remove any sharp bursts of annoying frequency shifts and replace them with a “round sound”, which is to say they smooth the high frequencies and roll the low bass, giving your ears the comfort of listening to everything without fatiguing them. Like the HD 595 (see No. 9), the headband and large ear cups of the HD 650 ensure that your listening experience is unmarred by any physical discomfort.

But this comfort comes at a price: While the “velour” ear pads of the HD 650 are extremely soft, they are placed on open ear cups. The advantage is that your ears don’t become uncomfortably hot and sweaty; the problem is that everyone else can also hear what you’re listening to. While listeners on the transition from lower-level devices may be thrilled with the HD 650s, they aren’t an audiophile’s headphone: The round sound also removes very high frequencies and very low sounds, thus limiting the range of sound.

Website: www.sennheiser.com

3. Bose QuietComfort 2

Blocks noise lets the music speak; Price: Rs16,763; Rating: ****

Even the sound comes out unharmed—for the most part: While the bass remains rich, the treble can be a bit flattened out. Nonetheless, for most music enthusiasts, these phones are worth the price.