grado

Most of my audiophile friends believe that headphones (and speakers and electronics) sound better after the first 100 hours of use than they do when they're brand-new. When I'm doing high-end product reviews I leave the "burn-in, break-in" question up to the manufacturer. If the company's reps claim their product won't sound its best until it has a solid month of use, I'll request a unit with enough hours on it that I can start working on the review right away. If the manufacturer scoffs at the very idea of burn-in, I start … Read more

Investing in an aftermarket pair of headphones is a quick and easy solution to improve the music listening experience on a mobile music player, but plenty of people feel uncomfortable jamming a tiny ear bud deep into their ear canals. Of course, a tight seal and close proximity to the eardrums offer the potential for the highest-resolution sound quality, but earpad and full-size headphones are also suitable for acoustic isolation and don't require minute fit adjustments the way in-ear-canal headphones do.

Here we've listed a handful of our favorite on-ear headphones that constitute the ideal marriage of lightweight … Read more

While home theater sound is usually synonymous with multichannel speaker systems, stereo headphones can provide exceptional sound quality for considerably less money.

I regularly use my Audeze LCD-2, Grado RS-1, Grado SR225i, and Sennheiser HD 580 full-size headphones for home theater, and I recommend using the best headphones you can. If you already have decent headphones, consider buying a dedicated headphone amplifier.

For these home theater headphone listening tests, I started with my trusty Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver. It sounded fine on its own, but there were significant clarity gains with my Woo Audio WA-6SE and the truly awesome $219 Bottlehead Crack … Read more

I've reviewed and auditioned a lot of headphone amplifiers over the years, but Red Wine Audio's Isabellina HPA LFP-V Edition stood out from the pack. The amp improved the sound of almost every headphone I used with it.

Priced at $2,500 the Isabellina is very much a high-end audio product. Designed and built in Vinnie Rossi's small factory in Durham, Conn., the headphone amp's elegant functionality belies its technical sophistication. Rossi started Red Wine Audio in 2005, and before that he worked on high-speed laser transmitters for Bell Labs.

The Isabellina is more than just a headphone amp; it features a spectacularly good digital-to-analog converter and a hybrid transistor/vacuum tube audio section. While the Isabellina can be run off an AC power outlet, it sounds best powered by high-current lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Rossi claims "The batteries use organic, phosphate-based material, providing an ideal combination of performance, safety, reliability and environmental friendliness...in fact, more so than any other rechargeable battery technology."

The amp's digital connectivity options include USB, Coax, and Toslink/optical inputs; there are no analog inputs. The Isabellina has analog outputs, so it can be used as a stereo preamplifier, with a separate power amp to drive speakers, or a digital-to-analog converter in a hi-fi system.

The Isabellina features old tech 16-bit, non-oversampling digital-to-analog converters. Rossi acknowledges the latest chips' specifications look more impressive on paper, but he thinks most of them (even some really expensive ones) sound "quite sterile and artificial" in comparison. The Isabellina will work with digital sample rates up to 192kHz, but it will only playback with 16-bit resolution. … Read more

It may be a lofty goal to try to make recordings that sound as close as possible to real, live music. But every now and then the state of the art advances.

I attended such a recording session in mid-December and was treated to the best, most realistically natural sound I've heard. Over monitor speakers the sound was excellent, but the sound over my Ultimate Ears Reference Monitor in-ear headphones was vastly better. I could listen to the music "live," and then rush back to the control room and don the headphones. The gap between live and … Read more

You don't have to be an audiophile to appreciate good sound and music, so I've put together a healthy selection of great gift ideas, all priced under $100. I'll soon post another blog with under-$300 gift ideas.

The AIX Records "Audio Calibration Disc & HD Music Sampler" Blu-ray ($25) is loaded with exceptional-sounding Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio music tracks. AIX refrains from using dynamic range compression, equalization, or signal processing, so the sound is as close to the original session as can be. And with the release of "Goldberg Variations Acoustica" AIX has ventured into producing original 3D video programming. The Blu-ray was shot with four prototype Panasonic 3D A1 cameras, and the sound was recorded in 96 kHz/24-bit high-resolution audio.

My pick for the best full-size headphone for less than $100 is the Grado Prestige Series SR-60i ($79). It's an improved and updated version of the original SR-60, which was a budget audiophile favorite for more than 10 years. The SR-60i sounds great at home or plugged into an iPod. The sound is nice and full, and since the SR-60i is an open-back design, you can hear the world around you. Highly recommended.

If you'd prefer an in-ear headphone, you should get the NOX Audio Scout ($79). The design features "balanced armature technology," which is rarely seen in headphones in the Scout's price class (I actually don't know of any others). It's very comfortable, the flat ribbon cable is as tangle-free as they come, and the sound quality is extraordinarily good.

Paul McCartney & Wings' "Band On The Run" Special Edition is a two-CD, one-DVD set ($30). Recently remastered by the team responsible for the Beatles 2009 remasters, "Band on the run" has never sounded better. The second CD has nine bonus tracks of rare demos and alternative takes. The original remastered album and bonus audio content are also available on a two LP, 180 gram audiophile vinyl edition that comes with an MP3 download of all 18 tracks. … Read more

Our resident CNET audio expert Steve Guttenberg finally joined the rest of us and started his own Twitter page, so we invited him back on today's episode to see what else is going on with The Audiophiliac.

Steve always comes prepared with relevant (and not so relevant) talking points for us, and today's includes Joy Behar's mixed-breeding novel Sheetzucacapoopoo (Steve's a big fan of her work), the value of headphone amplifiers, and his concerns about the next generation of self-proclaimed audiophiliacs.

It's not a term that should be lightly used to describe anyone who loves music, and Steve considers a real audiophiliac to be someone who is truly concerned with an active music listening experience where extra attention is paid to audio fidelity in all its expensive glory.

The high-priced equipment might be the reason why audiophiliacs are a dying breed of enthusiast, but Steve makes it clear that quality audio gear is worth the price, especially when you consider that some equipment like headphones can last a lifetime.

We also learn that today's younger audiophiliacs are specifically interested in headphones and can be found on Head-Fi.org, a comprehensive audio site with in-depth headphone reviews, expert forums, and more.

Check it out if you're shopping for new cans or earbuds, along with CNET, of course!

Most of the high-end gear I talk about in this blog is designed to sound great and last a long time. Granted, it's more expensive than mass-market audio, but quality gear is more expensive to build, market, and sell. Mass-market audio is not so different than cell phones, computers, or digital cameras; they're all designed to be disposable. So would you consider paying $100 or more for headphones that could last 10 or more years? Or would you rather buy 10 cheap headphones in that time? For that kind of money you could have bought one really nice … Read more

You don't see the phrase "world-class" associated with American-made consumer goods. TVs, iPods, computers, and cameras are mostly designed and built in other countries. The U.S. may be the world's leading consumer state; we just don't make the very best products here anymore.

High-end audio may be one of the few remaining industries where America still designs and builds the very best products. I'm proposing an all-American hi-fi system that could be installed in the White House. It would be the sort of hi-fi the president could, after a hard day's work … Read more