Headpones good? Options

[HTS]

Are headphones good for music listening? I put on a cheap plantronics one, and the sound was much clearer and detailed than my 5.1 system of pc speakers. And even the low frequencies are clear! So are headphones the best way to listen to music?

Even if so, do they cause hearing damage? I don't mean the cheap earplugs, I meant the good noise cancelling ones.

[n3tfury]

i've said it before, but it bears saying again. stay away from the sony DJ headphones. they're complete rubbish.

[HTS]

I've never tried these, but I'm skeptical because I know something about directional perception.

You detect direction mostly by level differences (and maybe phase differences) between your right and left ears... When a sound comes from directly in front, directly behind, or directly above you, the sound in both ears is equal. In order to detect (triangulate) the direction in 3-dimensions, you need to move your head slightly. Of course, this doesn't work with headphones, since the sound-source moves when you move your head.

Most of the time we are not aware of these head-movements, but you've probably seen an animal turn it's head in reaction to a sudden or strange noise. When we hear a sound, sometimes we look around to see where it's coming from. This head movement gives you more "readings", and if you do see the source of the sound, the visual clues feed-into your overall perception.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/multimedi...ad_5.html#sect0

The Zalman didn't do too well for surround here. And did you all notice the last comment? About headphones being damaging to hearing?

Also, aren't there any good mainstream headphones out there? Like from Logitech, Plantronics etc... I have a hard time shopping from these "boutique" stores, they aren't as accessible and they are mostly online with their modified stuff.