High End Audiophile Quality Headphones

Audiophile headphones made with the best quality components for listening to high quality audio recordings.  Also called Hi-Fi headphones or high end headphones.

If you take your music seriously then investing in a pair of good quality headphones (or 'cans') is a great way to take a step into the world of high end Hi-Fi.  While some audiophile headphones may seem very expensive, with headphones you can experience high end audio for dramatically less than if you were to purchase equivalent Hi-Fi equipment.

If you take headphone listening seriously then a headphone amplifier is a worthy investment.  High end headphones nearly always benefit from being driven by a high quality headphone amplifier.  The headphone output on many devices is cheap and low quality.  For example the headphone output on the iPod and other portable MP3 players is quite poor and is it is worthwhile upgrading with a headphone amp.  The addition of a headphone amplifier often results in punchier bass response as well as better clarity of mids and highs.

With audiophile headphones the audio source becomes more important.  You will be able to discern more detail in your music, so low bitrate MP3 audio files will disappoint.  Higher bitrates, such as 320Kbps, or lossless formats such as FLAC or Apple Lossless are recommended.