Steve,

Speaking of the look, I think Retro is always "in".
Those triport? are those the noise cancelling models?

Up to what level do they get distorted?

My Sennheiser on my mini hi fi can take up to the max but its not really "deafining" loud due to lack of amplification (i suspect).

dwill,
Great choice of album, Live At The Greek is one of my best live albums....and there nothing wrong is saying...sweeeeet.

Hey Dwill...Do you know if those can be powered out of a portable?

Joel...The Triports are not noise-cancelling but they are "closed" which is practically the same. As far as distortion and how loud is loud enough I guess it's all relative. For me, I could actually get it to a good strong volume but depending on the music, the phones would "pop" on some of the heavy, loud bass notes. Very annoying. I believe the "noise-cancelling" model is basically the same headphone but with added noise-cancelling features. I'm sure the Bose website explains it more thoroughly.

My wife is hearing-impaired and often listens to music with headphones at work. When we last visited her ear doctor, I asked whether wearing headphones might further damage her hearing. He suggested that subjecting the ears to such direct, close-range sound waves is not a good idea for anyone over extended periods such as an eight-hour work day.

Any thoughts? Anyone experienced hearing loss related to headphones? Might the quality of the headphones make a difference?

Yea, I always hear it's the "extended periods" that is the real culprit. I'm sure a lot of it's hereditary too. I have been listening on headphones at loud levels for probably close to 30 years but usually never more that 45-60 minutes at a time. Every two years I get my hearing checked as workplace requirement and "knock on wood," I am greatfull that my hearing is still okay.

Funny how the noise from an airplane or heavy piece of equipment can seemingly "hurt" (your ears) to listen to but "Curves Ahead" at the same decibels is "soothing" to the ears.

SteveH:

Everything I’ve seen says no. The impedance of high-end phones is of issue. What I understand can be done is you can run HD 580s or something similar like Grado SR60s thru a headphone amp for use with a portable. HeadRoom is the company I often see mentioned in this category. I bought my headphones for the express purpose to start converting my album collection to cds. I wanted some good headphones to aid in cleaning up that crackling sound that’s present on most lps.

SteveH,
Based on your recommendation, I ordered a pair of Koss Porta Pros and they arrived today. These small headphones are a real jewel and bargain, the discount code # still worked. To think they have been around for many years and I just found out about them. Hmmmmm! They are everything you and others have said about them.
Thank you for posting them,
Lou

Lou, that's great! Glad they worked for you.