In the midst of my financial tightness, my mouse went nuts on me. About 70% of the time a left click would respond as a double click. I'd been struggling for about a week when I finally couldn't take it any more. So I went out and got the mouse I needed. I drove all over the place looking for my mouse until I got to my last resort: Best Buy.

Fastforward a bit...
Having found my mouse, I wandered about the store window shopping. Gun bit for my Wii-mote. The Nerf Wii game. Guitar Hero goodies. And then finally headphones.

Taks and I have been looking for a pair of headphones for me for over a year now. But everytime we find a pair that are right one way they end up being wrong in several others. Which brings me to this trip to Best Buy. I went back and tried on the few pair they had out. They had Bose. I know I like Bose. They're really comfortable. The sound is great. But they're just too expensive for my needs.

Then I tried on a pair of headphones I'd never heard of before: Beats by Dr. Dre (engineered by Monster).

It was like putting sleak plastic love on my ears. Then the audio came on. How do I put this? I think I might have eargasmed. In my younger days I had a car with a fantastic sound system. Putting these headphones on was like sitting in that car with the windows up. The sound was rich and moving. I don't think I've ever put on headphones that sounded so good it was like they disappeared and I was nestled down in the midst of a surround sound system.

Then I saw the pricetag ($349) and walked away in slow motion, reaching back as if to a lost love.

So now, I'm left with my same ol' headphones and my lust.
**sighs**

My old mx700 ended its life with the double-click curse and it must be one of the seven circles of gamer hell. I managed to last more than a week but I think I was worse for it.

Not being an audiophile I can't say I've ever had an eargasm but I wouldn't expect it to come from a product released by Dr. Dre! Apparently he's going to release Cognac and vodka next - I wonder what that will do to the tastebuds?

Source: Wikipedia [ more info ]

I used to host a radio show in college called "Aural Sex". So I guess an eargasm is only to be expected.

I have been using These Headphones for a long time since I got them on Woot. Before that I had These Bose Triport headphones. I can't even tell you how much better I liked the Everglide ones. If you watch Woot.com you can find them for $20-30, clearance from $80. I paid $60 for mine, and would gladly have paid $200.

I've done the business man thing and asked Monster for a pair to review since comfort over long periods of wearing them is a vital piece of information to gamers. If they are comfortable over long stretches of playing, I'll just buy them, review them, and write them off my taxes as a business expense.

But sometimes (if I'm lucky), they just tell you to keep them. It's a benefit of running a site with a large readership. If they want me to ship them back, at least I will have gotten a good sense of whether they're going to be worth the purchase.

We'll see how it goes.

headphone comfort really is a vital piece of information for gamers, for certain! I wish I'd thought to check online for more information before I got the current pair I own. It's difficult for those of us who wear glasses, and can't stand, for instance, ear buds. I've yet to find a longterm really comfy set of headphones that 1) sound good, and 2) don't fit too tightly so that after long periods raiding my glasses are pushed hard enough against my head to give me a headache ><

So you definitely need to do some research there Woody ^_^ heh

bit OT I know sorry but also, they really need to make headphones for gamers' kids. My youngest (7) especially we cannot find a set for, that will stay on his head.

Right now I'm using the Logitech® Precision PC Gaming Headset which I have... a bit of a problem with. [more info] But, I mention them because the Kid likes to play with them and even with his tiny 1 year old head he can ALMOST wear them. They might work really well for a 7 year old. Not to mention, they're cheap. So if they get broken, meh. **shrugs**

I hate (and not mildly) the headsets that are supposed to wrap behind the wearer's head. They've always felt uncomfortable to me. I use a pair of these that I picked up a few years ago most of the time, and they're comfortable wearing for hours at a time (I should know, I have to wear 'em for at least 4 hours a day at work). They're even tolerable when I perch them on the back end of my ears, so I can hear what else is going on in my testing row.

The only downsides are the price (they list for $200), and the inability to use them with my current PC microphone (this, I originally bought to double as a cell-phone hands-free). Another downside is the fact that they are designed for professional use, so they have a flat EQ, which can make even the slightest audio mistakes stick out. This last one isn't a downside in my line of work, but for the consumer-level customer, it can be annoying.

Personally I'm a bit of a Sennheiser sell-out, as they've been good to me on several occasions, both with headphones and sturdy wireless mics, but in the end, a lot of it comes down to preference. If I had the option of never wearing headphones again, I'd be pleased as punch, but until that day, I hope these will suffice. Not much help I know, but I agree that the review angle is a solid one .

Sennheiser makes some pretty good inexpensive headsets.

Taks bought me a small pair of Sennheiser headphones for christmas, they were collapsible for travel purposes, so they felt a bit funny. The sound quality on them was good. But, we ended up sending them back anyway. I'd give Sennheiser another shot.

Looks like I'm gonna have to, Monster never got back to me. **grins**