I did a quick overview on headphones today because they make such an easy gift at this time of year. Besides the main article, be sure to check out the sidebar on some trendy picks I’ve made. I have to admit that I was surprised when I asked the Consumer Electronics Association for its most recent sales data and found that headphone sales (by unit) are up 25 percent over last year to this point. They’re clearly a popular audio accessory.

A few follow-up points to my article:

* Two readers pointed out that Grado Labs makes great headphones, which I didn’t mention. They are absolutely right. Grado is highly acclaimed for both its high-end headphones and more affordable models. There are also many other fine headphone companies, including Klipsch, AKG, Audio-Technica and Denon. There wasn’t room to mention them all in the original article. Suffice it to say that if you follow the links I listed,  you’ll discover these and many others.

* The Able Planet active noise-canceling headphones I mentioned, the NC200, retail for $100, but the company is discounting them 40 percent for readers who use the promo code MNST08 when ordering online or by phone. I mentioned that in my article, but since I wrote it, the company is now discounting them 50 percent through Amazon.

* For all-around use, including portable, I’ve always been stuck on the Bang & Olufsen Form-2, which I first got when they came out in the mid-’80s. But my first experience with really nice headphones was when my older sister bought a sweet stereo setup when I was a kid and let me borrow her Koss stereophones to listen to her albums. They were monstrous over-the-ear models, typical for the day. The only thing missing was the light wands to guide the jetliners on the tarmac. ;-)  Â

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 11:27 am and is filed under Audio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.