I have some Sony closed headphones that I bought years ago for general home use. They were picked as being affordable at the time (about £20). I've never been that impressed by them, but they get occasional use on the computer or guitar.
About three years ago I bought a Napa CD player that did MP3. That came with some ear buds with the delightful brand of laPhony. I used that player for music and audiobooks. I kept using the headphones with my Palm as they were so portable. They sound okay, but let in a lot of outside noise which is not a great thing on planes and trains.
At work I listen to a lot of music from my large MP3 collection (almost all from my CDs) on the PC. FOr that I bought some lightweight JVC headphones that have 'Super Bass'. Not too sure about that feature, but I chose them for the relatively long cable that reaches to the back of the PC. I think they sound okay and do the job. They let in enough outside sound for me to be aware of what is going on in the office, but don't disturb others too much.
I decided I was going to get some decent headphones for travelling. The site Head-Fi is a very good source of opinion, even if a lot of people there aim for the higher end kit. Grado get good reviews. I tried and failed to find get some in the US as they are half the price there. I'm not sure they would be so good for travel as they leak a lot of sound and are bulky, but I'd like to try some to see how good they are. The SR60 model is only about $70.
I eventually settled on the Sennheiser PX200. They don't get the best audio rating, but they block at least some outside noise and fold up nicely. I bought mine from Unbeatable as they had about the best UK price.
First impressions are very good. They do block quite a bit of outside noise if you position them right and others can barely hear them, even at fairly high volume. On the Palm they are much louder than the laPhony, which is a benefit given the low output power. The sound is very clear with adequate bass. I've not had much chance to road-test them yet apart from one trip on the train where they did quite well. The underground trains can be very loud so nothing short of canal-phones will block it all. I did try them in the office, but they were so effective that I couldn't hear my telephone and managed to miss a couple of calls, so it's back to the JVCs for now. The folding mechanism is very neat. It only takes a few seconds to get them in or out of the case and they are well protected in there. Build quality seems good and they come with a two year warranty in case something does go wrong. So I'm happy so far. We'll see how they perform on my next flight, whenever that may be.
On the Palm I am using Aeroplayer. It supports MP3 and OGG formats and has a few nice features such as a volume boost that manages to get a bit more output as the expense of a little distortion. The distortion is more apparent with the Sennheisers, but can be useful with spoken material. I can listen to music whilst reading ebooks or doing other tasks on the Palm. The player could do better at remembering what playlist and track location I was listening to when I turn it back on, but maybe the next version will fix that. I use the Marshmallow skin from here as it allows fingertip control with it's large controls. I know a dedicated MP3 player would do more, but with my 256MB SD card I can carry enough music for most trips and not need yet another gadget.
