<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kanebear:
Sennheiser Orpheus. A mere $12,000. IMO an inexpensive but VERY VERY neutral headphone is the Etymotic ER-4S. You need custom earmolds to get the most out of it but if you want something with zero coloration and utter neutrality, they're the ones to get.
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Ok, so I didn't give any constraints in my original post. But, $12k is a little much for this particular application. After all, this is CD-level capture of very old audio tapes of choral performances in not ideal recording environments.
As to the Etymotic's you mentioned. I might be interested in this for travel purposes except for the need to drive them agressively to get solid reproduction. I have a friend who has a set along with an iPod who is satisfied. I don't think I like the idea of using them for home listening though.