Headphone preference
I prefer in ear headphones if the following criteria are met: 1) comfort- since they are "in-ear" they have to be comfortable over extended periods, or I won't want to use them. 2) stay put- if they are falling out every time I move, that would drastically reduce the time I would be able to use them to when I'm sitting still. 3) Isolation- I prefer a good amount of isolation from the outside world when listening to music. filtering out the noise makes listening to music(or movies on a portable DVD player) more enjoyable, since there are less distractions. This is especially important in noisy environments like Airplanes, but also useful when riding my bicycle to drown out ambiet noises from cars. It also helps that there is less sound leakage in quiet environments to annoy others when listening at fairly loud volumes. 4) Sound quality- if they don't sound good, I won't use them. Smooth response from 20-20K or better is ideal. Some in ears boos the bass too much & it becomes annoying after a while. If the in-ear headphones are the sealing type, there is a good possibility of achieving good bass response.
