Each of these are in the $100 price range.
If you are sharing the headphones with others, you need to get some sort of replaceable earbud system if you are not using traditional headphones. Shure, Sennheiser, and Sony have replaceable earbud tips.
On the higher end of headphone monitoring, I suggest the HD380 Pro. They are more comfortable than the HD280 and look less silly on your head. They also have angled the driver placement to send the sound down your ear canal instead of pointing at the side of your head. After testing these, I am making them next on my headphone purchase list.
On the lower end side, I suggest the eh150, Sennheiser's headphones are great at every level.
On the higher end side of in-ears is the IE 8, which features tunable bass response.
On the lower end side of in-earsSony Ear Buds, at $30 with replaceable tips could be an affordable solution for multiple players.
Hearing loss and Apple iPod ear buds:
There are several articles on this topic. Here are a few that I liked:
Time's research found that "certain devices sold in the U.S. can reach beyond 100 dB, however; some have recorded levels as high as 115 dB, similiar to a chainsaw or rock concert."
Hearlinglossweb.com states that "users upgrade to earphones that block out background noise," Dr. Fligor . Monitoring at lower levels is achieved by a listening device with good isolation. Many of the products listed here have a 24db to 32db reduction to outside volume levels. iPod earbuds have little to no isolation.
More discussion on headphone topics can be found at http://www.head-fi.org/
Thank you for your time and I hope that the information listed here was helpful to you. Please comment by listing the current headphone that you are listening with.
