A note on my playlist:

For consistency's sake, I used the same playlist with each set of headphones. Here's a list of the songs I assembled and an explanation of what it was I was listening for in each track:

"A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane. Could the headphones convey the warmth of Coltrane's sax playing? Were they sensitive enough to reproduce the rippling of Elvin Jones' cymbals?

"Verses From The Abstract" by A Tribe Called Quest. How well did each set of headphones handle Ron Carter's bass, which grounds this hip-hop classic?

"No. 13 Baby," by the Pixies; "Drown," by the Jesus Lizard. Joey Santiago's guitar had a tone like burnished bronze; so did Duane Denison's. Did the headphones do them justice?

Mahler's Ninth Symphony. One of the stormiest symphonies I know—could the headphones keep up?

Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's "Goldberg Variations"; Thelonious Monk's 1956 recording of "I Surrender Dear" (two of my favorite solo piano performances). Did the headphones dull the percussiveness in Gould's and Monk's playing?

"Cum on Feel the Noize," by Quiet Riot; "Monkey Trick," by the Jesus Lizard. Loud, obnoxious rock 'n' roll—did the headphones offer enough privacy to listen to loud music, in quiet surroundings, without disturbing whatever little old lady happened to be sitting to my left?