I purchased the E500PTH headphones almost on a whim at an airport store in New York's JFK called Altitunes on July 23, 2006. I got them for [$499.00] (even though I thought that I could get them cheaper elsewhere, I still bought them).

The packaging is impressive -- an aluminum box with all the sleeves, adapters, PTH device, and headphones + cool elliptical shaped case that can fit in your hand. It was very hard to see how these could cost $499 when I opened the box up...until I used them with my iPod Video (5G). I was able to hear a broader range of sound on the same old songs that I listen to all the time. My music was brand new again! I could hear all the different instruments nearly isolated as clear as a bell, guitar rythms I've never really picked out before, and yes, recording and artist imperfections. WOW, it was amazing!

How they fit: The fit of these earphones are excellent. The buds are designed to fit snugly in your ears, and is NOT uncomfortable even over long periods of time (I could barely tell they were in my ears once they were fit). The wire wraps over the top front of your ear and then hides behind your ear, and they fit and LOOK flush with your head and ears. Truthfully, I've never had headphones that fit and looked this great that I could wear for hours at a time. (P.S. I was a big Bose Quiet Comfort 2 [$299.00] fan for a long time for the noise cancelling effect mostly, but the sound range does not even compare to the E500PTH).

The PTH mechanism: It stands for Push To Hear, and is basically a AAA-battery powered microphone that turns on when you slide the dial forward. It can be removed from your headphone configuration completely, but if you want to talk to somebody, you'll have to keep taking the earbud(s) out, and that is not fun, because once you've found the perfect fit, you really don't want to mess with them.

Buy these, if you have the $. You really do get what you pay for...

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