Sounds like some of you have been unlucky with headphones. My Sennheiser HD280s are 7 years old and still going strong. And the fidelity is as good as it can be (because it is better than my hearing, so there's no point in me spending more on higher-quality phones as I would be unable to tell the difference.) And if I remember right they cost UK£80 (with the exchange rates at the time that would have been equivalent to US$145.) If I bought a pair of *speakers* for $145 there's no way they would sound that good.