After quite a bit of hunting around, I found one absolutely kickass pair of headphones for work: the Ultrasone HFI-550. They’re great for a work environment because they’re sealed headphones, which means that if you’re like me and play stuff loud, you won’t disturb your workmates because sealed headphones keep the sound in. The sound quality from them is superb: they’re up there with my beloved Beyerdynamic DT531s for serious listening. They’re also comfortable: I’ve worn them for hours on-end with no problem or fatigue at all.

For Australians, the best thing about them is that thanks to AusPCMarket, you can actually get them in Australia for a reasonable price: they’re USD$189 at Headroom, but you can get them at AusPCMarket for A$231—including shipping. Considering that equivalent competing headphones (such as the AKG-K271) are around the same price range in the USA but are quite hard to find in stores in Australia for anything less than about A$330, A$231 for these things is a bargain.

And, of course, the day I got these nice pair of cans is the same day that I managed to code my way out of a coding slump, and get back into deep hack mode. Coincidence? I don’t think so…