I've been a musician all of my life and played piano and other instruments professionally for an 11 year period. I listen to many genres of music and have a discerning ear. However, I am not an expert audio technology and because of this my review is based entirely on my listening experience.
Physically, these headphones have a heavy guard that is apparently well-shielded judging by the sound. The signal to noise ration will low compared to SENNHEISER HD212 Pro, which is a closed ear type headphone that I purchased after listening to many models being made at the time. While the SENNHEISER HD212 were not the best at the time, they were a good value for the price point. The SR60s are a spectacular model at their price point, here is why.....
The first thing I listened were recording of Chopin Waltzes by Ashkenazy. The clarity of the sound and the subtle nuances, harmonics and other details stood out. Similarly, I listened to a 1989 digital recording of Bill Evans Consecration. Bill Evans is known for his tone and these recording were made with Marc Johnson a phenomenal bass player who uses the whole range of the bass. In this recording, the results were that the piano tones were truer, the bass was light years better on the SR60 and even the brushes being used on the high hat cymbals were crystal clear. Overall, the sound was warm, balanced and low, mid and high frequencies all rendered very well.
The last test that I did was to listen to the human voice with an orchestra, this is usually a very good test of what any sound system can do and these headphones didn't disappoint. I picked Viaggio Italiano / Andrea Bocelli as the test album, so there were lots of sections with more or less orchestra, soft and loud sounds, etc. Bocelli's voice was incredible and the orchestra sounded great. This particular model of SENNHEISER headphones couldn't even approximate the sound of the GS60 on voice, true to life violin and overall sound. In fact, it was apparent that lots of frequencies were lost or distorted.
While the test I did may not be apples to apples, it is always useful to listen to multiple recordings and have something to compare the device being tested. I also listened to recordings multiple times focusing on different elements and aspects of the sound. My conclusion is that the SR60s are incredible for the price and better than many more expensive headphones. For me, they are perfectly adequate.
In the past, I have used very high end headphones and usually visit this section of any electronics or audio stores I go to. I love to hear what one can get for their money at different points in time and I often bring my own music to do the listening when I'm serious about buying. While SENNHEISER and others may make some superior headphones, you will pay dearly for incremental differences in quality.
I give these headphones my highest rating for their combination of value and sound. Also, they are comfortable if you where them for an hour or two. I can even see wearing them longer, but there are more comfortable headphones out there for use for longer periods of time. If you are sensitive to having something on your head, you may want to check them out, but they were about as comfortable as the SENNHEISER's for me.
In general, I think you would have to pay at least TWICE the price to get something just as good. I don't have any reservations about these at all and they can be used with both 1/4" and smaller inputs. I also want to be clear that I used a high quality disc player for my listening and NOT an iPod or MP3 type device.