Necessary for Music!

What I'm currently listening to music on:

Ear buds: Altec Lansing - BackBeat Noise-Isolating - 4.0 out of 5 - they're fairly new so I'm still breaking them in. More to come on these.

Headphones: Sony - Studio Monitor Series Headphones- 4.5 out of 5 - You get what you pay for on these, they're pretty sturdy (flown off my head while long boarding) fit around the neck well and have a pretty decent dB rating. Recommended by many of my DJ friends, but def. not for audiophiles.

System: Paradigm Monitor 7 + ADP 190 + CC 190 - 4.5 out of 5 - I'm extremely happy with this setup as it is my first. I am of course missing the .1 out of my 5.1 setup but I get along fine with 5.0. Fantastic sound quality, although I had to turn my rears up to +9 dB to get the sound I wanted out of them. If you're looking for a high end speaker, but don't want to drop the money on something like Bowers & Wilkins I'd recommend these.Also I'm not currently running 5.1 music files through them, but movies are SWEET.