USB Headphones
What if you want to enjoy music, movies on your games on your PC but you don't have a top notch soundcard installed? Or you use a laptop and just need to be able to plug your phones in when you want to but feel decidedly unimpressed when you use a conventional pair of phones? You may want to consider a pair of USB Headphones. Much like USB microphones, USB Headphones contain everything needed to produce amazing sound quality straight out of your PC. They contain a built in soundcard which is designed especially for the phones and will create a rich, warm, bassy sound much more convinving than anything a conventional PC soundcard is capable of creating. When you first plug the pair in, the system will recognise the plug and play device, disable the existing soundcard and switch everything over to the USB phones. They get all of their power from USB as well so there's no need batteries or an external power supply.
USB headphones are a bit more technologically advanced than your traditional phones so the prices you can expect to pay will be a bit more than normal. But they are worth it, especially if you travel a lot or use your PC for most of your multimedia consumption. The first thing to look for is the build quality of the units. By their very nature, these are likely to be headphones that you will be wearing for large periods of time so make sure they are comfortable. Also, if you are going to be using them whilst you are travelling try to make sure you go for a closed pair so as not to disturb everyone around you. Audio Technica make some fantastic USB headphones. This writer purchased a pair about a year ago and has used them consistently every since for everything from listening to MP3s to playing videogames and watching movies, they really are that good!