Russellian wrote:

Darn you non-glasses wearers... I can't use actual headphones since they all cause headaches with glasses frames being mashed into the side of my head. Skullcandy, wooooooo! :')

I wear glasses and don't have a problem.  Maybe you need poofier pads.

Darn you non-glasses wearers... I can't use actual headphones since they all cause headaches with glasses frames being mashed into the side of my head. Skullcandy, wooooooo! :')

I wear glasses and don't have a problem.  Maybe you need poofier pads.

Especially some that won't wake up my roommate.

I've been using Sennheiser HD 25-1 II for the past 5 years; anything I've written since 2007 were done on them. I love them.

I'm going to get a pair of Amperiors when these die.

All the Audio engineers at my Uni, including the teachers enjoy the DT770 for closed-backed headphones.

If your mastering though as opposed to tracking, Go for open cans. Sennhiesers have got some great open-backed headphones.

Agreed! HD650's are absolutely unreal. Even the lower-end open-backs that they make are really great. People complain about sennie's lacking bass but they're definitely the most well-balanced headphones for casual mixing and listening. AKGs and ATs sound shit-hot but I feel like they paint a deceptively warm picture of bland sources. Just my opinion, though.

I dunno about this, though. Sounds like something someone who's never spent more than $300 on headphones would say.
I got Alessandro MS-Pro's 18 months ago and they're just amazing, they bring the best (and worst!) of any source material and have a really fierce and dynamic low-mid sound. Almost the same kind of god-tier beautiful as Grado RS-1's imo, even without a headphone amp.

Hah, I guess I'm a Grado & Sennheiser fan too.

All the Audio engineers at my Uni, including the teachers enjoy the DT770 for closed-backed headphones.

If you're mastering though as opposed to tracking, Go for open cans. Sennhiesers have got some great open-backed headphones.

Choose open or closed headphones first then narrow your search down.

All of these things are the best advice.

I've been using Grados or Sennheisers for "serious" music stuff for a long time. after a while, if you listen almost entirely to music in headphones, you'll begin to acquire a feel for the bias that headphone manufacturers include in their products by design—to create their "signature sound."

I've owned multiple pairs of old school Koss PortaPros and Sennheiser PX100s—both of which are open back phones. These aren't what you want for studio sounds, but they are (or were at the time) the best headphones on the market that cost about $50—and they sound a lot like the more expensive headphones produced by each company.

What I've come to feel from thousands of hours of headphone time is that Sennheisers, generally speaking, tend to have some of the most neutral response of any similar product. My Koss headphones always had a slightly muddy and pronounced (but not unpleasant) bass frequency coloration. My Grados always had a really pleasant lower-mid emphasis that seemed very translucent, but "warmed up" recordings the way a lot of "audiophiles" like their headphones to do.

My Sennheisers, however, have always had the most neutral response. They've always seemed to accurately reproduce everything in a balanced and transparent way, clearly across their frequency range, without noticeable coloration.

That's all anecdotal, but I hope it's helpful.

As for Open vs. Closed, open air headphones just sound better in my opinion. The design principal they are based on allows the diaphragms in the earpieces to move air more freely, so there is less of a physical barrier to more accurate reproduction that has to be compensated for elsewhere in the construction. If you want to see what I mean, try on a pair of open headphones and cup your hands over the back of the earpieces. It'll sound like you're muting a trumpet or using a wah pedal, because you're obstructing airflow through the back of the phones and blocking a lot of low frequencies—literally a physical low-pass filter.

The tradeoff is that, if you're like me, you'll sit around listening to music at full blast in headphones and still have someone tell you that they can hear your music in the next room. So, if that isn't a problem for you, open phones all the way. If you have to avoid waking a baby or something, you can find closed headphones of comparable audio quality, but they tend to cost more.

The other alternative is canalphones / in-ear monitors. These tend to sound really good and be completely resistant to "bleeding sound" into your environment, but good ones can be 100 or 200 bucks. Also, they are like wearing ear plugs with speakers, and some people find that unpleasant for extended periods. Shure and Etymotic Research make pretty decent ones.

Holy shit, I forgot I was such a nerd about headphones.

TONS of bass, sound great, I use em to play my keyboards silently at night

yeah only $100

On the run I pack a pair of Sennheiser HD-25-II, they shut out sound nicely, doesn't need much driving. Sounds good enough to use in a studio really.

Overall? HD-25-II can't go wrong. They're great and not as pricey as the Beyerdynamic cans. Plus, you can take them with you everywhere and not worry if they break, they're a quality make and if something breaks you can replace the part yourself.

EDIT: Oh, somewhat old thread. Oh well, here's my 2 cents anyway.

AKG's studio cans are great for the price, but they sound really flat and boring. (some argue that it's a good thing, but I just think they are outright boring)

If you want to listen to music cheerfully, you should get good headphones just like Dr Dre beats. Go to http://www.drdrebeatscheap.co.uk for the perfect sound.

lol

If your mastering though as opposed to tracking, Go for open cans. Sennhiesers have got some great open-backed headphones.

I got told by the teachers and audio engies that it is not worth spending more than $300 on headphones.

NO DR.DRE FOR GOODNESS SAKE! Music (Instrument) stores don't sell them for a reason...

AKG's are light, super light. They're great if your using for a long time late at night as you said.

But i don't think you can go wrong with the ones suggested.

Choose open or closed headphones first then narrow your search down.