Great review and it's about time the bandwagoners stopped glorifying the ATH m50's-they're the best headphones in the world for accurate neutral professional studio work, but if you want pure listening enjoyment they suck because there's no magic.
And I've always felt the Shures were too harsh on the high end, so I agree with you there as well.
I think I'll pick up a pair and see what the deal is

^^ Uh, the M50 is extremely INaccurate. It's not neutral at all. They have hyped up bass, recessed lower mids, and spikey treble. The offending highs, meh comfort, and loose fit make them very bad for a studio application. They're budget headphones at best.

I use ATH M50's regularly in pro studio work and they're extremely accurate. And the bass is not hyped but universally famous in pro engineering and production circles for being the most honest bass representation available in headphones, which is how they got their rep.
George Massenburg, one of the world's most famous and respected engineers swears by them. They are the official headphone of choice for METAlliance (pro engineers and producers union)

haha I certainly don't want to hear your recording or any studio which use M50 as their headphone monitor

Perfectly understood and I yield to your obvious superior experience and knowledge of pro recording.

I think you would like the PSB phones. And nothing wrong with using a particular can (M50) for studio monitoring. As long as you know how that headphone "works", you can balance your work accordingly.

Probably more due to durability and price that the studio uses the M-50 than being "the best, most extremely accurate, studio monitors ever"

A trained engineer's understanding of useful frequency representation is totally different from that of the knowledgeable and aesthetically savvy listener. Bob Clearmountain used to show up at studios with his own pair of NS10 speakers until the owners took notice and suddenly even Power Station had a pair. The wood used to make them is now officially used up, but I doubt anyone here would want to listen to NS10s for any reason, even though they were used to make the recordings which many on head-fi still like. Headphone choices in studios can seem equally cryptic unless you know what people are listening for and why.

Well said, scrypt. It used to be said that studio cats used monitors that told them what they wanted to know about their recordings, regardless of how "flat" or "accurate" they were. And yes, Roxy Music's "Avalon" still sounds wonderful.
I believe they also used to do a "Charmin mod" on the NS-1- by way of covering the tweeter with toilet paper?

Can you comment on comfort of these headphones while wearing glasses? If you don't wear glasses then throw on some sunglasses and give 'em a try