Grado all the way, the beyers i have might be rather listenable for some albums ( i use them on some recordings i find harsh, like some Opeth for example ) but for anything else my sr225 provide the punch and speed i need for metal, especially in the bass region, where the dt-990s are able to turn some good death metal into a bass drum solo....even Yes and Rush sound much better through my grados

However, i think we should not avoid, but at least limit the amount of technical discussion in this thread, while very interesting...but we are on the Music subforums....