ATH-M50s. "s" for straight cable.
My ol' reliable and everloved Grado SR-80 has always been only for home listening, being open type and not-so-pleasing-to-the-eyes ^_^. My JVC HA-FX66 in-ear was falling apart, I just had to get a pair o' decent closed cans as replacement. Fast, or my boring daily 1-hr train ride becomes intolerable. I have no audiophile friends, so, who did I turn to? Google! Which brought me to Head-Fi. I find there's a lovefest with ATH-M50 here.
Just got my ATH-M50s recently. I am loving it. If I didn't read the Burn-In sticky here, I would have returned the product at first go. It was horrible out of the box. I let it sit plugged into my old beater RCA boom box (RCA boom box?!?! I hear an "eeew!" from all corners of the forum. :-) Anywhooo, after 48 or so hours, I plugged it into my YPQ1 and listened to Ray LaMontagne's I Still Care For You... Whoooa! If I was married to my SR80, I think I just found "the other woman" :-)
In some ways, it sounds better than my SR80 (in bass!), and conversely, my SR80 beats it in some ways. The people-in-the-know here may say it is not a good comparison -- open vs close -- but, hey, my basis is simply "what my ears hear".
Just Google "ATH-M50 review" you will find tons of killer reviews. Of course, everything boils down to personal preference, but you may notice the numerous positive reviews for ATH-M50 were from a wide variety of users with different level of headphone experience and knowledge.
How can I say it is better than BD DT250, Sony V6/7506, etc.? I can't. And I probably would never know. Bottom line is I am happy with ATH-M50. Hey, I am a Grado fan, something that is also acclaimed here, so maybe my taste ain't so bad. :-)
And glad I found Head-Fi too. I learned a lot here. I'll be passing by Hong Kong early next year, I'll see if I can pick up a Compass or Zero along the way.
ATH-M50s. You can't go wrong. eBay ;-)
