The 150$ question...

Ultrasone 780's would be great on all accounts. Even better get a used pair of AKG 340's and mod til your heart is content. 340's need a good amp though.

If you don't really need to have closed headphones (because open ones will typically sound better at the same price range) and could think about using supraaural (on-the-ear) headphones, the Grado SR225 and the Alessandro MS-1s without an amp are brilliant headphones for your main music choices.

I'll second the 780s if you want an "upgradeable" headphone. Stock, the bass is bloated and the highs are pretty sharp. However, they have a decent amount of detail and are a very fun sounding headphone. 

They improve greatly after you remove the diode board/recable them and dampen the ear cups. They have an emphasized bass which can be tweaked to your liking by adding cotton or foam to the inside of the ear cups. This also helps bring out the midrange. Recabling/removing the diode board helps tame the highs and it also gives them a slightly airier sound.  However, the mids/highs are a bit thin sounding, and if you prefer a warmer sound you might want to look elsewhere. 

Those K340s you're looking for are vintage headphones and pretty hard to find. They sometimes pop up on ebay, but usually for around ~$200. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Joboto 

If you don't really need to have closed headphones (because open ones will typically sound better at the same price range) and could think about using supraaural (on-the-ear) headphones, the Grado SR225 and the Alessandro MS-1s without an amp are brilliant headphones for your main music choices.

This. Get open if you don't need closed as they almost always sound better at a given price.  MS-1 or DT440 would be great choices.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayB18 

This. Get open if you don't need closed as they almost always sound better at a given price.  MS-1 or DT440 would be great choices.

What is the difference between open and closed? noooob

Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by evanagreer 

What is the difference between open and closed? noooob

 

Thanks

Heres a nice description from Marcus at Headphonic regarding open vs closed phones.

"It’s pretty easy to answer really, but there are some catches. Simply put; open headphones sound better, but closed headphones offer isolation. By isolation I mean in terms of both sound leaking out from the headphones, and sound leaking in. Unless you need isolation you should consider open models. You can get closed headphones that sound as good as open models, but generally the closed model will cost more. That’s not to say that all open headphones are better than all closed models either, there are duds in both teams, as well as some models that break the mould.

Open headphones sound more ‘natural’ than closed models. Generally an open model will have much better soundstage (the ‘width and depth’ of sound), more natural bass (tighter and faster) and better separation (how well individual sounds/instruments/details are defined). Closed headphones on the other hand tend to have a more ‘boxed in’ sound to them (where it sounds like the music is coming from inside your head) and boomier, more resonant (slower) sounding bass. Often this leads to closed headphones sounding bassier, but if you listen closely it’s normally just because the bass is stopping and starting slower, and less accurately, than it would on an open model. This is why using the term “better” can be very subjective. You might consider slow, boomy overpowering bass to be “better” than well defined and clear bass ;)

On the topic of isolation and leakage; this will depend on volume levels. Generally if you’re listening to open headphones at moderate volume levels people in the same room as you will be able to hear at least some of what you’re listening to. If you have your music loud, they’ll clearly be able to hear what you’re listening to. If people are going to be disturbed by this, you might want to consider closed. Also, if the ambient volume levels around you are low, you shouldn’t be that disturbed by them with open headphones, however if you’re in a noisy environment (public transport, aircraft etc) then closed headphones may be a better choice as you might have to turn open headphones up to drown out background noise, and that’s potentially damaging to your ears."

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrKitty 

Nice reply, I knew most of that but didn't want to type a gajillion words so I tried to explain it as simple as possible.

 

I see you have the AD700's and had the DT440, any thoughts of how the AD700s compare to it?

or if you had a listen to the Ultrason's 780's how they compared to them?

 

Thanks again,

 

Guy with a Kitty instead of a name.

I didn't do a direct comparison as I didn't have them at the same time.  Bass volume and impact was definately better and they were more in your face sounding.  Soundstage was good but its was more narrow than the AD700 (though more natural sounding I guess). AD700 was more cofy however. I got the MS-1 and AD700 combo to replace them but the DT440 sounded better than both so I'll probably get them again.  Everything sounded good on them imo where as with the MS-1/AD700 are a bit more genre specific (though everything sounds at least ok).

Grado for sure..