Comfy ~$200

I am not trying to start a flame war, but Grados are notoriously uncomfortable....

I hear that Beyers are extremely comfortable, but I don't have any firsthand experience.

Yes they are notoriously uncomfortable. I love them and think they are as comfortable, if not more comfortable than any other headphone in the world, but that is my personal experience of years of using them, you would have to try them and come to your own conclusions. I think a good addition to think about would be the Denon D2000, although those are "closed" in the traditional sense. They sound very open though, are comfortable in my own use, and are pretty good value for money. In order of preference of the headphones listed, it would be something like D2000, SR225, DT990 first (all three I really like, so it was a hard choice) and then the K702 and HFI2200, both of which I dislike almost equally, but that's just my personal preference.

depends on whether you use an amplifier. 600 ohm is pretty tough to drive w/out an amp. If I were you I'd stick with 250, IMHO.

If I can be of any help, I pretty much had the exact needs as you do, and the general consensus here from many people was the Denon d2000. Don't need amped, but if you get one it makes it better... comfortable... and nice bass for movies. Something I can really help with is with the Grados... I have the sr80, they are NOT comfortable at all. Watching an entire movie is torture with those things. 

Rich 

Not sure you can find a D5000 for that cheap. You could get a D2000 and put wood cups and recable it and essentially have a D5000 as FWIR the only difference between the two is the cups and cable. As far as movie watching cans go the DT990 and D2000 would be my choice. Both are extremely comfortable (unlike Grados) and have good soundstage and bass for movie watching though they both suffer from recessed mids so they may not suit your music tastes that well though you can always use an eq. The D2000s bass was rather boomy for me unamped (still listenable though) but tightened up significantly when amped.

Not sure the DT990s are quite what you want though as they do like amping.

The problem is all the cans you list pretty much require amping. Except for the Grados.

All the cans you list are very comfortable. Except for the Grados.

I found the 225s to be very comfortable, but YMMV.

By the way, the SR-225i's are probably the best headphones in the price range for rock music. Probably not that great for movies (mainly because the soundstage isn't that great).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conrthomas 

depends on whether you use an amplifier. 600 ohm is pretty tough to drive w/out an amp. If I were you I'd stick with 250, IMHO.

a popular misconception.  the 250 ohm beyers are not much easier to drive than the 600 ohm. 

you most assuredly still need an amp for the 250 ohm.

personal experience.

so mark the beyers off your list unless you change your mind about plug-in-the-wall amplification.

why not a HD-555 from sennheiser?

those have decent soundstage and i've heard it is good fro movies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWuss 

 

a popular misconception.  the 250 ohm beyers are not much easier to drive than the 600 ohm. 

you most assuredly still need an amp for the 250 ohm.

personal experience.

 

so mark the beyers off your list unless you change your mind about plug-in-the-wall amplification.

Exactly.

If you want an ampless Beyerdynamic, get the 32 Ohm version.