The first thing you should realize about headphones and pricing is that the two are not directly proportional and the relationship is greatly affected by steep diminishing returns. Going up the price tiers, the you will not generally be buying headphones that are twice as good for twice the price. You probably pay like 300% more for, say, a 50% increase in performance. Of course, this is just a loosely based example as there's really no real world way to quantify such a relationship.

The question about whether it's worth paying x times more for a better pair of headphones thus becomes highly subjective and dependent on the listener. For some, they'll pay any price for even the smallest of improvements. Others, not so much. You'll just have to either listen for yourself to judge if something is really worth $50 more than what you've previously owned or heard, or just bite the bullet and hope for the best. This is a decision only you can make.

What we can help you with, however, is coming up with different suggestions for your musical tastes. State your absolute maximum budget and the stuff you enjoy listening to and we can try and come up with the best choices for you.

If you were looking at the Audio Technica M50s, were you thinking about expanding your budget to that price point, or are you still absolutely set on spending around $50?

I'm glad to know that head-fi has such notoriety :)

In addition to what Kingtz said, how important is isolation from outside noise to your husband? I have 3 siblings, and I know that when I lived with them that it was necessary to be isolated when listening to music. Also, would your husband prefer in-ear headphones (IEMs) or on-ear or around-ear headphones (supra- and circumaural, respectively)

Joker's comparison is a great place to start.  There is a lot of indepth reviews of 59 (at the moment) portable headphones and If you scroll down a bit you'll see a comparison chart comparing his ratings of different factors (build, sound, value, etc.) as well as price and ranked accordingly.  This helpful guide should give you a good idea of what you might want and prices in the range you want to spend.

On the list you'll notice the JVC HA-M750 and, if you stretch a little more, the Creative Aurvana Live! are a great bang for your buck and get recommendations here as well.

Also, there are quite some deals on the For Sale section here.

The JVC HA-M750 is going for $32 if you don't mind that they're used: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/526418/jvc-ham750-and-optimus-pro-135-koss-r-80

It's a little overwhelming at first but it makes sense as you connect the dots here and there.  Good luck!

As a noob to headphones myself, I bought the ATH-M50's over the summer due to the overwhelming positive reviews it got here on the forums. It has decent isolation and when playing music I pretty much can't hear anything. It's great for music, movies, and gaming as I do all three. And it works well with most genres of music. It is definitely a very good entry level headphones.  

Well normally, like a knee-jerk reaction I too would recommend the M50, but since you want to limit your budget...

I've seen a lot written about the Fostex RP T40RP. I have never heard them, so I can't speak from first-hand experience, or compare them to the M50 (which are a remarkable value). Maybe others here can. They can be had at Amazon for $70, or so.

Best of luck.

shane

I wouldn't recommend any of the fostex sets for absolute beginners because they all have 1/4" jacks which most people have no use for.  I know you can buy adapters, but that is just an added complication for someone who is already having trouble grasping the immense amount of information that can be had on these forums.  The m50 is a durable pair of headphones that also isolates very well.  They also sound pretty darn good on top of that.  They get my vote in this situation. 

^^ Good point about the 1/4" plug. Thanks.

Also a bump to see if anyone else has a suggestion.

The HD 428 is a good choice, in my experience. The sound signature is quite neutral, with punchy but non-emphasized bass. Very good sound stage for a closed can, which is good for gamin. Instrument separation is also quite good.

You can do worse than the 428, but they didn't really stand out for mine. So much of it comes down to whether one is a basshead or not, and the music you listen to - IEMs are probably the most-detail-for-your-dollar but I find it hard to go past the perennial favorites in fullsize cans : AD700/ES7/MS1/SR60.  Cans which are have upfront bass response are great initially but quickly become fatiguing - the DT440 are one example of such cans.

Good luck.

How about the JVC HAS700? Cheap as chips and a few here seem to rave about them?

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/478533/holy-crap-what-the-hell-jvc-has700-is-incredible

You could take a little bit of the left over $ and get a simple amp like a Fiio E5.

Just a thought