Well balanced closed headphone

I assume by "balanced" you mean "neutral" and not using them with a balanced output amp.

 

"Tight rather than plentiful" is not something that you'll find in a lot of closed cans. In fact that describes very well the bass in a lot of the better open headphones.  But some closed cans are more controlled than others.

 

For that price and running without an amp, have you considered IEMs?  My TF10s are wonderfully neutral with very nice bass without being boomy.  I run them from my tiny little iPod Shuffle and I get plenty of volume and when I run them from my home rig, WoW!! They are really fantastic.

shure srh840.

 

The Shure SRH840 would be my pick based on what I have heard. I liked them a lot when I owned them, they were very balanced, easy to drive, excellent isolation, nice portability (because they fold up and are very durable). Only drawbacks are the coiled cable (annoying, but you can buy a replacement straight cable for $15 if you really hate it) and a smallish soundstage (which is the case with any high-isolation closed headphone).

I went with the Denon D2K for $229 and they sound great, they give me everything I want in a closed headphone.

D2K is a nice headphone, but I would say that it is unquestionably on the "plentiful" end of the tight <---> plentiful bass spectrum, especially without an amp.

My vote is for the Shure SRH-840's as well. I even had to mix "audio for video" at a live concert (not ideal) and my mixes were very "balanced" and needed little EQ which I think says a lot.

Another vote for the Shure SRH840...and if you can push your budget a bit, I'd go for the SRH940.  I've had mine now for a week, and they have a certain higher end sparkle that the 840's lack somewhat (not that it's a bad thing...just different - warmer).

I think we have a winner, the 840's are well known for being balanced headphones. 

Balanced cable itself cost well over $300. :)

In addition to the SRH840 how about Beyerdynamic's DT250?

Another vote for Shures. They sound great unamped and are very neutral and balanced. You can't go wrong with any of the SRH headphones.

I love the Beyerdynamic DT48 for being balanced. Though quite a few disagree; read the reviews to see if the DT48 might be for you.

I also like the Sony MDR-7509HD quite a bit. Not terribly popular around here, but I enjoy my pair.

FA-003s are neutral. Less than $200 too.

based on your requirement...Fischer Audio FA-003 will be your best choice..it's the most comfortable and most balanced headphone that i hv heard of
it's also drive-able by portable source due to it's 60ohm impedence..another good thing is that this headphone can change it's sound chamber to a wood made cup if you want a more "natural" timbre...oh ya! it's cable are only made up of 3.5mm plugs,this means custom made cable will be easier..

 

for user reveiw you may see here==> http://www.head-fi.org/products/fischer-audio-fa-003#reviews