I recently repaired my DT880s after not having them for about a year's time... I could not believe how well they did with good electronic music... Prog House/Trance, IDM, Dub(step), Psy, EBM, and so forth. They transistioned so effortlessly from genre to genre, from electronic to instrumental and back, they really impressed me. I imagine a new DT880 or DT990 would suit you well for trance and anything else. Extremely comfortable, and a rich and creamy, but obviously well detailed and thick full sound across the spectrum, and no real issue with bass/midbass bloat.
The thing to concern yourself with is amplification. I know my DT880 needs a lot more power than my DT770/pro80. I am sure it has been said a million times, but the 250-600 ohm Beyer headphones really do need some kind of amp to begin to recover your money's worth. The good news is you should have enough for a basic headphone amp, I am sure someone can recommend one, since I haven't looked at that market in a while.
The other option is an AudioTechnica m50. It is hard to go wrong with this one, and it sounds great off a decent portable. It blocks plenty of outside sound, so you really don't have to turn the volume up that much considering. They work really well with electronic genres, and they aren't too tizzy, so not as much treble fatigue as some of the other closed monitors. It's worth giving this one a listen. It is hard to say if it is better or not, because it's such a good headphone, I can see some people choosing it over a DTxx0.
If you are looking for bass, and I mean down well below human hearing, but without sounding too bloated... and a darn good midrange, with treble that can be called soft, yet airy... but forgetting all of that for the moment, if you just want fun, you can try a Sony XB700. The XB500 and XB1000 are all good, some say the 1000 is better, some like the 500, but for me the 700 is the sweet spot. They look a little silly in their blister pack on store shelves, but they are worth a serious listen, esp. if you plan to use a portable player. I don't think I liked any headphone quite as much when just plugged into a Sansa player. The staggaringly full ranged sound you get without any EQ does hard-hitting electronic music like Trance the proper respect. I have gone so far as to hook these up to a low power tube amp, where their midrange was up there with the best cans I own.
I have Electri-Q too, and it's great to mess around with, esp great to apply an analog-sounding EQ to music, but honestly I don't use it much with the headphones I just mentioned. When I do use it, it's to tame the HF band. I don't think any of these need much of a bass boost, and the treble is where it should be on the XB700s. Shure 840s might be an option, I remember having good luck with Shure headpones, though I toned their treble down a bit in Electr-Q.
Good luck!
Edited by yashu - 7/22/11 at 12:15pm
