Beats Dr Dre Studio - Bose QuietComfort 15 or ...?

What are your musical preferences?

Does the headphone need to be mobile or will you mainly listen at home?

Does size matter?

Do you want an open back or closed back headphone?

Are you willing to spend on an amp as well as a dac?

Ok so what music do you like and produce?

sennheiser hd 650s or maybe beyerdynamic dt 880, umm either one will work good out of a Fiio E7 + E9 combo or maybe if u buy the E10 which is a DAC/AMP and is quite good for the price.

hmm maybe some denon d2000s also, they don't need as good of amping and are good all-rounders as well.

Yea, you could consider some of the Beyer line, 770, 880, 990. There is also the FA-11, gets recommended a lot around here. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Known 

Thanks. Is the sound quality of these headphones similar to the Bose Quietcomfort ones? And what is a headphone amp and why do you need it / is it really necessary?

The sound quality of those headphones or probably every headphone recommended by expert folks here are quite better than Bose's (or Beats or Skullcandy,..) . You have to know that Bose belong to the mainstream market, so that normally means bad quality/price ratio. I have the 770 by the way. The size of your head really doesn't matter, what you need is to adjust for a proper fit.

If I were you and had the intention to use them for audio producing I would choose the Sennheiser HD600 (open back headphones). They are one of the most neutral cans out there. Even though Pop and Rock are genres that could benefit from a more fun and agressive EQ, what you need is a flat frequency response to know how it sounds without coloration. I own them so I can attest that.

The downside is that they need a proper headphone amp to sound fuller and reach their full potential. Normally portable/computers,.. have a weak headphone out that means that they don't provide enough drive (current/voltage/watts) and have a decent circuitry to bring the best to certain types of headphones. This has nothing to do with the desire volume in most cases, the HD600's need a proper headphone amp and ironically they are known to be quite sensitive headphones.

Are you going to be taking these headphones out with you? Is that why you need to use them with your iPhone?

If so, you might be better of with a separate portable headphone.

Maybe Sennheiser PXC 450's? They seem to be noise canceling. Not quite as good as Bose's ANC but it's still pretty good from what I'm seeing. Just a bit light on the bass though.

Nothing a bass boost EQ can't fix.

Otherwise, DT770's, ATH M-50, all are good suggestions. An HD598 might not hurt either if you're not getting an amp.

What exactly do you need to do in music producing ?

For a headphone that sounds very good with portable players, I'd highly recommend the DT1350.  Portable devices provide good bass response, a little woolly (just a little though) or not tight enough, but pretty rich and close to neutral in level.  I guess this shouldn't be a problem since you probably won't be doing any critical processing or listening going in the street or during travelling.  This is where good amplification (a DAC and an head amp) comes into play.  Assuming you'll use them for post-processing, or generally for monitoring, I suggest you also get proper amplification to get the most out of it.  These really benefit from amplification to my ears.  It tightens up the bass, clears everything up with it.  Low mids and generally the mids allows for full-bodied instruments and voice, also causing the sound to be slightly, just slightly warm (reminds me the warmth I heard from the LCD-2).  The highs do make up for this tiny warmth.  The (closely) neutral sound allows for studio reverb and sibilants to be heard easily.  You can't hear these great attributes from portable players, at least in my experience with the Sansa Clip+.

Alternatively you can go with IEMs.  I just sold an ER-4PT which I thought were really good for these purposes.  You will, however, have to be able to wear them for long sessions inside your ear canals (that's not always so easy).  I also haven't been able to do critical A/B of them being amped and unamped, I assume you'll want decent amplification for these (or other IEMs) too.

Edit, I couldn't figure out why the whole noise cancellation was mentioned, but for this matter - they isolate very well for me.