Need help choosing a pair to upgrade to from the HA-RX700's and replace HD558's

Alright. Well, here's the deal: I've had my 700's for about a half year and, a week ago, I decided to purchase some 558's.

Needless to say, I am not impressed with them. The 558's seem to produce less enjoyable sound than my 700's, even after being burned-in for over a dozen hours, and being that the 700's were $35 and the 558's were $125, well, it's just not worth it.

So, I've been looking at the FA-011's and the SR-80i's, but before I buy anything, I want your help.

What should I get that produces great sound, preferably is open, and under $130? I'll be doing a lot of gaming and listening to music like electro, drum and bass, glitch and classical, usually in that priority, for several hours a day, as I really love music. I have a Xonar DG soundcard, which contains an amp.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

P.S. If anyone could help me out with why the 558's sound bad that would be great! Also, is my sound card's amplifier good enough? It can get uncomfortably loud, even with the headphones on my desk two feet away. I'm not very experienced with audio, so if anyone could educate me, please do!

P.S.S. They just broke... Really was not expecting that from Sennheiser.

Issue gone. Magically repaired themselves over two days.

Come on guys, a little help here?

bump!

I might have gotten a faulty pair, I didn't think Sennheiser could sound that mediocre. Maybe I just don't like open as much as I do closed, who knows?

I just want some suggestions, I really don't know where to start.

Okay, I've narrowed it down to either the SR80i's or the AD700's. Which do you guys like better? Which has better quality highs, mids or lows? Which is more durable? Which is more comfortable? Better soundstage? Do the SR80i's actually cover your entire ear?

I'd really appreciate your opinions!

All of you have been so helpful! Thanks for your abundance of quality input to my decision, it really made an impact.

I've decided to go with the Grados. Hopefully they will be better than the one-day 558's.

Well, the 558s just sounded really plain, no exciting feeling when listening to music at all, just a sort of melancholy sound that really turned me off. They would also sometimes produce significantly more sound in the right driver than the left, and that got pretty annoying. After that, I was playing a game of CS:S and listening to music when it crashed, and I decided to restart my computer because there was a sound loop from the game. When I turned it on, no sound.

I have heard to SR80is are good for gaming if you get the L cush pads to increase the soundstage a bit. People say they can pinpoint someone's position exactly by their footsteps when they're close to them. I loved gaming with the 558s wide soundstage, very surrounding audio, but even in-game it just seemed mediocre and i could not get good directional positioning, probably because Sennheiser put something to reflect the sound all around the ear phones. No fun feeling to them, just boring.

What other headphones below $130 should I consider?

EDIT: What about the AKG 142 HD or 240 HD? They seem pretty nice.

Good, well, now I'm even more hesitant of my choice for any headphone...

Well, let's see. I guess I can make a list of what I want:

-Large soundstage

-Good/Great bass

-Relatively clear across the spectrum

-Open/Semi-open design

-Under $130

-Will last a while, at least two years

-Good/great for gaming

-Comfort

And that's about it. Again, what does everyone think about the AKG 142s or 240s? I have looked at the FA-011s and they seem perfect, but I'm hesitant of buying them because they come all the way from Russia, and there's only one dealer I know of that sells them. If they don't get lost/damaged, then I'll jump on buying them, but I'm concerned about them being shipped from Russia.

Thanks for your help.

Very strange. It seems that the 558's have completely changed and repaired themselves over the time they were in storage. They went from producing no sound to being the best quality phones I've heard, ever, over three days. Now they're pretty much audio nirvana.

Thanks guys. Sorry I wasted your time. I was certain they were broken, I had tested them with pretty much every device capable of producing audio that I have.

All's good now!