£250 ? Thats about 390 USD right ? You can definitely do better, not to mention 

£250 is pretty close to the MSRP.

What kind of music do you listen too? 

You could try the ATH M50 i havent heard them myself but they seem to be highly recommended around here. look up some reviews i think they go for $160 here in the US. 

Sennheiser HD-25 ii

Vmoda M80

ATH-M50

Since you mentioned not liking how closed the Beats are what about the Denon AH-D2000? They are still listed as closed phones but in actuality they are somewhere in between so fairly easy to hear either way but not as bad as open phones (like Grado). I just tried these out in an HMV next to the beats and they sound quite a lot nicer IMO. The bass goes up and up through the range (5000 / 7000) but so does the price.

I just bought the Denon AH-D7000's and the bass for dubstep is just magical! The D2000's are cut from the same cloth / similar audio characteristics. They are big-ish but not heavy like the metal Beats. I agree with SkinnyPuppy's recommendation for nice quality with decent-ish bass (also they're all smaller). I own the Sennheisers and truely love them but they are closed with good isolation like the Beats, as are the other two I think and it sounds like you are looking for something a bit more open. 

The Sennheiser HD-25 II, as mentioned above, seems right up your alley. They pack great sound in a small package being on-ear, are geared a bit towards your genres, and look cool to boot if you get the Adidas version (some don't like the double marketing, but it makes a bland-looking can colorful, at least). I think it'd be a good fit.

Sincerely,

Quote:

Originally Posted by jc222284 

Since you were saying you couldn't hear anybody if they called for you, you should probably go for open headphones. I recently got the FA-011 and I love them but they have horrible isolation, but that doesnt mater to me because that wasn't what I was looking for. They may not be the best for lying in bed with but they sound great for the genres you listed.

he also wants small headphones for use around the house

There's an app for the iphone called Awareness that lets you hear outside noise from the microphone

No AD700 wouldn't be good for your type of music. 

ath m50...