Car Audio Competitor Looking For Reference Cans

Hi guys!  

Ive been a sound quality competitor in car audio for several years now and they just announced this year that theyre changing the SQ judging CD (Chesky Ultimate Demonstration Disc).  I never really needed a reference before because Ive listened to that same CD on a million different car systems and a few good home stereo systems over the last 7 years.  But with a brand new CD, Ill be totally in the dark as to how it is "supposed" to sound as well as proper imaging and staging cues.  I spend all my spare cash on these competitions so building a reference level home audio system is out of the question.  But from my reading over the passed few days, it appears like I can get some very high quality headphones capable of being a suitable reference for a fraction of the cost.  

Im looking in the under $200 range and partial to Sennheiser mainly because its a name Ive known and trusted for as long as Ive been alive as I grew up listening to my dad's 8 track player thru a set of Senns.  However, Im not opposed to other brands if they get the job done better. 

The ones I was eyeballing based on reviews Ive read here mainly, are the HD25-1 II and the PX360.  

The type of music we use for SQ judging is high resolution recordings, usually jazz like Livingston Taylor, Sarah Kay and Rebecca Pidgeon.  I do need them to reproduce some decent bass.  Not exaggerated, but realistic.  There are several stand up bass tracks as well as tracks with punchy kick drum tracks.  The problem is that if you beef up the kick drums, the stand up bass becomes way too overwhelming.  On the flip side, you get the stand up bass nice and smooth and you castrate your kick drums.  I need to know the natural amount of energy in these recordings so I can blend them to get the best of both tracks.  

So what do y'all think?  Would either of these sets get the job done or am I asking for way too much in the $100-200 price range?  

Thanks for any advice.   

Thanks for the help guys. I was afraid I was asking too much for my price point. I've got $60 in Best Buy gift cards from Christmas and reading these forums has piqued my interest so I might bite on those PX360's which are going for $130 right now. May nit be reference but should still sound good for some lounging around the house listening. You guys are right that the car is the worst environment for good sound but that's the challenge and what he competitions are all about. We're using high end drivers like Scanspeak, Morel, Focal and so on plus we're using extreme processors. The one I'm using (Alpine H700) has 8, 31 band EQ's (1 pre speaker), 8 channels of time alignment with .05 Ms increments and 8 1/6 octave crossovers so that combined with pretty extreme custom installations and speaker locations along with acoustic treatments inside the car and there are several cars in the lanes that rival quality home audio systems. It's a lot of fun and it really feeds your love for great sound quality because that's what its all about. Not how loud, not how fancy it looks, just how good it sounds. I'm currently running 3" Morel dome mids mounted in the A pillars, 1" Scanspeak Illuminator tweeters in the sail panels, 5" Polk Audio Signature Reference midbass in the doors, Alpine cd player and processor, Polk Audio Signature Reference 12" sub and powered by Polk Audio PA series amps running 100 watts x 6 channels and 800 watts to the sub.

Im only partial to Sennheiser because Im familiar with them but Im not opposed to trying a different brand if it fits the bill.  

My source and amplification isnt super high end. Its a Sony CDP and Pioneer receiver.  Its nothing fancy but its powerful enough for a decent 2 channel setup and would certainly get the job done with a pair of headphones. 

I dont have a good home audio system because I never really sit around and listen to music.  I work 2 jobs and am not home a whole lot and when I am Im either playing with my kid or on m computer as Im a big time PC builder, tweaker and gamer.  I would like nothing better than to get a high quality set of bookshelf speakers but youre talking $400 minimum to get anything approaching "reference".  There were some Polk Audio RTi4's on their Ebay site for $150 shipped that I thought about biting on but they were refurbished and that always scares the crap out of me.  

Since Ive got this $60 Best Buy gift card to burn anyway, I might as well get a set of the PX360 cause like I said, they may not be true reference level but they should be good enough to give me some listening enjoyment.  

**EDIT**

Was asking about the HD598's because I found them on Best Buy's website for $174!!  Of course theyre sold out now.  Dammit.  Cant find anything less than rave reviews on these things.  Theyve got them over at Crutchfield for $250 and I might stretch a little and get them based on the reviews Im finding on them.  From what I can find, theyre the best cans at this price point.