Beats are garbage

they do not leak under normal conditions under soft till medium listening levels, only at louder volumes the person next to you can hear your music. about 75% music goes into your ears, while 25% come out, while normal headphones probably have about 90% go into your ear and 10% come out (unlike the terrible isolation of grado ones where 45% goes into your ears and 55% goes out of them through the back)  
HD598 has very good soundstage , decent clarity, has good midbass but lacking subbass, vocals are really nice on these. as far as i know these are pretty good all rounders,

Edited by streetdragon - 9/28/12 at 7:00am

You wont want to get the Senn HD598 it is a open can and leaks sound and theres no isolation. I would recommend the Sennheiser Momentum or the V-Moda M100.

SDM - if you can swing it, I recommend the $430 Sennheiser 650s, especially if you have a decent amp.  The best alternative to the 650s at your price point are the $399 Denon AH-D2000s, in my view. 

 

Hope that is helpful,

 

Bill

that sounds like an AKG K550, a thread about them here -> http://www.head-fi.org/t/610298/akg-k550-review

AFAIK, there's only 2-3 sealed AKG cans, K171/172, K271/272, and the K550. I've had both the K550 and the K172, I say go for the K550. Seems to fit your needs nicely. 

Well, I haven't heard them but I can comment on their style. What i think is happening here is the logo and design of the headphones is an attempt to appeal to everyone in a certain age group, like most car manufactures. They have to cut down on the awesome to make sure everyone finds their product attractive. Sometimes they try to go for unique looking which usually turns out absurd and silly. This kind of thinking happens with video games all the time. Take for example Diablo 3. They changed the art style too make it more cartoonish and colorfull like World of Warcraft and less gritty, dark and awesome like Diablo 2. Again, I think this is to try and appeal to a wider audience.

 

Slightly unrelated to the above...My Pro 900's are sort of plain looking and the Ultrasone logo looks like a wave being forced through a manikin's head! It's to *busy* and i think i need a diagram to figure out whats going on. Not sure what they were aiming for.

Edited by SIDWULF - 9/28/12 at 9:48am

For a pair of sealed cans, the soundstage is surprisingly good. Even wider than a large number of open-back phones. 

I hear the D2000's are good all-arounders :)

 

+1

 

 

Sure they are, but if they are portable..?

I would not consider the AH-D2000 good for mobile (ab)use - they aren't robust enough and they don't fold. $399 is also pathetically gouged. The HD 598 (and HD 650) are horrible choices for mobile use - they're fully open-back headphones. Look at a closed headphone or an in-ear (IEM) for mobile use. The K550 are a little big for that imho (and don't fold or come with a good travel case); good isolation choices include the Bose QC15, Klipsch M40, and Parrot Zik (all are ANC headsets), a variety of IEMs from Etymotic, UE, Monster, and so on, and (as the least isolating) various studio monitor headphones. (When I say least I don't mean insane leak - if you're just in a library or office environment, monitor headphones would be fine; if you're on a train or airplane though, I'd go for more isolation).

Based on the above, I would look at the HD 280 or 380 from Sennheiser (380 is better; costs more accordingly), some of the Beyerdynamic closed models, etc if you don't want to go ANC or IEM.

Stay away from open-back cans.

You should consider closed-back on-ear headphones instead: Beyerdynamic DT 1350 and Sennheiser Amperior (or the cheaper evergreen Sennhs HD 25-1 II) would be my first choices. They sound terrific, the isolation is fantastic, they don't leak and they are built like a tank.

If you want better looking cans with nearly the same specs, V-Moda M-80/V-80 and B&W P5 are fierce contendents.
Edited by MrScratch - 9/29/12 at 4:38am