Bit of a painful headphone purchasing dilemma (All advice welcome!!)

Alright, hello, I'm new here, and I've come across head-fi throughout my constant search for the perfect audio equipment and now I have nowhere else to turn so I was hoping you guys could help me.

I have big ears

Every over-ear headset I've ever owned (Turtle Beach, XB500, and now, just today, the HD428's) has caused me a lot of pain in many regions.

I owned a turtle beach headset and it felt like it was basically sitting on my head. I think it was the 180 model. The tips of my ears were scratching the speaker and it was just painful, so I sold it eventually thinking that it was just this headset.

1.5 years ago I was in the market for some headphones because I was interested musically in hearing what I'd not heard before. Went to the store, XB500's sounded amazing, took 'em home. Worked great. I noticed my ear was being squashed in the cups and eventually would scratch the speaker grate. After a bit longer, the headphones were again sitting on my head. Still have them, never used them except in short intervals.

The wire on those started to break literally out of nowhere. I'd planned to start recording/mixing soon and planned to get monitor headphones. Distracted by a budget, I ended up with the 428's, which aren't even close. Loved the sound, but I noticed that my ears were WAY too big for the cups. However, the top was comfortable if this gives a hint as to which headset I should be looking for.

At the store (the headphone section at Best Buy is tiny so I couldn't necessarily try the 428's out) they had displayed the 280 and 380. Both were incredibly comfortable, except on the 280s my left ear hit the speaker grate, but the cup size was splendid on both and they were both really really light.

What should I be looking for? Do I have to blow a whole bunch of money because I have big ears? I mean it's nice but I'm not ENTIRELY too interested in sound quality for now, just having a comfortable monitor/listening set.

I'm assuming I have to look for something with huge cups. Anyone else face this dilemma and find the right headphones?

The Beyerdinamic look really cool but the cups look small when not on someone's head.

All help is appreciated so much. thank you sooo much.

Thanks for the responses. how exactly big are the cups? I noticed the rims are thin so that leaves more ear room and the cups are rounded out as well. Very interested.

This is the right place for this topic right? Should I have even started a topic?

my concern with those is the inner padding - will my ears fit inside

it's so hard to research these things when there's nowhere you can actually try out headphones
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamthem 

AKG K701s have circular pads about 6cm in diameter.

I assume you mean 16? Which is around 6 inches?

The HD380 have a 4.7 by 3.something inch measurement and the 428 have a 4 by 3.1 which is why I ask.

EDIT: Officially have lost all concept of what's going on I jus want some big light comfy cans