[Bob007]

I woudn't say that it physically hurts, but it's really unpleasant.
The V6 dark? Are you sure you don't have hearing damage yourself?
Seriously, the V6, k271, m50, srh840 all have an emphasis (a peak) around 10khz (according to some graphes). That's what I call highs (10khz). Maybe it's upper mids for you.
Even some dark headphones with dicreasing mids (see PX200 II above) seem to have this kind of peak. I really don't know why.

 

[yepimonfire]

the peak is there because of the way our ears attentuate and amplify certain frequencies, when a headphone is right at the ears, the outer parts of the ear do not have any effect on changing the levels of certain frequencies like they would with speakers or real life sounds, so headphones must compensate for this. this is also why they dip steeply between 10khz and 20khz. a flat response on a headphone would sound anything but flat.

 

[Digital-Pride]

Both the PMX-200 and the HD228 are on-ear designs not over ear, so they would still fall into your criteria.

 

[Bob007]

Sorry, when I said "over ear" I meant "on ear". In fact I'm looking for "around ear" (circumaural/full size) headphones.
Plus: less than 150$ and closed.
If I don't find one, maybe I'll buy the px200II.

 

[Bob007]

Quote:

the peak is there because of the way our ears attentuate and amplify certain frequencies, when a headphone is right at the ears, the outer parts of the ear do not have any effect on changing the levels of certain frequencies like they would with speakers or real life sounds, so headphones must compensate for this. this is also why they dip steeply between 10khz and 20khz. a flat response on a headphone would sound anything but flat.

I heard about this (equal-loudness contour curves), but I thought the graphs (from Headroom) already took those things in consideration. Maybe not enough.
 

 

[TMRaven]

They should.  In fact the eq topic mentions that.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/413900/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I tend to prefer also a bit recessed highs, well only very little, XB500 by default has recessed highs, very soft and non-existant sibilance in any tracks but it's not the most detailed headphone without EQing as the frequency response is very unbalanced by default (slanting slope from lows to highs) and is mostly for bassheads, I boost mids and highs a bit on it and still it doesn't have any issues with sibilance or too much sparkly treble (the probably among most "soft/comfortable" or smoothest highs and mids you can find but classical or neutral fans would find the highs severely lacking in presence (using a good quality EQ you can make it much more balancing sounding tho). Shure 550DJ which you mentioned should also have the sound you're looking for but the stock pads are on-ear AFAIK. That Sennheiser HD 228 or some of the other Sennheisers looks also very much like it.

 

[yepimonfire]

honestly they really don't. the only company i know of that actually posts graphs like that is etymotic. proof that they dont is the fact my etys response graph appears to roll off so incredibly steeply at 2khz if that was really the perceived response the headphone would sound like trash. etys website shows the perceived response graph to be within 3dB of flat all the way from 10hz-15khz, which is how they sound. 
Quote:

I heard about this (equal-loudness contour curves), but I thought the graphs (from Headroom) already took those things in consideration. Maybe not enough.
 

 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

honestly they really don't. the only company i know of that actually posts graphs like that is etymotic. proof that they dont is the fact my etys response graph appears to roll off so incredibly steeply at 2khz if that was really the perceived response the headphone would sound like trash. etys website shows the perceived response graph to be within 3dB of flat all the way from 10hz-15khz, which is how they sound. 

 

The ER4s is a treble happy nightmare.  It is not perceived flat response.  What other headphones have you compared them to?
 

 

[jerg]

Do some parametric equalization on your favorite set of circumaural headphones, there, problem solved. That's what I did with my M50s, turned the shrilling highs into something smooth as dark chocolate yet still sparkly at the right moments in music, also vocals gained MUCH more fidelity.

 

[yepimonfire]

i dont have the ER4s... i have the HF5s, people keep saying they are bright but i find them very very dark. i have the AD700s and a pair of polk audio speakers. both of them are mildly bright. heck, even my koss phones which are dark according to graphs are brighter then the HF5s
 
Quote:

The ER4s is a treble happy nightmare.  It is not perceived flat response.  What other headphones have you compared them to?
 

 

 

[yepimonfire]

here is the er4s response, i can see why you would call them bright.
 

 
here is the HF5........not bright at all

 
someone told me they used the same drivers, but i find that hard to beleive.
 
honestly looking at these graphs i find the graphs themselves hard to beleive as none of them have that extended of a treble response.

 

[Armaegis]

The Phiaton MS300 and MS400 have recessed highs, but they are both supraaural.

 

[rhythmdevils]

There are very few warm headphones out there it's really frustrating if you don't like tons of treble.  I've pretty much purchased every warm headphone I could find.  It's slim pickins. 
 
The vintage K240 Sextetts are great in many ways, but are not perfect.  They're worth trying though, you may love them.  Some of the best mids ever in any headphone in any price range.  Completely non-fatiguing.  And fairly cheap. 
 
You also should switch your HD600 for an HD650.  I bet you could arrange a trade here on head-fi if you posted a thread in the F/S forums. 
 
You would love the LCD-2, but it's a bit expensive. 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I agree, there's a lack of expensier/more highend warm sounding headphones, there's quite a few low-mid end warm sounding headphones as those often lack in treble extension in particular but more expensier ones are quite a bit fewer in quantity, it often seems like manufacturers think that it won't be a highend headphone unless the highs are emphasized to the max for the brighest/most analytical sound possible. What about people that just want to "enjoy" the sound in a warm and more relaxed way?