[Monsterzero]

My buddy is looking for a pair of closed back headphones for travel.Like to keep it under 300 USD

He will be using a phone for source,no amp,so needs to be easy to drive.

He primarily listens to older rock,with some funk and neu metal thrown in.

His primary concerns(besides SQ) is isolation and durability.

My experience with closed back headphones begins and ends with the DT770s,which I hated,so I can only advise him to a certain extent.

He is considering V-Modas,ATH m50,K550s

anyone want to chime in on those or others not mentioned it would be appreciated.

 

[Dulalala]

How about the Audio Technica MSR7.

 

[mysticstryk]

Momentum 2
Msr7
Pm3 (official refurbs from Oppo)

 

[Orestes1984]

The best point of advice is to take him into a store where he can listen to headphones himself, I could recommend a laundry list of headphones to you but its a total waste of time. Everybody's ears are different, I found the Sennheiser Momentum 2 far too bright for my ears, that is it has too much treble and high end without enough low, which meant the only way I could listen to it naturally was by turning it up beyond the point of reasonability to extract some bottom end and then it wasn't enough, the bottom end was strained and long term it's not good for the speaker or your ears, which is more important. You should be able to listen to headphones at a reasonable volume and not have the speakers challenged in any particular way. They didn't tick my box. They would probably be suited to someone who listens to strings and vocals. I couldn't figure exactly what it was at the time but I do believe the bottom end is not responsive enough especially at low volumes, in crowded spaces.
 
I have a set of Focal Spirit One S the bottom end is a lot better, it's responsive, or in other words punchy, and tight. it still caters for the mids without drowning them out by the low end bass and it has a very good high end without sounding like its treble + 10 by default which is how I would define the Momentum headphones. I like the Focals but that's my ears. I find them much more well rounded while being a touch on the warm side.
 
Everybody has different ears, and more importantly the thing in between them that defines what you like. I can't tell you what to like.

 

[Darien]

momentum 2

 

[Rexr3]

Momentum 2