Sennheiser HD 485

The Sennheiser HD 485 is a good choice under $100 if you really like bass. The headphone does do very well with bassy genres. I would consider a different headphone if you are going to listen any other genres. The Sennheiser HD 485 can be efficiently run off portable players.

The 485s were my first big splurge on a hopefully higher end sound experience. They were not a disappointment, but I did move on from these fairly quickly compared to others I have owned.
 
The on-ear padding is comfortable, but I prefer circum-aural for long-term comfort. Headband is great and overall look is sort of weird. Never liked the color, but its about the sound, not the look for me. Cord is high quality feeling, doesn't tangle easily (better than my Senn 595s cord). Easily driven by common sources, even Mp3 players. Build quality might be lacking. I dropped them about twice, and that knocked out almost every plastic tab available to hold on one of the pads. Everything still works, and luckily the pad seems to stay on despite having 2 tabs left, but it seemed like these had a pretty serious weak spot. The pads themselves are otherwise easily removed and washed. But keep them OUT of the basement. The humidity will eat them.
 
The 485s have a "big bass" sound, and overall present themselves with detail and smoothness. The resolution and transparency, however, is nothing like better headphones. With most music, these present a somewhat "thick" and "veiled" sound which I never quite adjusted to. It was as if they DID sound better, but I was just not allowed to know it because they were in a different "room" than me at all times. Still, overall, these were generally preferable to any ear-bud or gym-whatever that a lot of people use, in terms of sound quality and comfort.
 
These phones really shine when watching movies and gaming. The modern special effects and "loudness" of those formats bring out the best in the 485s - the bass impact has a convincing "home theater subwoofer" like big sound, and the "veil" keeps things smooth and doesn't let the shredding effects noises make the experience painful. They do justice to electronic and Rap and the like as well, where added bass emphasis is usually the highlight of the experience. I seriously prefer this phone for gaming and movies once in awhile. But true music lovers should look elsewhere. I find that the 485s are a less ideal match for more complex recordings, or music genres which reward better balance (classical, jazz, rock, and so on).

I use these at work; I listen to them for hour after hour.  I'm very happy indeed with the comfort level;  They are open-back design but the amount of sound leakage isn't so much it annoys the neighbours.
 
I compared them to a colleagues Grados for a while; The Grado's defiantely sound different but is different the same as "better"?  I decided the grados might kjust have the edge but when I gave them back I was happy half an hour later or so.  and the Grados can be heard clearly by the neighbours on low volume levels.
 
Very happy with these; might upgrade one day as I know there is better sound out there; but I've been using them for a lot of hours now and I'm still a happy customer.

Excellent value for money.
 
Which is why Sennheiser may have killed you, but greed is all one can see with the company bringing out the HD558 and HD598. The latter cans don't do provide a detachable cable, and but come fixed with a 6.35 mm jack, though a 3.5mm adapter is thrown in the package.
 
XxDobermanxX: Thanks for pointing the cable part, have edited my review, but I still stick to the value of HD485

Sennheiser HD 485 Not bad for it's price.