IMO, unamped 580s >>>>> 555s. You miss out on the bass, and volume, but you shouldn't be cranking it up, and the 580s are much more neutral and detailed.

The 555s are a touch on the warm side, and quite dark. The Grados have a forward midrange and are bright. You picked two very opposite headphones. If you want something in between (IE, natural, good sound), and have a reasonably amplified source, HD580s are quite superior to the 555s. If...

HD600s are fantastic for Opeth. ER4ps are alright too, but I don't like having my ears plugged up.

Hallucinogen - Snakey Shaker Heh, great little song. It's also *real* progressive trance (as opposed to the stuff that is normally called progressive trance). Want to hear some trance with a couple time signature changes? This has them! (3/4 4/4 and 6/8). Yeah, it's simple, but it's more...

Quote: "music for sleeping" (I kid you not!) AIR AIR AIR AIR AIR!!! I sleep to Air quite a bit. I keep the volume very, very low. If you are looking for some trance to exercise to, I'd recommend Astral Projection and Hallucinogen, both are goa for the most part...

Porcupine Tree - Mesmer - It's all spacey improv. Yes, the entire CD is improv. Brad Mehldau - Places, Art of the Trio, Vol. 3 (Piano/bass/drums trio playing low key jazz) Loreena McKennit - The Visit - Still my favorite album by her, not only is it relaxing, Loreena has an amazing voice...

Quote: dont know if I can really appreciate the music. I barely distinguish (only when Im trying ti compare them) unamped/amped sound from my D-SJ301. Also I cant tell the difference between my echo indigo from the mainboard sound card (I have Dell Inspiration 8600 laptop). What...

I'd put my price/performance recommendations as KSC-50/35/etc to Beyer DT231. The PX100s are arguably better or worse than the Kosses (Smoother, more natural, versus a more energetic sound on the high end), more comfortable, more durable, and are quite nice portable headphones for the price...

The KSC-35s and other Koss 60 ohm headphones have a boomy midbass, albeit somewhat deeper than what dknightd thinks, they do go pretty deep, but emphasize the 40-70hz range quite a bit. Most headphones will sound a bit lean on bass compared to them. If you want something with better deep bass...

Not nearly as heavy as some of the other stuff here, but Nightingale is actually pretty damn good. The vocals are a bit like the clean vocals that you find in Opeth - Damnation (Not as good, but still pretty decent, and amongst the better clean baritone voices I've heard). It's heavier than...

Well, I have a friend that would like this quite a bit Nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't do anything for me either. My friend will benefit though.

In Flames - Dialouge with the Stars

philodox - Thanks for the recommendations, I will look in to a few of them (no way will I get through all of them in the near future) Quote: How about something that might be described as progressive indie rock? A little along the lines of your Secret Machines in that they do have a...

I have been on an intense quest to get some more music for the past few weeks, and have made a few interesting new discoveries, and also picked up some good older stuff, but I thirst for more. My collection is bloated enough that if I just say what I'm looking for, I will probably get...

eCost has some PXC250s for $70 or so refurbished, they would be much better for a plane ride than some PX200s, the active noise cancellation will make a large difference on a plane.

The 457s have somewhat colored mids, and a very weird, thumpy, one-note-like bass. I have yet to hear something comprable to them. They aren't bad for $30-40, but the PX100s are perhaps a bit more natural, if muddier sounding.

Congrats on the 650s, now you don't need anything better. Ever.

Well, they came in today, they clamp down a bit but it's fine since they aren't on my ears. Sound is a bit forward and bright, but a couple little EQ changes and they will be fine, they actuially remind me of Grado SR60s *a little bit*. Sound blocking definitely dosen't seem to be as good as...

Different drivers, judging by the way that they sound entirely different from one another. SImply adding a closed backing will cause the PX100s to sound like utter, resonant crap, closed headphones need to be designed well to sound good, and sticking a closed back onto an open headphone does...

Active NC isn't enough for what I need, I have used my painful Aiwas at work and it doesn't do a whole lot, otherwise I would have gotten some PXC-250s (Which I have used and reviewed for a site).

What about the days when you were EQing some earbuds to sound like the 580s? I remember that stuff. I thought you had something different then. Fairly recently I decided that I won't be upgrading any of my audio equipment at all unless something eargasmic comes along (Not gonna happen next to...

Koss includes a lifetime warranty on their headphones, at least they used to. Send em to Koss and they will be fixed for ya

I have never heard a difference from burn in, ever. At this point I don't care if they are too bright, as I have a customizable 5 band EQ that will fix it, I wasn't thinking about that originally The headphones will see 100 hours of use in 2 1/2 weeks on my ears.

Lee - the EX71s are bright. Breaking them in won't fix this, although a bit of EQ never hurt anyone.