[ipractice]

I've been looking for a very, very long time to upgrade my headphones. Just to give you an idea I've been using a pair of Bose headphones for the last 4 years and everything down to the wiring is falling apart. And yes, I've read enough on here to realize the quality of Bose products and how much I've been missing out on.
 
I have a very lenient budget of $200. The main reason for this is that I really want a pair of headphones that will sound great stand alone. I'm not ready to step into the world of amps yet, so I'm here looking for the best of the best headphones that will work without an amp, and from what I've seen so far those don't go too far past $200.Oh, and as a last note I am VERY open to buying used products. I have no problem with it at all, so that could factor into the budget as well.
 
I will be using these headphones almost strictly in my room, for movies and music (I'm in college so my roommate appreciates some peace and quiet once in awhile

).  I'm not looking or anything portable, but I do care quite a bit about looks. Aside from that noise cancellation is not a huge issue but a nice bonus, and as little sound leakage as possible.
 
Here's the tricky part: I listen to a good amount of hip-hop and rap, but also love acoustic rock music. I also do a good amount of gaming. I'm a big fps gamer, so I need all the sound information I can get while playing. I would love to use these headphones for all of these functions. Is there a pair that can accomodate such a wide range?
 
So far I've looked into the AD700's, as well as the M-50's I haven't tried either but I'm curious what is the step up from these because I can push my budget past this.

 

[1Time]

Welcome to Head-Fi. 
 
FWIR, I suggest considering the SRH750DJ.

 

[clou91]

Ultrasone HFI 780s. They can play both hip hop/rock and acoustic genres, and do fairly well with gaming. They have a nice controlled bass, and a clean midrange which IMO does well with both genres.
 
I have a pair of turtle beach X1s that I used to use for gaming, but the HFIs trump them easily, so I'd assume the HFIs are better than most off the shelf gaming headsets.
 
You can often find them on ebay for around $170 including shipping. I got mine for $150 shipped.

 

[nickchen]

The new Senn HD558/598 suit perfectly here, especially when considering your musical preferences. But keep away from the old models HD555/595, they are Pop and classical only in direct comparison.

 

[bellyfat]

Audio Technica ESW-7 should do the trick. They are designed to be easily driven and have great sound sigs to boot

 

[ipractice]

That's a huge variety of suggestions I'm not really sure where to start haha.
 
I was looking into the HD555 since they can be found for $75 right now which is a real steal. I can't seem to find the 558/598 for sale anywhere yet.
 
One important note is that I will be playing my headphones strictly through my laptop's port and my computer's monitor (which has a port for headphones), and sometimes through an iPod. I don't know a lot about headphones yet, but I know this kind of stuff makes a difference. So will I have to pay extra for my headphones to reach their potential? I've also heard of expresscard/usb options etc. Could anyone enlighten me on these, like cost, do I need them, etc ? And are all the suggestions reliable without these extra costs.
 
Thanks.

 

[ipractice]

Sorry to bump, but still very curious...