I would never consider the classics "reference" they're way too coloured to be used for that.I have to agree on the comfort of the classics, they certainly did their job when they designed that pleather headband and magnificent deep memory foam pads. Most comfortable reference headphones I have really tried at length, except perhaps for the one time I tired the sennheiser 800s in a headphone shop, though that is a different comfort type. More of a "forget your wearing anything" type.