[SCBebop]

I'm looking to upgrade from my Sennheiser HD 598s of 3 years so far my research leads to these 3 headphones.

- Sennheiser HD 600
- HiFiMAN-HE 400i
-Beyerdynamic DT 880 Premium 600 OHM

I mainly listen to music that highlights female vocals. Main genres include jpop, hip-hop, touhou trance, EDM, classical piano sprinkled in with some rock music from time to time. Some artists include Logic, Supercell (Nagi Yanagi), Nujabes, J. Cole ShibayanRecords, and Felt.

Sound quality and comfort is what I value the most. No use on purchasing headphones that I can't wear for more than 3 hours,

I also prefer the headphones to be more natural and neutral sounding. I hate when the bass overshadows the music.

Lastly, I do not want to spend more than 100 on a DAC. Any specific combinations you guys recommend with the headphones+dac that you're referring to? I'm most likely going with Modi 2 for whatever headphones I purchase.

 

[KG Jag]

Are you OK with open cans (they leak sound and don't isolate well)?  [I assume you are, as every can you listed is open or semi-open.]
 
What equipment will be feeding and powering these cans?  Will you be using an amp?
 
What is the format of your music and other sounds will you be putting into these cans?
 
Do you plan to use them outside your home?  If so, in what way & with what equipment?

 

[bikerboy94]

All good choices but I would go HD600. They have been among the best for a lot of years now. Superb SQ and I can ware them all day.

 

[cel4145]

Lastly, I do not want to spend more than 100 on a DAC. Any specific combinations you guys recommend with the headphones+dac that you're referring to? I'm most likely going with Modi 2 for whatever headphones I purchase.

Well, you need a DAC and a headphone amp, not just a DAC. Or you could go with just a headphone amp. And $100 won't get you a DAC and a headphone amp to drive 600 ohm headphones. The HE 400i are also fairly insensitive, and arguably would need more headphone power than what you could get in a DAC/amp for $100. The only one that I know of that could do that for $100 is the Monoprice dac/headphone amp: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=120&cp_id=12008&cs_id=1200801&p_id=11567&seq=1&format=2

However, if you want a Modi, the Schiit Modi 2 AND Schiit Magni 2 together would drive 99% of the headphones in your budget range.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I'm looking to upgrade from my Sennheiser HD 598s of 3 years so far my research leads to these 3 headphones.
- Sennheiser HD 600
- HiFiMAN-HE 400i
-Beyerdynamic DT 880 Premium 600 OHM
I mainly listen to music that highlights female vocals. Main genres include jpop, hip-hop, touhou trance, EDM, classical piano sprinkled in with some rock music from time to time. Some artists include Logic, Supercell (Nagi Yanagi), Nujabes, J. Cole ShibayanRecords, and Felt.
Sound quality and comfort is what I value the most. No use on purchasing headphones that I can't wear for more than 3 hours,
I also prefer the headphones to be more natural and neutral sounding. I hate when the bass overshadows the music.
Lastly, I do not want to spend more than 100 on a DAC. Any specific combinations you guys recommend with the headphones+dac that you're referring to? I'm most likely going with Modi 2 for whatever headphones I purchase.

 
Audio Technica ATH-W1000X (closed) headphones.
Retail price in the USA is over $600.
 
Used for $275 or best offer.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/763669/audio-technica-w1000x
 
I normally like using open headphones for long listening periods, but the W1000X large chamber make them seem like open headphones.
The W1000X are only 40-Ohm, so a headphone amplifier is optional (still better to use the W1000X with a low impedance (Ohm) headphone amplifier).
FiiO E10K ($76) and Schiit Fulla ($79) are both USB/DAC/amps.

 

[Beyakusenn]

I'm looking to upgrade from my Sennheiser HD 598s of 3 years so far my research leads to these 3 headphones.

- Sennheiser HD 600
- HiFiMAN-HE 400i
- Beyerdynamic DT 880 Premium 600 OHM

I mainly listen to music that highlights female vocals...

For female vocals the HD600 is the best headphone from those you mentioned above. The HE-400i have a bit of a dip in those frequencies, so I don't think thats the best choice for you.
 
I do think however that there is an even better alternative: Get a second hand Stax SRS-2020 system. This should cost you about $300 (I got mine for €250) and you get a lot for in return: great speed, better balanced sound than most Lambdas, wonderful female vocals and a very clean presentation. They are also comfortable.
 
[EDIT] You might need quite some patience to find such a second hand system though...
 

... Main genres include jpop, hip-hop, touhou trance, EDM, classical piano sprinkled in with some rock music from time to time. Some artists include Logic, Supercell (Nagi Yanagi), Nujabes, J. Cole ShibayanRecords, and Felt.

Great music 

 

 

[Solrighal]

You should also consider the HD 650 as the mids it provides are to die for imo. I have them & use an ODAC as my source. You're going to need an amp as well though.

 

[Darkseth]

If you dont mind some treble, Beyerdynamic T90 definitely worth trying.
Owning it since 2,5 years, and i still love it. Durable, comfortable, piss easy to drive, and for that price a quite extreme good resolution, soundstage, and quality
 
I switched from a DT 880 600 Ohm (after using it for a half hour), and in my Opinion, the T90 is an upgrade in pretty much every single aspect from it. Slightly more bass, more precise/tight, better mids, more resolution, better soundstage.
The difference isn't big tho, but for my ears it did everything better.
 
At least, after some small EQ tuning (like 8Khz treble down by 3-5 dB), and the T90 is just godly. (and yea, i enjoy alot of things. Also female focals.)
 
I dont like Sennheiser that much. The HD 650 for example was a long time at 240€ (since the resolotion/precision was slightly below DT 880/AKG K701), and went up to 350€ (for what you can get a much better T90 already (much better in those objective aspects, sounding is quite different !!!).
Also, the spare parts are really hellish expensive compared to other companies spare parts.

 

[grampus]

I'd prefer to choose DT880. 
 
I don't think HD600 is very good for female vocal, 

 

[bikerboy94]

HD600 is not good for female vocals Its Great.

 

[diamondears]

Nad HP50 or PSB M4U1, then iFi nano iDSD (integrated DAC + amp).

 

[KG Jag]

  HD600 is not good for female vocals Its Great.

Both the HD 600 and HD 650 have great mids.  Thus they are excellent for all vocals.  These Senn mids are better than those of the DT 880, which are slightly recessed relative to its bass and treble. 
 
If pushed between these three excellent cans, my favorite in the 600 Ohm DT 880--by a hair.  However, reasonable ears will differ on this one.