[cjarrett]

aristos_achaion and Semiaudiophile: Thank you for your responses.

I'm leaning towards the Grado 225, 325, or the Bayer DT770. Now for the next step, trying them out! While I'm not necessarily going to get an amp, what are some reasonably priced amps that might work with these three?

If I get the Bayer DT770 Pro-80, I'll likely have some money to allocate towards an amp.

 

[intoart]

ATH-AD700s are unquestionably the best open cans under $200 (and actually cost $100 or under.) AD900s are slightly better for around $250.

 

[haloxt]

Don't consider the Pro 750, 900, or 2500 unless you have a well-developed taste for neutrality and micro-details or if you aren't afraid to stuff those headphones with cotton pads. And don't consider the HFI-2200 unless you want explosions and people dying to be made musical in games. HFI-780 was designed for gaming though, considering how well-liked they are on head-fi they should be worth a look.

 

[SemiAudiophile]

the 325i ain't bad for gaming too. it's what i mostly use on my desktop now. as far as an amp, the HiFiMan (head-direct) EF2 is pretty hot right now. it's an all-in-one usb dac and hybrid tube amp. my impressions of the dac is that it's decent, the amp however is pretty good and should drive the grado without a problem. the EF2 is priced at $189.

 

[aristos_achaion]

I've got an Audio-GD Compass Amp/DAC, but if I were getting something at the moment, I'd agree with SemiAudiophile, the HiFiMan EF2 seems like a great deal.