[InternetSandman]

My primary use for these headphones would be listening to music meant to assist in meditation (binaural theta tones, with mild ambient music overlayed on top), and also generally wearing around the house instead of my custom in-ears (meditating with in-ears, you can feel your pulse, incredibly annoying lol). Comfort is an absolute top priority, and I would like them to be good at noise isolation as well. I'm not to fussy over the sound signature for these, but clarity is very important. I'll either be using my iPhone 5 or my Fiio X5 to drive them, so I would want them to be relatively easy to drive headphones. For context, I'm currently using a 3 year old Sennheiser HD 449 for this role, but they fall a little bit short on the three areas I'm looking for (clarity, comfort, and noise isolation)

P.S. I was looking at the Shure 1540's, they look incredibly comfortable, I'm just not sure I wanna spend as much on these as I did for my desktop listening, in the HD 650's. Money isn't too big a concern, but I doubt I'll be using them often enough to warrant spending that much

 

[FunyunBreath]

You can't beat the comfort of Beyerdynamic in my opinion. I'd take a look at the DT770's and DT150's. The DT150's in particular isolate incredibly well.

 

[InternetSandman]

  You can't beat the comfort of Beyerdynamic in my opinion. I'd take a look at the DT770's and DT150's. The DT150's in particular isolate incredibly well.

I really like the look of the 770's, but there's gotta be like seven different versions of this thing O.o which one do you mean lol

 

[FunyunBreath]

Haha yeah should have specified. All the 770 pro models are the same headphone with different ohm ratings for the drivers. So since you said you would would want something you could drive without an amp I'd look at the 32 ohm model
 
Also, now that I'm looking at Beyer's site I forgot about the Custom One Pros. Very similar in fit and sound to the DT770, but with the added feature of a being able to tune the sound signature a bit to suit your own preference.

 

[OMGLadyGaga]

Let the hate begin...BUT look at the now discontinued BOSE AE2. Absolutely ridiculous comfort, surprising clarity and good isolation and easy to drive. I mean for $100 bucks can't really beat it(for your purposes).

Other comfortable headphones that come to mind are the Sony MDR-1R but clarity and isolation are meh(good spacious soundstage for your needs tho). The Beyer DT770 mentioned above isolate about as much as the Bose IMO and are also comfortable but the 250 ohm version is the one to get and you want something easily driven and they cost alot more too. Not to mention both of those weight a lot more than the Bose.

 

[FunyunBreath]

Jus to add to the convo, I'm recommending the beyerdynamics based solely on comfort, isolation, and the fact that they're both under $200. They're fairly clear but they both suffer from recessed mids, a tendency for sibilance and tizzy vocals, and somewhat bloated and undefined bass. All more minor flaws, nothing extreme, but flaws nonetheless.
 
If your budget was a bit higher I'd suggest the Sony MDR-7520. They're insanely clear and neutral with spectacular instrument separation. An added plus: they're probably one of the easiest to drive over-ear headphones out there. They sound great out of my Macbook, Nex 5, or any decent amp I've plugged them into.

 

[OMGLadyGaga]

Just to re add to the convo, if the 7520s appeal to you their little brother 7510 or even the dead and gone RIP Sony zx700 might be good choices. As they isolate really well and I'm sure they don't sound as good as the 7520s obviously but all should have similar sound signatures. I have the 7510, the ZX700 and the Z1000...all of them isolate really well and can vouch for instrument separation, clarity and non fatiguing sound signature with relaxed treble and warm vocals albeit forward and a little sharp. Nicely colored I wouldn't call then beutral . They are heavy tho, I imagine the 7520 are similar but more refined I would guess. Funyun can answer that for you since I've never listened to them.

The other famous Sony cans 7506/v6 have great clarity and comfy enough but don't isolate anywhere near as good as the aforementioned cans.

 

[InternetSandman]

  Jus to add to the convo, I'm recommending the beyerdynamics based solely on comfort, isolation, and the fact that they're both under $200. They're fairly clear but they both suffer from recessed mids, a tendency for sibilance and tizzy vocals, and somewhat bloated and undefined bass. All more minor flaws, nothing extreme, but flaws nonetheless.
 
If your budget was a bit higher I'd suggest the Sony MDR-7520. They're insanely clear and neutral with spectacular instrument separation. An added plus: they're probably one of the easiest to drive over-ear headphones out there. They sound great out of my Macbook, Nex 5, or any decent amp I've plugged them into.

 
The HD 449's that I'm using currently have a fairly neutral sound as far as I can tell, good control, but they're also thin-sounding throughout the spectrum. Sibiliance is a difficult thing to judge, because I don't think any of the meditation music I have would bring that out, but it would also be fairly jarring if it were to occur, and I would be wary of that if I were to go for the Beyer's. The music I'm using is primarily focused on the bass and midrange, though there are some occasional ventures into treble. They do look fantastic in terms of comfort and isolation though, especially with those velour pads

The 7250's seem like a solid choice, they don't look as comfortable but i know looks can be decieving. However, 400 bucks seems a bit much to spend on something that wouldn't see nearly as much use as my desktop or portable headphones

 

[FunyunBreath]

Yeah I'd say if you're mostly listening to ambient stuff without vocals the beyers would be the way to go. Mostly because they are incredibly comfortable and have great isolation.

I will say though, if you went the route of the 7520s you may find yourself using them over your hd650s from time to time

I have the 650's with a heavily modded Bottlehead crack and I still reach for the 7520s a lot just because they truly are awesome cans!