My HD595's broke. They lasted me many years, so I got my money out of them.
What I loved about them:
Comfortable
Extremely bright mids/highs (to my ears)
Open and crisp sound. (hope this makes sense?)
What I didn't like:
Lack of bass. I don't like a ton of bass. These headphones just seem to completely lack bass altogether.
Super long cable, but I can live with it if my next pair happens to be Sennheiser.
Current situation:
I bought a temporary pair of ATH-M50's to use until I buy a new setup. For the price, they've been a great fill-in. This pair of headphones really made me realize how much I missed having bass in my music/games. The mids are highs seem really dull to me though on these headphones compared to my HD595's. I feel suffocated when it comes to the mids/highs on the ATH-M50's, but maybe that's because the 595's are open and the M50's are closed? (I'm not sure that even matters or makes sense?)
I prefer to have bright highs/mids. I also want bass, but if they sound like the dre beats, then count me out. I want the bass to be accurate. Not overpowering/drowning. The hd595's just have no bass and for gaming (think battlefield 3), I would like better bass. The deep bass of distant explosions on my M50's sounds awesome. I missed out on that with my 595's.
Is it possible to get headphones that have a similar sound to the HD595's, only without the lack of bass? Or is the lack of bass what gives the HD595's their sound? I'm not sure how this works so I'm praying I can find headphones that have the crisp and bright highs/mids of the HD595's, in addition to good bass punch and extension. Is this possible?
My budget is around $1000 for the headphones and the dac/amp. I have an HT Omega Claro PCI soundcard but I can't use it because I just built a new PC and it doesn't have a PCI slot. I'm basically starting from scratch.
I keep reading that the HD650's are good and actually have bass, but the price is pretty high and reading people say they're "DULL" or "VEILED" scares me out of buying them. I had them in my shopping cart on amazon but after doing last minute reading, decided to research more and ask around before buying something.
What I want:
Comfort
Under $1000 for total price
Highs/mids (like the HD595's have)
Accurate (but not overpowering) bass
AROUND-ear
Don't care if they're open or closed, but if the "open" design is what makes the HD595's sound so open and clear then that's what I want
I do gaming but I don't like surround sound. I prefer regular stereo. Call me oldschool.
Thanks ahead of time. I don't really have a budget but I don't think I need to spend more than $1k for a good setup. (right?)