Hey, Shrooms.
I just finished going through the exact same thing. You have an awesome taste in music (a carbon copy of mine
). However, the difference in our searches is that I wanted circumaurals for my desk, so noise wasn't that large of an issue. The headphones I decided on were the AD700s because (yes I have reasons, don't flame me everyone) while they typically aren't recommended for metal, they were the only circumaurals that felt comfortable on my head. I wear glasses, and everything else pushed them against my head, giving me a headache. I also like the punchy bass they give out, though it isn't very hard hitting. For me, comfort is the most important thing as opposed to getting the exact sound you want, since there's no point in getting headphones you hate using, so I stuck with the AD700s.
My budget was in the $200 range. The list of headphones I tried were:
Audio-Technica: A700, AD700, M50, M40fs, PRO700
Beyerdynamic: DT250/80ohm, DT770/80ohm, DT770/250ohm
Sennheiser: HD215, HD280, HD595, PX100
Grado: SR60, SR80, SR125, SR225, GS1000
Personally, I did not like the Grados. A lot of people recommend them for metal and rock because of their "raw" sound, and ability to place the guitars in the forefront of what you hear, but I wasn't fond of the sound. Best way to find out is to listen however.
Out of all these, I would recommend the Audio-Technica M50 to you (~$100-120 on EBay). They are (FWIR) easily driven by portables, isolating, (what seems to be) sturdily built, and also, you can fold them up so you can put them in your bag while on the go. They also quite the strong bass impact. If you do not like bass in your music, then you may have a problem with them. If they hadn't been uncomfortable with my glasses I would've stuck with them. I'm actually considering getting a pair for short listening sessions because I liked them so much. Some things to note:
1) They come in two versions - coiled cord (ATH-M50), and straight cord (ATH-M50s).
2) Consider buying a set of DT250 velour pads (~$25) to replace the pleather ones. Supposedly increases the comfort a lot. Have a look at the thread I started with testimony and installation instructions:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/vel...th-m50-414574/
3) They require ALOT of burn-in time. At the beginning they sounded really muffled and uncontrolled. After 100 hours, they tightened up to some really good sounding 'phones.
Any questions or anything that needs clearing up, please ask away!