[nightshaded]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for suggestions for headphones. My priorities are :
- Clarity and detail of sound
- Noise cancellation
Aesthetics are very important to me as well. I don't like plasticy looking phones, resin type materials are nice. I like the look of AKG headphones, and am tempted to go for one of theirs.
I am willing to spend up to around £200 ($330).
Include pictures if you can.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Parall3l]

Be careful when it comes to AKGs since some of their stuff is open, and open headphones don't really isolate at all. What kind of sound signature do you prefer, I'm guessing its neutral (Sounds like the way the music was recorded)? I'm guessing that your source will not be amped by an external amp ? If that is that case you might want to add efficiency in there as well. 
 
Good luck and welcome to head fi 

 

[nightshaded]

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with all the ins and outs of headphones, but I like the music to be immersive as possible. A good sense of atmosphere is important. I will sacrifice the sound isolation if necessary, but I do hope to be able to travel with them. I probably won't be using an external amplifier, i don't want to make things too complicated, unless you recomend it.

 

[Parall3l]

I'm not really experienced enough to recommend much, but open headphones means almost no isolation and can be very annoying to others since they leak A LOT of sound. (some of them not as much as others but still do) Open headphones are literally open if you didn't know, think of them as normal headphones with a giant hole on them. What kind of music do you listen to ? Its best to match headphones with your genre of music. For example, dubstep and hip hop music would benefit from a bassy headphone since they generally have a lot of bass in them. 

 

[koolkat]

Noise cancellation?
 
That means you're going to want some closed headphones or headphones that have active noise cancelling features.
 
 
I think Botbyte's going to recommend you the Shure SRH940, Tacoboy's going to recommend you some Superlux and spend the rest
 
on an amp 

 
 
Anyway, what kind of music do you listen to? 

 

[nightshaded]

I was aware of the open design, though I believe they have a few closed styles. What is the advantage of open headphones anyway? I like to listen to mainly electronic music; trance, house, I also like acoustic and female vocals.

 

[Parall3l]

Electronic music ? I'm listening to deadmau5 right now and his music would be awesome on some bassy closed headphones. With the bass in his music, the sound would leak very far if you go open. (bass travels the furtherest) I'm suggesting you to look at some Ultrasones or something in the basshead camp. Don't know if they'll work good with the other genres though. 

 

[nightshaded]

The Ultrasones are looking very promising actually. Thanks.

 

[Parall3l]

Good to know 

 I have to warn you that they are not the most comfortable cans in the world (not uncomfortable though) and some of them have earpads that make annoying noises when you try to put glasses on. (J$ money denon pads should solve it, but the price is stopping me from trying)