[DoomForce]

Hey guys,
 
The last few days I am tyrannizing myself over picking the right pair of phones for the job. I will try to be be concise.
The qualities that we're looking for are:
 
1) Portability. They will be listened to on buses, at the library, maybe while biking etc. and carried around all day.
2) Good isolation. Due to the above library comment, music shouldn't leak out.
3) The music genres will be mostly rock, theme/orchestral music, electronic.
4) Comfort. Now that's a must. They should be comfortable enough to wear for at least 2 hours straight without fatigue.
5) Soundstage: From what I read, theme and rock music benefit from this a lot, so I would put it up there as well.
6) Price range anywhere from 100 to 300 bucks. Ships to Europe.
7) Amp or no amp matters little. If they will -require- an amp, I will buy a portable one.
8) Following are some remarks on previous phones, if you have a minute to read:
 
First I had a pair of Sennheiser HD280-pros. They weren't too bad, they were crisp but too "monitor", less fun. And they weren't comfortable, the grip and headband on the head were a pain at times.
Later on I moved to Shure SE310s, unamped. They sounded decent, but definitely not worth the 200 euros I gave for them, that's how I felt at the time. Maybe I should have amped them. They weren't bad, I just didn't seem to enjoy them as much as I thought I would. Source was one of the best Sony mp3 players at the time, so that can't have been the case.
 
Now the question is, I see three paths ahead, which one do you advise on following?
 
First path: Pay a lot of money on a very good IEM (250 bucks) that will be the end-all solution. No cans. Max portability. Mind you, I'm not a crazy audiophile, I don't expect a 250 bucks phone to sound like a 1000 bucks one. But I will be glad for something that sounds great for the price and much more enjoyable that the SE310s.
Second, Buy a cheap IEM (Vsonic GR07 or something similar?), and also buy a pair of open or closed cans for home later, along the range of 200 bucks and have two sets.
Third, Buy a pair of great closed cans with small size that can be used everywhere and forget the IEMs.
 
 
What would you guys suggest? If possible, throw some phone recommendations in there.
 
So far the closed phones I've put my eyes on are HFI-780, Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro-80, Shure SRH840, ATH A700. I have not yet begun to look onto IEMs. 

 

[ericfarrell85]

On the bus you would want maximum isolation. In the library you want to ensure minimal sound leakage. On your bike isolation and microphonics are priorities. I would go with an easy to drive drive in ear, that does not require a portable amp and generally does well with most genres. From my experience the SM3 fits on all counts. It took 1k+ customs to supercede sound quality and isolation. The three closed cans I owned (Denon D1100, ATH-M50, SRH940) were unable to give me the same degree of musical satisfaction as the SM3 and I sold them off easily. The SM3, despite predominately lying unused for 6 months, I am unable to sell off. It is that good.