[miceblue]

If I'm a beginner audiophile with an untrained ear (for now) and I haven't listened to any high-quality headphones before, how can I tell which one is right for me?
 
I am currently looking to purchase my first high-quality headphones up from my Sennheiser CX-300 earbuds and Skullcandy Hesh headphones.
 
I was hoping to find headphones:

1. Less than $200
2. Sound good while unamped with my iPod Touch being the source.
3. Closed with decent isolation
4. Have decent bass punch (not too overpowering) and warm sound (since I'm adjusted to listening to music through my CX-300's)
5. Are good for pop (Asian) music (vocals and mids come to mind)
6. Look decent (not terribly important, but it's worth mentioning since I was considering the Studio Beats by Dre, which are not well-received in the high-end audiophile communities)

 
So far my list of headphones is composed of:

1. Ultrasone HFI-580/DJ1 (clearer mids/highs than the M50's)
2. Audio Technica M50 (overall pretty good headphones for any genre of music)
3. Sure SRH-840's (good bass and clarity in vocals? I haven't heard much about these)

 
I was going to try to go to a Guitar Center store near my college to see if I could listen to some of these headphones in person, would this be the best choice for me?
 
If you guys have any suggestions for me, they would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Digital-Pride]

Your initial selections are great for beginners as they excel in most genres and are just excellent all-rounders.  You'll also be able to begin to pick out what sound signature is right for you as your ears adapt to larger sound spectrum provided.  If you want to stave off the upgrade itch for a good long while then I suggest taking looking close at the SRH840, a truely exceptional headphone for the price.  Here's a review of the SRH840 by avguide-http://www.avguide.com/review/playback-23-shure-srh840-professional-monitoring-headphones        

 

[miceblue]

Quote:

Your initial selections are great for beginners as they excel in most genres and are just excellent all-rounders.  You'll also be able to begin to pick out what sound signature is right for you as your ears adapt to larger sound spectrum provided.  If you want to stave off the upgrade itch for a good long while then I suggest taking looking close at the SRH840, a truely exceptional headphone for the price.  Here's a review of the SRH840 by avguide-http://www.avguide.com/review/playback-23-shure-srh840-professional-monitoring-headphones        

Thanks for your quick response. I noticed that the SRH-840's have an impedance of 44 ohms. Do they still sound good without amping? I forgot to mention that I plan to use these with my iPod unamped.

 

[Digital-Pride]

Yep, they indeed do.  And  to give you some more info, here's an exert out of another SRH840 review- "We originally stated the importance of an amp, we were onto something there, but not completely correct. After we burned the SRH840s in, playing them through our MacBook Pro’s standard audio out became perfectly fine. A headphone amp makes them better, is it a lot? – that’s subjective, but it’s noticeable, even to an untrained ear (we tested that out). Not having a headphone amp is not a reason to not buy these – even without the amp, they are three times better then anything remotely close in price. (For those pondering the debate, we will take the unamped SRH840 over the SRH440 + amp) At first we thought the sound was flat and painfully flat – that is not the case. Don’t be fooled, you are still getting a headphone designed for mixing, but when’s the last time you went to a studio that didn’t have a subwoofer. One thing that is forgot about “studio headphones” is that studios have monitors that create incredible highs while remaining perfectly balanced, but all have dynamic subwoofers that can create booming sound with precision – that’s the SRH840. Lastly, there is nothing we would improve, no gripes, no mockings; we are satisfied and so we will avoiding making a joke .""'       .." That's from the macfeed.com.

 

[miceblue]

Quote:

Yep, they indeed do.  And  to give you some more info, here's an exert out of another SRH840 review- "We originally stated the importance of an amp, we were onto something there, but not completely correct. After we burned the SRH840s in, playing them through our MacBook Pro’s standard audio out became perfectly fine. A headphone amp makes them better, is it a lot? – that’s subjective, but it’s noticeable, even to an untrained ear (we tested that out). Not having a headphone amp is not a reason to not buy these – even without the amp, they are three times better then anything remotely close in price. (For those pondering the debate, we will take the unamped SRH840 over the SRH440 + amp) At first we thought the sound was flat and painfully flat – that is not the case. Don’t be fooled, you are still getting a headphone designed for mixing, but when’s the last time you went to a studio that didn’t have a subwoofer. One thing that is forgot about “studio headphones” is that studios have monitors that create incredible highs while remaining perfectly balanced, but all have dynamic subwoofers that can create booming sound with precision – that’s the SRH840. Lastly, there is nothing we would improve, no gripes, no mockings; we are satisfied and so we will avoiding making a joke .""'       .." That's from the macfeed.com.

It sounds pretty promising. I'm just kind of worried that the cable coming off of the 'phones near the headband will get caught on something.
 
Do you know where I could test headphones to see how they sound in person? I've heard that Guitar Center lets customers test headphones...but I haven't read about it anywhere else outside of these forums somewhere.
 
Does anyone else have any suggestions or opinions about the headphones in my list?

 

[Digital-Pride]

In fact, Guitarcenter does let customers(well most) try the headphones, as I was able to try some the headphones mentioned here at my local Guitarcenter.