[Chazboski]

I recently got a set of DT770 pros and I'm looking into a Schiit magni/modi uber stack to start the year, but I want to get an idea of what my end game is.  I'm looking for the best set of cans for music on the harder end of the bell curve and a heavy gaming habit.  
 
Somewhere around $1,000 seems reasonable, but since I'm not looking to buy for the next few months I'm willing to to be flexible. .  
 
My current set up is Fiio E17 to the DT770 80 Ohm pros.  Desktop is currently a set of A5+s straight from the PC, but the schiit stack will fix that.
 
For an idea on the music, anything by Devin Townsend, Mastodon, Between The Buried and Me, Tesseract, and Ghost.  Listen to a decent bit of triphop, hard rock and jazz as well. 
 
I've heard that the LCD IIs would work, Grados seem to get mixed reviews.  Anyone have thoughts or suggestions

 

[billybob_jcv]

Are open headphones like the LCD-2 OK for your intended purpose? Or do you need isolation?

IMHO, at $1000, headphones are no longer "good for rock" or "good for jazz" - they are just good.

 

[Chazboski]

I think I'd be ok with open for the experience, but I'm definitely interested in closed options as well.

 

[billybob_jcv]

The only closed cans in that range I would probably look at are the Fostex TH-600 or the Mr. Speakers Alpha Dogs. Once you get past a certain point, the closed cans just seem to disappear and the open headphones take over. I assume that's because with a large enough driver and the right engineering, you *can* get excellent bass from the open cans that is missing in the lower price brackets, and you also get all the open can advantages.