[Ishouldbeking]

I have been reading a bit on here, but I thought I should share my specific circumstances and hopefully all y'all more edumucated folks can steer me in the right direction.
 
My main use will be recreational music listening via ipod/macbook-pro at home. I listen to a wide range of stuff: mainly rock related... indie rock, classic rock, jangle pop, post punk, some early goth stuff, some older punk and hardcore, and quite a bit of extreme metal (black metal, death metal, thrash, power metal, progressive metal, grindcore, doom metal, etc). Basically... I'll be sitting around my house, around my fiance... who doesn't appreciate metal. So as tempting as the Grado's sound, i'm thinking open cans might be a bad idea. This recreational listening will probably account for 70% of my headphone usage...
 
...with the other 30% taken up by bedroom recording. Not talking studio grade stuff here: I'm in a semi-professional band, and when we record we go to the studio for real. My personal recording is mainly for songwriting and demo purposes, we're talking monitoring while I track guitars/bass/vocals/drum-machines through a Line 6 Pod X3 into Garageband. Ultra clean reference monitors are not really what I need.
 
All in all, I want a pair of cans that sound great for listening to music and aren't horrible for my lo-fi recording... and preferably won't be incredibly uncomfortable to wear. I'm looking to keep this around $100 . And if you guys can point me towards a good deal... all the better. Thanks in advance!

 

[revolink24]

Alessandro MS1! You might find them uncomfortable, give them a while, bend the band outward to put very little pressure on your ears, etc for a while, then sell them if you don't like them: They have good resale value. If you want something to block out extra sound or have people around you not hear your music, the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 is a good buy. If you want more portable, lightweight headphones, get the Audio-Technica ES7s.
 
Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet! Remember, if you don't like a headphone, sell it or return it, don't waste your time replacing cables and amplifiers and pads and burning in blah blah blah etc. etc. Trust your ears. 
 
A quick search for any of the above headphones will find tons of information for you as well. (Try google instead of Head-Fi search as well, the search tool here is less than stellar.)

 

[Zinterax]

Seconding the ATH-M50. Especially if you like to feel the bass.

 

[TheWuss]

Quote:

Basically... I'll be sitting around my house, around my fiance... who doesn't appreciate metal. So as tempting as the Grado's sound, i'm thinking open cans might be a bad idea. This recreational listening will probably account for 70% of my headphone usage...
 

there's only one way to find out if open headphones are going to annoy her. 

besides, if you go closed headphones only, you are crossing off the best cans for your music preference.
 
remember, open headphones aren't an issue unless your blasting them in the same room as her.
 
grado or alessandro.

 

[Ishouldbeking]

there's a good chance I'd be lying in bed listening while she reads next to me... and if I'm playing metal, I probably wouldn't have the volume set too low. Not loud enough to do damage, but loud enough to feel it, as Zinterax puts it. I have a tendency to turn casual purchases into hobbies so I could see myself getting a pair of open cans down the road and maybe a headphone amp to go with them, but for the time being I figured I'd just grab a jack-of-all-trades that fits my overall needs.
 
Those ATH-M50's sound and look pretty great... any recommendations on a good/cheap/reputable place to buy them? I usually try to buy through Amazon to take advantage of my Prime membership, but its not applicable on these, apparently. And sometimes I'll buy from musiciansfriend/music123/sweetwater and get them to beat each other's prices... but these sites have these listed for a bit too much to start with. Thanks for all the responses so far!

 

[TheWuss]

guitar center does price matching.  if you have one nearby, they usually carry the m50...
 
i bought mine from amazon and paid something like $112.

 

[Zinterax]

I bought my M50's off ebay a few months ago for $90 with free shipping from brainf. He lists for ~100 with free shipping but if you make him an offer you can get lower. I've heard of people getting them in the low / mid 80's. From what I remember he is also an authorized seller so you get the 1 year warranty from ATH.

 

[Ishouldbeking]

All right, thanks for all the help guys! I ordered a pair of the M50's (coiled) from that ebay seller you mentioned, Zinterax. Though i should mention the name is brianf rather than brainf, haha. Can't wait to get them!
 

 

[TheWuss]

Quote:

Though i should mention the name is brianf rather than brainf, haha.

Thnaks!