[threedaysgrace]

in multiple price ranges if possible, thanks

 

[taffy2207]

Just search for head-fi buying guides on the forum if you're looking to buy.
 
AKG 550 (£99, $188 USD) if curious

 

[cel4145]

What's your budget?

What do you plan to hook them up to (make/model)?

What kind of sound signature do you like?

 

[StanD]

If you're looking for an open back headphone with neutral signature, then the Sennheiser HD600 is a fantastic headphone at a superb price.

 

[Beyakusenn]

  If you're looking for an open back headphone with neutral signature, then the Sennheiser HD600 is a fantastic headphone at a superb price.

+1
 
I'll add to that:
HiFiMan HE-400 (if you like V-shaped sound)
Beyerdynamic T1 (they are getting cheaper nowadays and they were already great value for money!)
Beyerdynamic t51p (for on the go)
AKG K550 (Big soundstage, neutral sound, incredibly comfortable)
Stax SR-2020 system (discontinued, but a second hand system for $300 can outperform many headphones that sell for up to twice the price on the second hand market)
MrSpeakers Mad Dog / Mad Dog Pro / Alpha Dog(if you are looking for a closed headphone and you have an amp)

 

[KewlMunky]

The SoundMagic HP100/150 are a great closed headphone for their price. An amp isn't required, but they scale up with one. They have a fairly neutral sound, with bass that hits nice without being overpowering. These are both sub $200 on Amazon. The 150 is just a newer revision of the 100. The 100 has some driver failing and imbalance issues, but sonically they are nearly identical as they use the same driver.

 

[squidman]

I really dug the the old AKG k141 studios...halfway between open back and closed back. They had a really warm sound.  Haven't tried the modern version..but semi-open could be the way to go. Have a pair of closed-back cans (also akg's) as well as open back (ditto)...they really have totally different sounds and application.  A lot of gamers swear by closed-back headphones by BeyerDynamic....and I guess iff you're extremely hard on your cans and need to replace parts...Sennheiser has headphones were most of the parts are replaceable.  At a minimum, for me, semi-pro (and cheaper to fix) means that the cord is removable/detachable...i.e. my akg open cans have non-detachable cords, but there is an identical verison they charge another 1-200 euros for with detachable cords! go figure....after resoldering my akg k141's for the nth time (pretty simple, but messy!)...I would say, make it a minimum requirement that your cord is detachable...a lot easier to replace cables than a pair of sweet sounding worn in cans!
 
So, yeah...AKG's with detachable cables, Beyerdynamic DT series, Sennheiser pro series (where you can replace everything)...ors will prbly come with other suggestions..but you're still looking at over 100 usd..  maybe the best bet is to ebay something really sweet (top earlier gen headphones, ask forum members for recommendations) used...after all, unless you live in the arse-end of the world (or it costs an arm and a leg to fix electronics! like here)...headphones are usually pretty simple to fix...
 
ok sorry that was my 2 cents! But have to say...once you've tried a pair of really decent set of 'cans'...man you'll never go back!
 
Edit: worn pads (and general hygiene concerns etc!) can very likely be addressed by an ebay purchase of new memory foam ear-pads, again this forum is the best place to look around.
 
Edit 2: if you want to be a 'hipster' and annoy the **** out of everyone around you, get a pair of Koss phones...I have a hate/hate relationship to those things at the moment...

 

[monkeysixtysix]

Lots of great suggestions already posted, but I would add the Hifiman HE-400i. Can be found online for $395 pretty regulalrly. Also if you can still find them, the HE-500's at $499 are an insane deal. They have been discontinued though and are getting hard to find... 

 

[AnalogSavior]

A few to consider:

Koss Ksc75
Senn HD600
Philips Fidelio X2

 

[squidman]

Wow see that a few posters are recommending 3-500 usd cans! Don't think you need to go that extreme for a decent pair of headphones....1-200 bucks should see you fine! Most studio-grade cans are still around 150-200 bucks, max! Whether AKG, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser etc.!  Have a feeling there is a law of diminishing returns here (you can spend up to a certain value, dollar amount, then the tiny incremental amount of better sound increases exponentially in price!). Would suggest 'studio' grade headphones as opposed to 'audiophile/wanker' headphones...**** if pros are happy with them, who listen almost 24/7 to music, good enough for us mere mortals! Don't forget that although they are the most important part of your signal chain, you need to consider your whole signal flow (source quality, dac, preamp, amp, through to your bleeding ears!).
 
Have a feeling the 'audiophile' cans available are snakeoil...after all iff noone in studios uses them!  Better yet just call a reputable studio, ask what they use...! 
 
Pretty sure that Sweetwater should have something that fits the bill...! e.g.
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K240S
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K271mk2 (mine...they rock! standard studio closed cans here in norway!)...
 
the classic for gamers..haven't tried them yet...but want a pair http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DT770pro
 
my open back cans...big negative being fixed  cord...oh well...http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K612Pro still great sound...but quite bright (see forum thread!)..
 
broadcast is your thing? well everyone live uses either sony or sennheiser...http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MDR7510
 
Still my inaccurate but warm baby's, many times resoldered! http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K141mk2 
 
Don't know about these, maybe worth checking out? brand has a bad rep, maybe undeservedly...could be you find a jewel amongst the ****? http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ATHM50xDG
 
Just chose sweetwater as the place where I could find most products...no affiliation...! Living in Norway, so no real way of knowing which shopping comparison sites are best...ors can chime in with other deals...
 
Edit: best of all of course if you can try them out! They all sound pretty different (why I have like 4  cans...headphone person!), so you have to pick what works best for you given your (phone, amp etc!) and how you're going to use them...
 
Edit 2: be a bit careful of headphones which require a lot of power to drive them/give good sound...my akg k612's sounded like **** from my pc, being 120 ohms (resistance), so I had to buy a headphone amplifier as expensive as the cans...and then later a sound card to justify the purchase (so original 1200 nok or 150 usd purchase ended up to be around 700 bucks)....(I had already an m-audio interface, but the old 'black box' wasn't very practical)...
 
Edit 3: if you're going to ebay some classic cans...why not join a rock/jazz forum, find out what those dudes used back then, see if you can find those classic cans? Man I don't know, but you come across a lot of weird **** on forums...and mostly good ****! Head-f i being a classic example of community enthusiasm at its' best! Good hunting!

 

[billybob_jcv]

You are on the wrong site.

 

[Music Alchemist]

$85-100: Sony MDR-7506
$349: Focal Spirit Professional
$600-1,300: HiFiMAN HE-6 (requires powerful amp)
 

  Lots of great suggestions already posted, but I would add the Hifiman HE-400i. Can be found online for $395 pretty regulalrly. Also if you can still find them, the HE-500's at $499 are an insane deal. They have been discontinued though and are getting hard to find... 

 
I had the chance to get an HE-500 for like $275, but passed up the opportunity. At least I'm getting an HE-400i now.

 

[squidman]

You are on the wrong site.

How so dude? He wants a 'reasonable' headphone...and most studios aren't going to spend 500-1000 for a pair of cans..why should they?  Good enough for studio, good enough for mere mortals...studio gear still seems pretty good to my admittedly non-audiophile ears...(uhhmmm..what do they actually use to master with?!!!)...
 
Maybe I AM on the wrong site if its' exclusively for hifi snobs...but don't think it is...it's a site for peps who dig music, first and foremost. 
 
And some of us can can actually play too...

 

[Beyakusenn]

  Wow see that a few posters are recommending 3-500 usd cans! Don't think you need to go that extreme for a decent pair of headphones...

Very true. I think that very decent headphones can be found for $150. It of course depends on what you are looking for.
 

 
Have a feeling there is a law of diminishing returns here (you can spend up to a certain value, dollar amount, then the tiny incremental amount of better sound increases exponentially in price!).

Very true again. If you rate both sound quality and costs from 1 to 10 and add up the scores, I think you'll get the best value for money around $170.
 

 
Would suggest 'studio' grade headphones as opposed to 'audiophile/wanker' headphones...**** if pros are happy with them, who listen almost 24/7 to music, good enough for us mere mortals! 

Wow, I didn't expect this after reading the first sentences. Starting to call 'audiophiles' wankers is not a subtle opinion to say the least. I consider myself to be an 'audiophile' because I enjoy good audio. That's what the word means, nothing less nothing more.
 
Now about the pro audio: Yes, those are often very good cans for the money and yes, they are more than good enough for 'mere mortals', but that doesn't mean that people who enjoy listening to music can't get headphones that produce better sound, albeit at 'ridiculous' prices.
 
Everyone could be satisfied with cans under $250, but audio is a hobby and just like with wine tasting and collecting stamps people make irrational purchases simply because they like what they get for their money. I won't ever purchase a Château Petrus myself ($4000 for a 0.75L bottle), but I once had the rare chance to taste it and YES it was the best wine I ever tasted and I probably won't ever taste a similarly good wine again. Now I'm more into audio than I am into wine, so would I ever buy a Stax SR-009? Probably not, but if I earned a lot of money I wouldn't hesitate to buy one immediately.
 
Is what the pros use just as good or better than anything else? For you I think it might be and there is nothing wrong with that. But for others I highly doubt it because of different experiences from not only myself, but also from 'non-audiophile' people whose reaction I have seen.
 
A good example would be the Beyerdynamic T1 I recently sold: The person I sold the headphone to came to audition it with my gear; the T1, a vintage solid state speaker amp and the sound card from my laptop (HP Zbook 15 Mobile Workstation). This person is from the Conservatory and is very knowledgeable about classic music. Because of elder neighbours that go early to bed he needed a headphone in stead of his speaker set up. The first seconds after listening to the music I already could see a smile on his face and then I noticed he had put the headphones on backwards. This is a significant change because the drivers are angled. After he put the headphone on the right way he couldn't contain his happiness: the piano sounded so natural, the voices were so real, he could locate the instruments so easily. It was much more than he had hoped for. He had listened to some cheaper headphones, but even though he was not an 'audiophile' he was glad to pay $575 for the second hand T1.
 

 
Don't forget that although they are the most important part of your signal chain, you need to consider your whole signal flow (source quality, dac, preamp, amp, through to your bleeding ears!).

Very true again! I don't understand why you sound so agitated when the word 'audiophile' is in the sentence. You clearly like audio and make some good points!
 

 
Have a feeling the 'audiophile' cans available are snakeoil...after all iff noone in studios uses them!  Better yet just call a reputable studio, ask what they use...! 

I already explained why I think 'audiophile' headphones aren't necessarily a waste of money, but I now would like to explain why studios don't use these more expensive alternatives. Long story short: reputable studios do not only use headphones for reference, but also (ad as far as I know primarily) studio monitors.
Reference grade headphones are useful for different purposes, but most of the recordings are not binaural (recorded for listening with headphones), so a good mastering can not be done with headphones only. Studio monitors already deliver many pieces of information the audio engineer wants to have, so the headphones are there to provide the last bits of information like stereo presentation and in some cases sub-bass. Many studio monitors have a significant roll off in the low frequencies. Headphones are much cheaper than good sub-woofers.
 

  Edit: best of all of course if you can try them out!

The greatest truth of all. Everyone has a different perception of sound and there are even people who dislike the sound of the much appreciated Sennheiser HD600. The best thing is always to try them yourself.

 

[KewlMunky]

  How so dude? He wants a 'reasonable' headphone...and most studios aren't going to spend 500-1000 for a pair of cans..why should they?  Good enough for studio, good enough for mere mortals...studio gear still seems pretty good to my admittedly non-audiophile ears...(uhhmmm..what do they actually use to master with?!!!)...
 
Maybe I AM on the wrong site if its' exclusively for hifi snobs...but don't think it is...it's a site for peps who dig music, first and foremost. 
 
And some of us can can actually play too...

 
The word "reasonable" does not appear anywhere in the original post, so don't quote it as if he did. He asked for headphones that the community believes offer good value for their money, across multiple price ranges. Good value is subjective, so you shouldn't be surprised to see some more expensive headphones offered that you don't believe to be worth it.