I've had these for about 2 weeks now, and I love 'em! I don't think you can go wrong for $100. It's everything I was looking for as an upgrade to my 8323s: way more soundstage, cleaner bass (certainly not bass heavy in any way like the 8323s, but there is none of the distortion that I could hear with really low tones with the 8323s; it's just plain sharper when it comes to bass, and it feels closer to the intended original mix), better comfort, while still having a detachable cable and full-size form factor. I was hoping these would be the last headphones I would need to buy for a long time (because I'm really not in a financial position to buy more than a single $100 pair of headphones right now), and they are. The carrying case, extra set of pads, and two cables make it a steal.
They still leave me wanting just a bit more, so someday I will be getting into another price bracket :-D. I wouldn't mind regaining some of the bass impact that I had with the 8323s, and I do hear a bit of distortion (subtle crackling) rarely with some higher tones. But for the price, I think these deliver the kind of sound I want in the best possible way. From what I've been reading, I think the Mad Dogs might be my next upgrade, but I digress...
----
I wanted to post in this thread mainly to confess something that may be super obvious to everyone else: the proper orientation of the angled pads. When I first tried them, I was thinking how my ears are angled, and so I ended up wearing them as almost an on-ear with the thick part in front of my ears. I actually found this to be pretty comfortable, but isolation was lacking when I tried it on a long car trip with family. For that trip, I ended up switching back to the flat pads because they offered much better isolation as they went completely over and around my ears.
I was then reading a review about the newest variation of the Mad Dogs with the angled pads, and I realized that, as far as I could tell, those have the thicker part /behind/ the ears. /Light bulb./ As soon as I got home that night, I swapped the pads again and put the angled pads on like that: wonderful! I now wear them around/over my ears like the flat pads, but then there's the nice extra padding behind the ears to help keep the drivers out and forward. I haven't done any direct comparisons for sound or comfort with the flat pads yet, but I think I'm going to be keeping the angled pads on for a while to see how it goes. I have a long plane trip this next week where I'll be wearing them extensively.
-----
So if you're wondering if they're worth it as your first (or 5th, or 100th) $100 pair of headphones and you aren't a die-hard basshead, these are great.