I love my Sennheiser HD650s. They are an open design and will bleed into microphones, but gosh to they sound wonderful. I'm particularly fussy about my high frequencies and these are smooth as silk.

The 650s have a removable cable, which is replaceable. Admittedly, I take care with my 'phones and don't bang them around, but they seem very solidly built and should last me a long, long time.

Note that these phones are 300 ohms. You will most likely need an amplifier to drive them. I built my own, since I know electronics; you can try http://www.headphone.com for amplifiers if you don't want to build one.

I can't listen through my $40 Sony's for much of anything anymore. I highly recommend the 650s. I think you can probably find a pair for round $350-$400.

Best,
Scotty

The BeyerDynamic DT770's are a very sweet sounding headphone...and they are great for tracking. The problem I had with these, and the reason I took them back, was that they made my mix sound too nice. I would get a great sound through these things, but it wouldn't translate too well.

However, if you weren't going to use them to mix....I would say they are super...super comforatable...and some of the sweetest sounding phones.

ORIGINAL: bubbadoody

Headphones are like monitors...out of control if you don't pay attention! The standards are AKG K240's are midline the BeyerDynamics DT770 are Pro quality and cost it; while Sennheisers have great sound but crapy durabilty!(read many posts o this forum re: the cables) Fostex T20's are pretty durable for hired out phones,if you're doing that kind of work.

Are you just using them for listening and tracking or do you need to mix with them ? I'm a big fan of the Audio Technica ATH-M40fs for mixing when you have to use phones and they also work for tracking because they are closed. They are not perfect on the comfort side but I think they are better then the Sonys. I also have a Sennheiser HD595 and I'm starting to use them more for mixing now but they are VERY open so you can't use them when tracking near a mic. They are nearly as loud on the outside as they are on the inside LOL ! They are very comfy, don't even touch your ears at all. For just listening and tracking AKGs are cool, the BeyerDynamic DT770's are very comfy also and have killer bass and highs but are too detailed in the high end for me, yeah it's nice to be able to hear all that "dog music" up there but it's just not natural, no other stereo speakers I know can reproduce any of that. Anyway that's my 2 cents.

ORIGINAL: losguy

ORIGINAL: ohhey
"dog music" ... my 2 cents.

That was worth at least 2 cents!

I'm serious man the high end on the DT770s go off into supersonic, much higher then I can hear and it's even loud up there. If you need to evaluate cymbal samples or work on hiss reduction you can't beat them. Just let the dog out first