I want to buy a decent pair of headphones (I don't really want to spend any more than £100, though). Should I go for open, closed, or semi-open/closed? I know everyone will have their own experiences and preferences, and I'm happy to hear them, but it might also be good if I could be pointed in the direction of some comparative reviews by magazines, websites, etc....

If you want to use them for tracking as well, the only option here is closed to reduce the bleed.

The ATH M50 headphones seem to get a pretty good review and you should be able to pick up a pair for that kind of price on eBay. I plan on purchasing a pair myself soon due to all the good I hear about them.

Thanks Matt. When you say "use them for tracking" I assume you mean wearing them for playback while recording another track? I guess I'm thinking more of headphones that I can use when mastering/mixing etc (along with monitor speakers, of course). If open or semi-open are considered best for this purpose, then that's what I'll buy; I'll get another pair bleed-reducing closed ones for use while tracking/recording.

Yep, that's exactly what I mean.

These headphones seem to be pretty well regarded as good for the price range for mixing as well. The plus side is you can use them for both tracking and mixing, though checking on your monitors is very important, of course. Primarily mixing and just checking on your headphones is probably going to be the better option, however. If you're going to be buying two sets, one for mixing and one for tracking, I'd probably suggest just pooling the money together and getting and one even better pair.

I can't comment accurately on open vs closed as I have no experience. I'll let others guide you there. I'm sure there could be some benefits to the open design, however.

Getting an average pair of open (assuming open are better) with an average pair of closed is probably not going to be as good as just getting one really good closed set which does the whole lot. If you're going to be doing lots of mixing on your headphones (usually due to noise restrictions) then you may want to just get the one really good pair.

I went and listened to a whole range of headphones a couple of years ago. I finally settled on a pair of Bose (passive noise canceling) as they sounded absolutely stunning. Their definition, separation and light weight are incomparable in the price range (which should run around 100 pounds).

The ATH M50 headphones seem to get a pretty good review

 
I have heard similar reviews on these phones.  I have 3 sets of Audio Technica phones; of vairous price ranges, and I have been extremely happy with the overall sound quality on all of them.  For the longest time, I did the majority of my mixing on a pair of them, out of neccesity, with pretty descent results.

For that budget, a pair of these.....

http://www.sennheiser.co....sets_headphones_004974

Nice and linear, isolate a lot of noise going in, and very low bleed out.

They've been out a long time now so there are some good prices to be had on them.

Even their cheap HD201, 203's at around £20 a pop are useable once you've taken into account the lack of low-end on those as all of them lack any particularly 'hyped' frequncies.

Good workman-like stuff.

This might help a bit:

http://www.soundonsound.c...s/studioheadphones.htm

I have a pair of AKGK240s semi-open for production stuff and a set of closed back Sennheiser 202s (cheap) for tracking.

Both are more than adequate for my needs, if that helps at all.

Blimey, there's even some kind of consensus forming here....

Has everyone forgotten this is the Cakewalk forum, where we're all supposed to say "my ones are the best?"....

The SOS article from Jeff about covers it especially given you take out the ones completely out of the budget range.  It would seem the AKG 240's if a closed back isn't required and the Sennheiser HD280's or ATH M40's if it is.

None of them 3 would be an ideal choice for pure listening pleasure but for work, take yer pick.....