Grado sr80is for me.
Once I think a mix sounds ok, then listen to them on the grados and their unforgiving nature highlights everything wrong.
For just over 100 uk pounds, v good value for money.
Open back though, so can't wear them on a bus.

+1 ATH-M50s Good buy. http://digifreq.com/?ATHM50

The KRK KNS-8400 are also nice. http://digifreq.com/?KNS-8400

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

I've used a pair of fairly inexpensive Sennheiser HD25 SP's for well over a decade for both live sound work and recording and find they translate pretty well and reveal what's going on in the low bass very well. They're discontinued, but the replacement model is very similar.

They're actually sold as "closed back DJ headphones", but (a) so what and (b) the isolation is very effective, which reduces bleed into mics for recording and reduces extraneous sounds when soloing a channel live. I have other sets, including some that were much more expensive, but it's the HD25s I keep going back to.

To be honest though, I suspect any pair of decent quality or above closed back (for isolation) headphones will do the job - the trick is getting very familiar with them and how the sound they produce relates to both the "raw" sound and the speaker system in use. The law of diminishing returns in headphones seems to set in at around the UKP80-100/USD equivalent sort of area.

Mixing entirely using headphones is not advisable by the way - partly because the sound from one stereo side doesn't interfere with (or be affected by) the sound from the other stereo channel they can do strange things to stereo placement and don't reveal phasing problems the way speakers do. Mastering via cans is an even more problem-prone area in my opinion.

Ooh, almost forgot...go check out some of the Ultimate Ears stuff as well... 

Swiller


Grado sr80is for me.
Once I think a mix sounds ok, then listen to them on the grados and their unforgiving nature highlights everything wrong.
For just over 100 uk pounds, v good value for money.
Open back though, so can't wear them on a bus.

I have a set of sr80i's and to me they are the nicest headphones for listening to music (in the sub-$200 range anyway). They are so open and well defined. I always feel like this is how the artist intended their music to be heard. However they are a little light in the bass so if I mix certain types of music with them (especially techno) I have to be careful not to overstate the low end. 

A word of advice for anyone considering the ATH-M50's - they come in both coiled cable and straight cable versions, so you should think about which version would suit your needs best. I think the straight cable version is pretty long. I got the coiled version because I never need to wear them away from my desk and it's a lot tidier. 

Wow, I thoroughly expected a bunch of "do not mix or master over headphones" comments bu instead people are actually recommending headphones, so here's my recommendation:

Sony V6 (not to be confused with Sony 7506)

This article at SOS is a good read: http://www.soundonsound.c...s/studioheadphones.htm I have the Beyerdynamic 880's referenced near the end and they have really helped me isolate some issues.

vlab


+1 for Sennheiser HD 650. 

A good alternative would be IMHO Beyerdynamic DT880pro

Make sure to have a good headphone amp too.. 

Cheers! 

+1 for each of these, though with the caveat of mastering through phones vs your studio monitors.  Check out these google results: http://www.google.com/sea...ing+through+headphones for some good pro & con articles.

sharke

Swiller


Grado sr80is for me.
Once I think a mix sounds ok, then listen to them on the grados and their unforgiving nature highlights everything wrong.
For just over 100 uk pounds, v good value for money.
Open back though, so can't wear them on a bus.

I have a set of sr80i's and to me they are the nicest headphones for listening to music (in the sub-$200 range anyway). They are so open and well defined. I always feel like this is how the artist intended their music to be heard. However they are a little light in the bass so if I mix certain types of music with them (especially techno) I have to be careful not to overstate the low end. 

You make a very valid point on its how it was intended. As well as the bass. However, listening to a great music production, like madonnas confessions on a dancefloor is not lacking on the bass really. Maybe slightly transparent.
 I don't use them as a replacement for monitors at all, but listening to a track prior to mix down really reveals everything incorrect with the mix. They highlight harmonic distortion much better than my ns10s for example. The bass thump is not there, but the general warmth and how it sits in a track seems to work for me, even over and above my pair of stax headphones.  I guess for a hundred dollars, for people using decent monitors, these are really great cans for ensuring the final mix works. I also check my mixes on a 20 quid old saisho ghetto blaster. 

I am glad someone else appreciates just what a bargain these things are.