ATH-M50

[Heady Jam Fan]

Just picked up a pair of these headphones on Amazon - I am pretty damn impressed!

They just came in the mail, so I suspect they will improve as they break-in a bit.

I am listening to THE Phish again right now...

There is a noticeable bass boost, which can kinda be evened out with iTunes' EQ. If using them as a reference point for recording (especially editing), you would need to be careful not to make the tune sound anemic, but that is just getting used to the bass and also using other reference points (I use a few different stereo speakers, monitors, car stereo, typical headphones).

The sound stage/scape is impressive for closed back cans! I can hear stereo panning and effects that were completely transparent on typical phones or a good stereo system. I think this is where they will shine in editing. You can hear minute changes during recording; guitar going from center pan to stereospread (Languedoc's use of two mics, hard panned) when vocals comes in, back to center panned for leads. Great instrument separation - things that blended together are distinguishable, such as harmonized or unison vocal lines.

Pretty good isolation - IIRC about 25-30db. I can still hear a convo if I try when the music is off, but the world outside disappears as the tunes start. The real tests will be an airplane and tracking as I record guitar - will my amp's sound bleed through too much or will I hear the processed signal enough.

These things are very clear even when the volume is cranked up - no distortion with volume changes (aside from the fact that my iTunes music is compressed, which leads to some distorted top-end anyway).

[Stecks]

Sounds cool... I currently am using Senheiser HD205's... similar specs (yours are a lil better, but about 50 bucks more)

[Heady Jam Fan]

Yea, I looked at a handful of Sennheiser. It seems like their open back, high end stuff is killer, but too expensive for me. I was looking at the 280's.

[Stecks]

I have the 205's..  They're pretty good... I didn't want to spend a ton right now, plus I'm always wearing them while at the gym.  They do pretty well while I get sweaty and nasty!

[Heady Jam Fan]

Lol, thats why I bought new rather than used, who knows if I woulda got some sweat steck's cans

As I keep listening; these are awesome - reverb and delay sounds amazing, but I hear so many crappy edits! One of the worst was the transition to the outro in Hendrix Bold As Love.

[Stecks]

Basically anything that I have is drenched in sweat.   That's thyroid cancer for you!