Assistance with Sennheiser v. Grado and others

[Prancibald]

I have been looking around at headphones and IEMs in the $80-150ish range for a while for future upgrades, and I had come across a multitude of headphones that look to be nearly equivalent. I know many of the users here have a larger host of knowledge than I do regarding these subjects, so I decided to come to you.

For IEMs, I've always been a fan of Shure, and I'm quite content with my SE110s at the moment. However, when these inevitably wear out or I feel like upgrading, I'm torn between a few potential candidates. The SE310s have come down in price a considerable amount, and these seem to be excellent phones, but I've been hearing exceptional reviews of Phonak's new addition to the playing field (their PFEs). Isolation and clarity/balance are the main criterion for this, as they usually are.

For full sized phones, I've seen great things from Sennheiser, Sony, Grado, and other comparable companies. Sennheiser's 280s, 555s, and 595s seem to be their best in this range, and all seem to be quite potent. Grado has also been highly recommended with their SR80s given their price to performance ratio. I've heard very mixed reviews of Ultrasone, so I'm more wary of their products, but I'd be willing to consider nonetheless. In this field, I'd prefer to keep the price on the friendlier side of the $150 mark, but if a small jump is worth it, I would also consider it. Sound quality is the biggest player in this field, and isolation would be rather nice but not imperative.

Oh, and I listen to a variety of genres, and most of my library is in 192-320 kbps mp3, with a little bit of FLAC as well.

Thank you to any who can help me figure out the best options in this range.

[jjrosaria]

best way to decide is to listen to them. If your buying Grados people say that the s60 is better value since its cheaper and it sounds almost the same.. For senns I personally have the hd555 and I really love them. IMO the grados just sounds a bit forward for my taste.. Its just according to your preference really If u like the forward sound of the grado or if you want the laid-back sound sig of the senns; I read other reviews about the 555 that say that they are slightly forward but I find them slightly laidback, must be my ear ... anyways final decision is yours

[Prancibald]

Yeah, I've been wanting to test these out personaly, but I'm not sure where I would find any of these in California (Silicon Valley to San Francisco area). Any suggestions would be welcome.

From further studies, it seems that the best choices for IEMs would be the Phonaks, although the SE310s are still quite good it seems.

For the full sized headphones it seems that people tend to like the Audio Technica ATH-M50, the Sennheiser HD280s, the Grado SR80s, the Denon AHD1001Ks, and the Sony 7506s best (at least for phones that provide isolation). After plenty of research, I still can't tell which is the best, although it seems to be leaning toward the Sennheisers, the Audio Technicas, or the Grados. Any tips would be awsesome.

Thanks in advance, since I can't seem to find a place to try these out in person.