I'm a long-time HiFi fan, but only recently am I getting into headphone listening.
Maybe 15-20 years ago, I bought my first pair of headphones, Sony MDR-V600. They were absolutely top of the line, to my way of thinking. I like that they fold. The painted vinyl has worn off of the ear cups, so they look pretty tatty and they are creaky, too. (all plastic) When powered from my integrated amplifier, I can still adjust the EQ controls for them to sound pretty good.
Even so, I wanted to try something "nicer". I asked in the Headphones subforum at Audiokarma and someone recommended Sennheiser HD 58x for my needs. Now I have a nice open-backed headphone in the fleet.
Maybe 8 or so years ago, I was doing a decent amount of air travel, and decided to splash out for a Bose QuietComfort 35 noise-canceling Bluetooth headphone. I just love this. The noise-canceling works so well, especially for aircraft noise. I can always hear the bass properly, but it never seems overdone. Highs are not fatiguing. They came with a nice case. I fear the day the battery dies, but will probably attempt changing it myself before splashing out $300 for another NC headphone.
I've had a few good wired in-ear (IEM?) ear buds over the years. The inexpensive Panasonic & Sony I've had have been very good, and I still use them as a standby.
Now, I'm looking for a closed-back headphone with enough bass that I can hear the lows properly in classical recordings. (string bass, timpani drums, pipe organ) I'll post about that in the appropriate subforum soon.
