Basically, I've tried both Sennheiser HD419 (£45 - brick and mortar shop) and Yamaha HPH-MT120 (£90 - brick and mortar shop )headphones. Now... basically, are the Yamaha's £45 better, both in audio terms and in comfort/build? Because... they're really nice, but they're right at the top end of my budget!
Headphones are very subective actually. You can measure headphones all you want, but it all comes down to personal preference. Some cans have a deeper bass, some are more neutral, etc... Just to throw you another two ideas for closed back headphones in the < £50 range... AKG K-512 MKII and Audio Technica ATH-T400.
I'm kind of locked to the stuff the physical shop stocks, unfortunately - I've had some uncomfortable headphones before and that was all because I didn't (couldn't!) try them on. This does reduce me to Sennheiser, Marshall and Yamaha, basically. (Around-ear ones specifically, on-ear hurt because of my glasses arms). I guess I will pop both sets of headphones on again before purchasing and double check everything on the day!
I agree with jrs, it really is down to personal preference and taste - That being said, I do prefer Sennheiser other other brands so I would personally go for them.
As you can see in my Sig I go with AKG and I remember reading on Whit HiFi that over the entire AKG range there is only a small increase in sound quality. My 271s are great and I love the detachable cable bonus they have.
The AKG-cans are my favourites aswell, but for most people they lack bass. And ofc they lack the bass, as they're ment for monitoring and studio-recordings, so they are very neutral and AKG tries to produce a rather crisp and clear sound here with a big soundstage. Sennheiser is usually better for consumers, as they pep up the bass and have a more warm sound overall. This comes at the drawback of a more narrow soundstage tho. A good middleway imho is found in the cans from Beyerdynamic, as they have a slightly pepped up bass and still nice and crisp highs, with a good soundstage. So basically if you produce music yourself, you want to get some AKG-cans, and if you're only a consumer then you want Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic. Beyerdynamic has released the Custom Pro One a few month back, and these speakers are customizable with a variety of differently coloured covers for the cans, headbands and cussions. They come with a variable bass-reflex system aswell, so you can adjust the amount of bass you want to have. Probably the best cans out there currently for people who like to have good looking cans which sound good aswell, but they cost €200.
I prefer to boost bass on my sound card so I only have it when it fits with what im doing, eg FPS gaming. Otherwise I like to hear things like the where meant to be heard yes even in movies. TBH after the first oh I can do this I have never bothered to boost Bass anymore, I find BF3 is Bass heavy enough and in longer session (like that happens with a family) I prefer to have music in the background. Yes there is a sound track to your kill cam ;P
Good summary, though worth adding that for anyone who listens to a lot of "natural" music, e.g. classical, live or properly recorded acoustic/folk etc, AKG headphones are incredible.
Boosting bass through an EQ is not the same tho, as you can't create a more voluminous bass with an EQ. I've got some Sennheiser HD 202 II and they're too much on the bass really. My HD 445 otoh are rather nice with the little emphasis on the bass, but they're old (15-20 years?) and worn out, so I'm looking for some new cans in the not so far future myself and I want to try some Beyerdynamic DT-440, as they're rather cheap but offer a good middleground between the AKG and Sennheiser. But first I need to save some money for a nuForce Icon 2
