Get something open backed if your room isn't too noisy.
You can find Sennheiser HD600's for about $295 these days.

I own a set and they are brilliant at showing how crap the rest of my monitor chain is. :P

my room will be quite quiet actually. open back could be the way to go indeed.

i will read up on the sennheiser's. thanks for the advice.

It really depends what kind of sound you are after. You also need to keep in mind some headphones really aren't showing their full potential (and some sound horrendous) without being amped.

I just noticed you are also from Canada! I'm assuming your budget is $250 CDN?

yes, it will be $250 canadian dollars

sony mdr 7506 are $160

a few different AGK's are $180 and $210

the Sennheiser mentioned above at $295 may be cool too.

i'm just looking for a neutral environment to mix in, the least expensive for accurate monitoring. i live in an apartment, so speakers are not an option.

i run downstairs to the car quite frequently to check a mix on that sterio, and i don't mind it.

That $295 was US dollars btw.

Senn HD555, HD580, HD595
Ultrasome 580
Beyerdynamic DT 770 (might be overbudget)
Audio Technica a700/a900 (900 might be overbudget)
Grado SR225

I have the 595s and really like them. Didn't notice THAT much of a difference now that I can amp but it is slightly better. Even un-amped they sounded wonderful though.

thank you everyone for all your help

i'll need a day or two to do some reading

cheers

Sorry I'm late guys...

I like that AT ATH-M50s that I got last month. Very accurate for only a bill. I compared them with my friends MDR-7506 cans and I thought mine were a little more bass heavy, but really quite good for the price.

They are less than half your budget though.

iamfrobs wrote: Sorry I'm late guys...

I like that AT ATH-M50s that I got last month. Very accurate for only a bill. I compared them with my friends MDR-7506 cans and I thought mine were a little more bass heavy, but really quite good for the price.

They are less than half your budget though.

hey, thanks a bunch, that's a bunch man, i'm gonna check the AT's out too.

thanks to all!

Yeah man, if you needed more $$$ for cables, stands, booze, I don't think you would be sacrificing much with the ATs.

Where in Canada are you located?
I'm interested in the Toronto scene if you know anything about it.

i'm in st. catharines, which is about an hour away from toronto

i know a friend who's in that scene, i can probably help out with club addresses, capacities, etc...

let me know

Oh, cool. I'm in Buffalo, so two hours wouldn't be out of the question for me.

Is it still a big jazz town?
My dad did some live work in the eighties up there once or twice.

i'm more into the kids rock scene than jazz

there might be some jazz there, but i don't know myself

good luck tho