I find standard beyerdynamics well equiped for this task.

I wouldn't leave it up to just the headphones to give you an honest answer on the bass levels. It's too subjective, and you need to use BOTH to be really sure.

It's easy to get the audio equivalent of "Tunnel vision" by wearing headphones too long as well. IMHO, it gets fatiguing sooner than just speakers. I've also found that really accurate HP's tend to be a bit heavier to reproduce all that low bass. More fatigue, only physical.

Plus, with a subwoofer (one that will truly go down to 20 HZ etc.) you'll "Feel" the bass on your body as well as hear it. It's a more complete experience than just sticking everything up against your head.

As always, your mileage may vary, but that's what I've found.....

Nathan,
Grado headphones are particularly good for a realistic depiction of the bass.

One aspect of headphone use that tends to be overlooked is what they're driven by, as the headphone output on a lot of equipment is of a much lower quality than than the other outputs, so you might be unlucky. I bought an Echo Indigo card for my laptop (after reading the rave reviews), and the bass performance is crap. The headphone out on a dirt cheap Edirol interface is way better! Anyway, to get back to the discussion at hand, I'd go with Grado if you have a good headphone source. I like to run everything through a reasonable domestic hi-fi as well -just to be sure!

Regards,
John Stafford