Is anyone here an audiophile?

Some examples of top tier headphones: Stax SR009 $4500 Audeze LCD-X $1700 Fostex TH900 $1500 HiFiman HE-6 $1300 Sennheiser HD800 $1500 Beyerdynamic T1 $850 JVC DX1000 $1000 Oppo PM1 $1000 Or if you just want to show off, get a used Sennheiser Orpheus, comes wit custom tube amp. Retailed for $12000 God know how much they go for now. The great thing about Grado though is that they sound great out of almost any source, where most of the others here need an amp to sound their best.

Yu ---> Don't worry about it, it's all a matter of opinion really. Grado is probably the best headphone you will find in most actual stores and they are great from portable devices.

I wouldn't really call myself a audiophile but i do own a pair of Ultrasone Proline 750's and i think they sound pretty good overall. Bad thing about them is the bass is a little weak but the treble has a much better range than other headphones I've tried, they also have great directional audio so for games they're awesome. You're absolutely right about it being a matter of opinion Neko, my housemate has a pair of Sennheiser HD 650's and he hates how my 750's feel around the ears, that and they're closed. I on the other hand have never found them to be a pain to wear, must have smaller ears i guess :P and i find them being closed to be a positive as i use them at Lan Parties quite a bit. It all comes down to what you want out of your cans.

I have the same phones as you and I find the bass a bit much on some songs but I don't have a good amp for them yet. They are great with Massive Attack album Mezzanine for example. Plenty of treble but harsh on some K-pop for example. Beyer was smoother. Not particularly uncomfortable but Beyer was much better.

My headphones are cheap Sony, but I definitely pay attention to bitrate and I never purposely download anything under 192kbps. I wish I had the money for a good pair, but I'd say I spend the money on CDs lol. Just a few weeks ago I went on a bit of a spending binge and got 8 (Aesop Rock, Nirvana, Sonic Youth (x3), Earth, & Flaming Lips) and I want a record player so bad but I don't have speakers to hook it up to, and vinyl can be so expensive :I The struggle.

Good speakers are more expensive than good headphones but I've found decent stuff for cheap at thrift shops like Goodwill. A good record player is even more important and you would probably have to spend $200+ for something decent. If you can find an audio store selling vintage audio equipment check out record players made by Audio-Technica, Pioneer, B&O, there are a few other good brands but can't recall right now. As for new some likely good examples: http://www.needledoctor.com/Audio-Technica-LP120-USB-Turntable?sc=2&category=46 http://www.needledoctor.com/Denon-DP-300F-Fully-Automatic-Turntable?sc=2&category=46 http://www.needledoctor.com/Pro-Ject-Debut-Carbon-in-Red?sc=2&category=46 Stay away from the modern "vintage" looking Crosley stuff, they are utter crap. Some turntables need an external preamp, and of course you need an amp. Or you could get an older stereo reciever which usually has a phono preamp built in.

Or ready to go turntable setup with speakers: http://www.needledoctor.com/Audio-Technica-LP120-USB-and-Audioengine-A2-Combo?sc=2&category=46

I'm going to save up for these next: http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Pro-Audio-K712PRO-Headphones/dp/B00E4WXWBE http://www.akg.com/K712+PRO-827.html?pid=1408