Reddit mentions of ABCShopUSA Headphones

Welcome to Canada.

I've listed a few options, feel free to ask more questions.

Closed:

Alpha dog by MrSpeakers is a closed headphone that rivals some of the big boys out there, even the flagship open cans. The TH900 by fostex and LCD-XC by Audeze are their closest competitors, and those headphones cost almost 3 times as much.

Mad Dog by MrSpeakers is my other recommendation for a closed headphone, this one being almost half the price and not that much worse in most regards. Less refined than its older brother, but it's very often the go to choice for someone who wants a comfortable, premium closed headphone at a reasonable price.

Open:

The Hifiman HE-500 is an astonishing headphone for its price range, competing with flagship headphones, and it is a direct competitor with the LCD-2 by Audeze, which costs 1000$. Your biggest problem with these are the weight and their comfort issues, might not be your top choice, but it's still an excellent headphone

The Hifiman HE-400i might be a successor to the HE-400, but its sound signature is much more similar to the HE-500. Not as refined, but much lighter, this might hit your sweet spot for comfort and sound.

The AKG K712 is a really comfortable and relatively light headphone, and it's really well balanced. Some people experience issues with the treble peak that the K7XX series by AKG have, but this might the best price performer that I've listed.

The HD 650 by Sennheiser is a headphone that I personally own am very pleased with, and so are many, many others on this sub and on Head-fi. If someone wants to spend big on their first headphone, these are usually their first choice. Slight clamping, but generally really comfortable, I don't have any issues with them. The sound is beautifully warm and luscious, it's really nice for a relaxed and long listening.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007ZSYHYU/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

So, on to audio! Or, as I'm going to call it, "the second internal conflict your comment has caused me", after the 2x295x2 vs. 970 tri-SLI one.

The source of this conflict is your budget. It's just high enough to give you myriad options, but just low enough that nothing is definitively superior to all others - at least not enough so to really make my life easy. This is because you have enough for one of two options: a pair of high-mid-fi headphones and a very solid DAC and amp, or a budget DAC and amp and a pair of hi-fi headphones. I can't even say with certainty which of these two options is better for you, much less which specific permutation of it is best.

Now I, personally, am in the latter group. I have an O2+ODAC and a pair of AKG K7XXs (and a pair of ATH-AD2700s, but those are a modded headphone I made myself, so I'm a bit skeptical of counting them), but this is only because I am absolutely, unshakably certain that I will be inevitably getting a top-of-the-line headphone (or three, or five, or...), so I wanted to future-proof my audio chain rather than incrementally upgrading my amp and DAC.

What's best for you, well, that, as said, is the question. I suppose it'll have to be a judgement call on your part. Onward, then, to the options:

When I saw your budget, the first thing that came to my mind was a [Sennheiser] (http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/very-important-sennheiser-hd-580-hd-600-and-hd-650) [HD] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-hd-600/reviews/5925)[600] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/634201/battle-of-the-flagships-58-headphones-compared-update-audeze-lcd-2-revision-2-6-4-13#user_HD600) ([$292 from Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Dynamic-Professional-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B00004SY4H)) and an [Objective2] (http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/o2-summary.html)+[ODAC] (http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2012/04/odac-released.html) ([279-329 depending on configuration from JDS Labs] (http://www.jdslabs.com/products/48/o2-odac-combo/)). This was partially because the two together fit the price almost perfectly, but more because it is essentially the defining, objectively good neutral pairing. The HD600 has over a decade of being one of the most acclaimed headphones in the world, particularly among the neutral headphones, and is rightly a legend, even though the much more expensive HD800 has replaced it as a flagship. It has been characterized as a headphone which does no genre wrong, with a neutral signature and very, very impressive presentation. The O2+ODAC, on the other hand, are a bit of a newcomer, but one with quite a head of steam. Designed by the great (and possibly late) NwAvGuy, they are one of the few audio chains designed purely around objective criteria and measurements, as detailed in his blog. While he was a very controversial figure himself, you won't find a scientifically-minded person who claims that his Objective stack didn't deliver on his promises. NwAvGuy argued that his amplifier and DAC would be the last most users would ever need, and, having looked over his numbers and listened to them myself, I believe him.

The next option, very closely related to the former, would be [Sennheiser's] (http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/very-important-sennheiser-hd-580-hd-600-and-hd-650) [HD] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-hd-650-headphones/reviews/11436)[650] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/634201/battle-of-the-flagships-58-headphones-compared-update-audeze-lcd-2-revision-2-6-4-13#user_HD650) ([$334 at Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00018MSNI/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687702&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00004SY4H&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1C3S8VPE3EWK5ZVHWY2E)) and the aforementioned Objective stack. The HD650 is technically the successor to the HD600, based on the same drivers but with some audible tweaks, which show up on their [frequency] (http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD600.pdf) [response] (http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD650.pdf) charts. The HD650 is a darker (more bass-prominent) version of the HD600, often characterized as having a "smoother" or more "relaxed" sound. This is no basshead headphone, to be certain, but it's a bit more bass than the HD600, which some people consider to be a significant advantage.

Now, the next option I would normally throw out would be the [AKG] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/akg-k712-pro/reviews/10344) [K712 Pro] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/akg-k712-pro/reviews/9734), AKG's competitor to the HD6x0 series, and the Objective stack. Only one problem: in the last month, its price has exploded from it's normal resting point between $340 and $360 to stand at over $400! The cheapest one on Amazon is [$423] (http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Over-Ear-Mastering-Reference-Headphones/dp/B00E4WXWBE), and most other sites which have it in stock are selling it for $500, seemingly. Nearest I can tell, it's going out of stock at various retailers, and only the expensive ones still have it. This is a true shame, because the K712 is a great headphone: a very neutral sound, much like that of the HD600/650 (though with a bit more bass than neutral, so perhaps closer to the latter), a truly massive soundstage (I consider the K702 Anniversary/K712 Pro/K7XX the defining headphone for classical) and [very capable gaming performance, too] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-2-17-2015-x2-partial-evshrugs-x7-review-added). Sadly, at their current price, I can't really recommend them, and the drop for the K7XX just ended on Massdrop, so I'm afraid you're out of luck on that angle.

The next on the "and an O2+ODAC" list would be [MrSpeakers] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/693071/review-mr-speakers-mad-dogs-a-hard-to-beat-closed-option) [Mad] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/mrspeakers-mad-dog-t50rp-mod/reviews/9602) [Dog] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/mrspeakers-mad-dog-t50rp-mod/reviews/9701), the only closed headphone I'd recommend pairing with it (with the amount you have to spend, that is). The Mad Dogs are a modified variant of the Fostex T50RP, but they're widely considered to far, far exceed the stock model. The Mad Dogs are considered a bass-leaning neutral-ish headphone, with very good isolation, and supposedly a fairly solid soundstage for a closed headphone. Though I tend not to recommend closed headphones when open is an option, the Mad Dogs are worth a look for pretty much anyone buying in their budget space, as they're broadly considered to do nothing wrong (much like the HD600).

Onward to the land of more budget amplification:

We can't stop here, we're in planar magnetic country. [Hifiman's] (http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/comparing-world-class-headphones-hifiman-he-500) [HE] (http://www.head-fi.org/products/hifiman-he-500/reviews/5307)[-500] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/634201/battle-of-the-flagships-58-headphones-compared-update-audeze-lcd-2-revision-2-6-4-13#user_HE500) ([$500] (http://www.amazon.com/HiFiMAN-HE500-HiFiMan-HE-500-Headphones/dp/B007ZSYHYU)) is an absolute value legend. One of the cheaper high-end planars (its competitors from brands like Audeze run closer to $1,000-2000), the HE-500 provides absolutely stellar sound for its price at the expense of pretty much everything else. The build, comfort, and power efficiency of the headphones have all been criticized, and its price would stick you with a pretty cheap amp (either a [Schiit Magni 2] (http://schiit.com/products/magni-2) running out of your motherboard's integrated DAC, or a lower-powered DAC-amp unit like a [FiiO E10k] (https://www.buysonic.com/products/fiio-e10k/)), which might not be ideal. On the other hand, as said, many have argued you won't find better sound for your dollar, and there are options for improving the comfort and the like (though those all cost you more, just over time).

Okay, so what if you liked the sound of the HE-500, but the complaints about the comfort (validly) scared you off? Well, Hifiman's got another option on tap for you: the [HE-400i] (http://www.head-fi.org/t/698974/hifiman-he-400i-impressions-and-discussion) ([$425] (http://www.razordogaudio.com/collections/hifiman/products/hifiman-he-400i-full-size-planar-magnetic-headphone-open-box)-[$500] (http://www.razordogaudio.com/collections/hifiman/products/hifiman-he-400i-full-size-planar-driver-headphone), depending on your comfort with open-box items). Though technically a successor to the HE-400 (a rather coloured/non-neutral planar), the HE-400i is generally considered much more neutral, like the HE-500, and the revamped pads and suspension system of the 400i supposedly puts it well ahead of the HE-500 (and the rest of the older series) where comfort is concerned. It's also cheaper, if you're willing to consider open-box items, which would allow you to (just about) fit a full Schiitstack: the [Magni 2] (http://schiit.com/products/magni-2) and [Modi 2] (http://schiit.com/products/modi-2). Considered by many to be just about identical in sound and performance to the Objective stack for less money, the M+M stack is a very, very popular budget DAC and amp, and some people consider them good enough for top-of-the-line cans.

Wow. That ended up longer than I expected. I can throw out some more options, but those would probably be the core of it. There are others I really adore in this range (the AD-2000, for example), but those 5/6 (depending on how you look at it) are some of the strongest options I can think of, particularly for your espoused taste in music. Or, honestly, all music; there's not a specialist on that list.

Superlux 668Bs are cheap but very good over over the ear headphones. Sennheiser 598s are lower mid end headphones that were on sale for $100 recently. Hifiman HE500s are high end magnaplanar headphones. Alclair reference are custom molded IEMs(in ear monitor)

Their current $499 new price puts them at a pretty sweet spot. At that price, almost want to pick up a back-up pair now that they're discontinued...

Uh, What?