I have the ATH-CK10's and love them. They're still available, just a bit difficult to find as they've been discontinued pretty much everywhere outside of Japan. I picked mine up on a trip to Japan for around $240 after currency conversion, but you can get them online for a bit more now. They definitely require amping, otherwise they sound sort of flat and lack bass (they're high impedance for an IEM). With pretty much any FiiO type of amp I get nice and balanced, full sound. Also, foam tips.

They're still in your price range for sure.

Also, other great alternatives would be UE TripleFi 10's, which are on sale right now for $180 on Amazon. They sound fantastic and are a triple armature design. I tried them out for about two weeks and loved the sound but decided against them because I felt they are a bit on the bulky side. But they're really a steal at $180, and being low impedance they don't require any amp to sound great.

Lastly, the HiFiMan RE-0's, the audio signature is surprisingly similar to my CK10's , but like the Audio Technica, they require amping to reach full potential. Unamped they're flat. They're also a bargain at $79, though they're not as durable as the CK10's or UE TripleFi's. I haven't had any issue with them but I've read others have. I keep a pair of RE-0's at work and have them paired with my E7 amp, they're really quite good.

Regarding your M50's, I use mine amped with an E9 desktop amp. I think it's an improvement but not as big a difference as amping my CK10's. The M50's are pretty sensitive on their own, but they can be improved, it just depends on what you're looking for.

You might want to look into what you're using for a source first. That could be where you'd see the biggest improvement, depending on what it is.

If you're travelling on the train a lot, you'd do better to get an isolating pair. Not only does it cut out the noise of things around you, but it means you don't seem like a dick for having tinny noise blaring out of your earholes, annoying your fellow commuters.

Open are great, but not really suited for wandering around. Also, imo, you look kind of stupid wearing big 'ole cans out in public. So I'd go for IEMs.

Without researching again, I was planning on getting the Head Direct RE0s. They are apparently a fantastic buy for their price, and amazon has them for $75 bucks at the moment. http://www.amazon.com/HiFiMan-RE-0-In-Ear-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B001MQ8BL6

But yeah. Dig through head-fi and read their ULTIMATE IEM LIST threads. They have a breakdown of cost and performance.

Alright, incoming rant.

Let's start off with the difference of 5.1 vs 7.1, shall we? The logitec set is only $10 more expensive and it's full 7.1 not just 5.1, surely it's got superior sound quality! Well, no. No it does not. Why? It's a pair of headphones, and this particular pair is powered by two drivers. Now this raises the question, what the hell is a driver?!? Put simply, a driver is the speaker cone, it makes the sound. Technically, it's a piece of <material> ringed with <metal> with a small disk in the middle, with a high powered magnet behind it, that's where the power consumption is from. The magnet receives anywhere from 44.1 thousand to 192 thousand on/off signals per second, depending on your sound card's settings and capabilities.

But back to that 5.1/7.1 thing. The logicec set decodes the audio in 7.1, which means if you play back something in 7.1 out of the computer, it will not be converted to your setup at that stage. The feature of 5.1 or 7.1 is strictly a *marketing gimmic. Any headphones made by almost any company other than sennheiser, audio technica, shure, head-direct, or <other makers of fine small driver gear> will be only meh sounding, and importantly, only powered by 2 drivers.

So, what exactly does 5.1 vs 7.1 mean in this case? Well, it means jack shit. At the driver level, both of them convert to 2.0, meaning two channels, left and right. Typical 7.1 would be front center, front left, front right, rear right, rear left, right, left, bass (bass being the 0.1). 5.1 is the same without the dedicated left and right outputs. The problem here? I just told you these headphones only have two outputs, and will only ultimately read to left and right. Sure, logitec vied for the chip that costs an extra $2 so they can write 7.1, but that means nothing here.

Understand that the 7.1 vs 5.1 is meaningless now? Good.

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Thermaltake has stuck to the more technically relevant specs in their listing, terms like "diffuse-field equalized " and nominal ohms mean nothing to the end user, and again, with only two drivers will make no difference at the end of the day.

What you should take form this is that both sets have the same reproduction range (high to low / vice versa) and have the same impedance (sound dampening/time treating, nothing to be worried about, 32ohms is normal.) Your Ohm count only needs to be raised when doing mega-scale amplifying, because high frequency sound moves faster than low frequency sound and you might get audible "tearing" without adjusting it on the ultra-loud end. Again, nothing to worry about, this doesn't matter here.

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So, blah blah blah rant rant rant, what do I recommend? Well, I recommend getting a good pair of headphones, and a cheap mic. This is the internet and your voice is being transmitted at anywhere from 16 to 84 kilobits per second (your music is probably being played at 128 or 320kbps), in short, studio mics won't have studio level performance for this.

So, recommendations.

Do you want in-ear headphones (some are called earbuds, what I will recommend here are IEMs, in-ear monitors [a monitor is an expensive driver/speaker cone])? Or do you want over-ear headphones? Over-ear phones typically have better quality, but can be uncomfortable. Likewise, in-ear phones will be more convenient, but probably sound a bit worse and have a bit less bang for your buck, while possibly being less comfortable.

IEMs:

1 - Absolute sonic clarity, across the board even and neutral reproduction: HeadDirect RE0's + Zalman mic - total: $95.09 - These babies sound much more like the dramatically more expensive IE8s than otehr ~$100 headphones, top notch recommendation. The average listener would probably miss bass, however.

2 High bass - Bose IE2 + Zalman mic - Total: $111.05 - This is your best bet if you want the best sounding headphones at face value, the drivers in these are pretty damn bass heavy and will sound amazing to the common man, an audiophile would want something with more neutrality and better across-the-board sound quality. Additionally, the stayhear tips are surprisingly effective, if you wanted to take them out with you. Jogging, riding a bus, in a car, they won't fall out.

-

Over-Ear's

1 -best quality Sennheiser HD555's + Zalman mic - Total: $116.07 - worth every penny.

Check out Head-Fi:

http://www.head-fi.org/

They pointed me at Head-Direct for some in-ear monitors:

http://www.amazon.com/HeadDirect-RE0-HEAD-DIRECT-In-ear-Headphones/dp/B001MQ8BL6/

They are fantastic. Dunno if IEMs are what you want, but poke around Head-Fi at least to see what the audio nerds say.

What kind of music do you listen to?

For psytrance, I would recommend something with sublime spatial imaging and instrument separation. Psytrance is so amazing with a good set of earphones that can distinguish each of the sounds and with accurate stereo imaging. The music turns 3D and you'll hear all these layers of sounds, many whizzing all around your head.

Skullcandy definitely do not have the definition that can provide that effect.

Etymotic is known for their sublime clarity, it's the closest thing to a direct sonic connection to the brain. However, their amazing earphones start at $120 for the HF3 model.

Hi-Fi Man RE0 sounds close to it for a fraction of the price. They're highly regarded in audiophile circles to be the most detailed earphones for under $100. They're a bit lacking on the bass though, if that's your thing. But that's nothing EQ can't fix.

http://www.amazon.com/HiFiMan-RE-0-In-Ear-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B001MQ8BL6

Klipsch S4 are good earphones if you're a basshead, but they're definitely nowhere near as detailed as Etymotics or the RE0, which detail is what really makes psytrance come alive.

After your suggestion, I've come to these


any thoughts?

I use re-0 headphones, they are earbuds. I originally bought them for on the go listening. I game a lot, I eventually tried these out on the computer and the sound staging is very good, being able to hear where the enemies are coming was a big advantage I never had with my previous pair of over-ear grado sr-80. RE-0's come with a few different size buds so you can get the most comfortable feel and seal around your ear. Highly recommend them.

http://www.amazon.com/HiFiMan-RE-0-In-Ear-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B001MQ8BL6

Absolute best deal I know of, are these: http://www.amazon.com/HiFiMan-RE-0-In-Ear-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B001MQ8BL6

They rival the sound quality of the Shure SE 535's, I own both and honestly don't care which ones I use. The Shure's are $400-500, the RE0's are $79. Your choice.

The RE0's have most of the clarity, detail and soundstage of the better Etymotics models, but much better bass. And at a much better price.

Amazon sells them too

I suppose it depends on your headset. I, for one, have noticed quality degradation using a few bluetooth headsets compared to these: HiFiMan RE-0 In-Ear Stereo Headphones.

I've decided to take the plunge and get a new headset + USB DAC, but that seriously jumps the cost of this whole thing. The hf5 looks really nice, but the price:quality ratio of the re0 has really got my eye.

Which DAC do you use if you don't mind me asking?