Best headphones under $200 used?

As another headphone newbie who just got his first set of cans, I found head-fi.org to be an essential site for getting information. If you're set on closed 'phones for their isolation abilities, choices are more limited because top choices seem to be semi-open or open back designs. I'd investigate reviews of the Denon ah-d2000 & Shure srh940. The Shures may not have the audiophile certified panache of brands like Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, & Denon, but I think they have a very good sounding product line at their respective price points. Bottom line is we all have different shaped ears and preferences in sound, so it takes some research and trial and error to find what headphones sound good to us.

Photon makes great points. head-fi.org is an excellent resource for headphone information. The guys over there are obsessed. I definitely recommend trying on several different headphones before you buy. If there isn't an audio shop near where you live, Guitar Center carries most of the major brands (AKG, Audio Technica, Beyer Dynamic, Ultrasone, Sennheiser). They don't carry Denon, which is one company that would seem to fit your parameters. Beyer Dynamic also has some models in your price range that would work.

Good luck.

I would highly recommend that once you figure out what you want, you check B&H Photo's web site for pricing. I picked up AKGK702's for next to nothing. They specialize in not only photography but also recording studio gear so they carry a lot of headphones and they move a ton of product so they're pricing is extremely competitive.

I've done a lot of reasearch and comparison on headphones in this price range lately, and have concluded that Klipsch is a good bet for audio buffs interested in good sounding phones at reasonable cost. I have their $80 buds which are quite good. Clean, crisp, with good and palpable bass. Very much in line with the "klipsch" sound in general I would say. I've also heard the Klipsch on-ear model (#?) that goes for ~$120 and those had similar attributes but sounded more like headphones as expected rather than earbuds.

There are many other good phones out there also of course. Most better ones I have heard at similar price points tend to have a more laid back presentation than the Klipsch.

You can get a set of very nice Grados for that figure. Not closed models, but with a little volume, you can easily drown out the drone of others as you listen.

I can drive my Grado 225 sig's with my ipod. The Sennheisers are also nice, but for the money, they did not compare with the 225's.

Please follow up and let the forum board know what you bought/how it worked out and why.
Best of luck!

Check out the DJ cand from Denmark, the aiaiai tma-1, fanastic and just won a design award from MOMA. love mine http://www.aiaiai.dk/store/headphones/tma-1

get the Audio Technica ATH M50 and the Shure 940 and decide for yourself - and sell again...

Audio Technica ATH M50 studio headphone - preferred it to the D2000/5000/7000 - does more right than wrong & easy to drive. Great Bass, Timing, Imaging, natural fullbodied timbre.

Go to head-fi.org