As a drummer I’ve had a bunch of closed back headphones and learned that I don’t like them. They (did anyway) sound like there are a pair of cheap speakers pointing at your ears. Plus they’re hot. And usually uncomfortable.
When I got back into taping and doing CD mixes etc. it required a set of accurate headphones so I could hear what was going on. Tape saturation/distortion etc. are problems you can miss, that, when played back on a big dynamic system, are a slap in the face (or kick in the nads, since you spent so many hours putting that together).
AKG K702. Open back. Light-ish, real leather headband, “velvet” ear cups and a wide and reasonably flat frequency response. They sound good. Not as good as a good system in a good room, but not like speakers yelling in your ears. Some call them analytical; and, to a point they are. I want to hear the bad stuff, so I can keep it out of my recordings. That said, I don’t think they exaggerate any frequencies, or “sugar coat” (sweeten) the sound. If your source is crap; they’ll sound like crap.
I’m sure there are better headphones. But bang for the buck is pretty hard to beat. I’ve recently considered going upscale with a higher end AKG (not many above this one from them), or someone else, but I think a nicer cable for these will be better spent money, though I do need a cheaper (or used 702’s) for work.
They don’t look “cool” if that’s important. I’m usually in my office wearing them tearing up tape, so I couldn’t care less. But my point is, I think you should strongly consider open backs. Or semi- open. At similar price points, open will always sound more natural.
Disclaimer: I have not tried every headphone made, but express my experience here. Head-fi will become the time-suck or research but those guys (and girls) HAVE tried every headphone made...
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