$1100-$1500 budget for headphone amp. Only Bumblebee need apply.

[EarthDog]

In the end I cant even tell the difference between 20 dollar cans or 300 dollar cans.

If you can't hear the difference either your soundcard is garbage, or you are not a discerning listener.

 

[TheMailMan78]

If you can't hear the difference either your soundcard is garbage, or you are not a discerning listener.

Its my ears man. I've had good sound cards and such in the past. Did you even read my whole post?

 

[Aquinus]

I say this because of years of "being manly" and not using ear protection shooting has cost me hearing quality.

You can try to make up for some of that with a software equalizer and better quality headphones are going to handle that better than cheap ones. I guess it really boils down to how badly do you want it to sound good and how messed up (or sensitive) your hearing is.

 

[EarthDog]

Its my ears man. I've had good sound cards and such in the past. Did you even read my whole post?

Glad you threw your two cents in then since you can't hear! That is helpful though for those that have trouble as you do.

 

[WhiteNoise]

So I have been using the Bryston amp for a bit now and I have to say it's wonderful. This along with my Pagoda DAC = total win.

Something else happened too. This amp really jives well with my Grado 325 cans too. I find myself (depending on music) swapping from the LCD2's to the Grados often now. This amp really did wonders for the 325.

Now I just need to buy a new set of balanced cables for the LCD-2 cans. Something with pure silver me thinks. I'm currently using a Canare balanced cable.

 

[Vario]

I could tell the difference between cheap headsets and my current Senheiser HD 280 Pros but only with a half-decent audio card. Nothing quiet sounds right after using those as not many headphones will offer a flat response and sound good at the same time.

There comes a point where headphone quality does you little good until you get a better audio device. I can say that my 280 PROs can be limited by the ALC898 on my motherboard or by the content I'm playing.

http://en-us.sennheiser.com/professional-dj-headphones-noise-cancelling-hd-280-pro

HD 280 Pro is as good as it gets for closed head phones imo, anything more is just wasting money.
Had a set of HD 570s as well which were decent open, but the 280 sounded better due to closed nature.

 

[BumbleBee]

Sennheiser HD280 Pro are not great closed back headphones. the passive noise cancelling is so good because the headphone squashes your melon and between the dated pleather ear pads and bass response I know you can do a lot better.