Head-Fi has great discussions from dedicated hi-end headphone folks who know and love their headphones. The issue with high end headphones is the requirement of a matching high end headphone amp, your existing amplifier / receiver can't do justice to high end 'phones. Of course it goes without saying a high end source is also a must.
The most loved phones probably are:
Sennheiser HD-650
Beyerdynamic DT880
Sony Qualia 10, R10, and CD3000 (in order of decreasing quality and cost)
Grado RS-1, HP-1
Stax Omega
AKG K1000
Sennheiser Orpheus
The last three are electrostats or other planar headphones, and usually need special amps. I personally have not heard the Stax Omegas and the Orpheus (rare and expensive).
Of the others I'd pick the Qualia or the Senn 650s driven by a high end headphone amp. The Qualias cost 6x more than the 650s though.
I haven't said much about the canalphones such as Ety ER-4P/S or the Ultimate Ears, etc. as I think they are only practical for use on planes etc where you really cant have your entire high end setup anyways, and I think they are very uncomfortable. They sound pretty good for small headphones, but give me any of the full sized cans I mentioned any day.
The most loved phones probably are:
Sennheiser HD-650
Beyerdynamic DT880
Sony Qualia 10, R10, and CD3000 (in order of decreasing quality and cost)
Grado RS-1, HP-1
Stax Omega
AKG K1000
Sennheiser Orpheus
The last three are electrostats or other planar headphones, and usually need special amps. I personally have not heard the Stax Omegas and the Orpheus (rare and expensive).
Of the others I'd pick the Qualia or the Senn 650s driven by a high end headphone amp. The Qualias cost 6x more than the 650s though.
I haven't said much about the canalphones such as Ety ER-4P/S or the Ultimate Ears, etc. as I think they are only practical for use on planes etc where you really cant have your entire high end setup anyways, and I think they are very uncomfortable. They sound pretty good for small headphones, but give me any of the full sized cans I mentioned any day.