Recommendations for headphones under $400?

@stringreen
Probably cannot disagree there but as have no way to get a line out signal to a dedicated headphone amp for now AND that just means another box and power supply, not too likely too happen right now, although I was going to go that route if the h300 would have played nicely!

@noble100
I do have an offer to trial a h160 from another member here in my own system and am most likely going to take them up on that, worst I would be out is shipping if there is not enough OOMPH for my Wilsons.

However I still am mulling over options.

1/ I still could have my h300 internally modified to convery the existing pre out to a full line out independant of music through the speakers.
2/ Buy the h160, sell the h300
3/ buy a dac/preamp to use with my BAT VK600SE that I still have lying around ( i know nice for it to just sit gathering dust!) and used to use with Exogal Comet plus until I found I wanted more than one analog input. Options here with 2 or more analog inputs are limited so far. Mytek Manhattan ( 3 to 3.5k used!), PS audio Stella Gain cell dac ($1700 new).

Lots to consider......

Finally had a reply from Hegel themselves.
It seems that EVERY integrated they make or made has either a headphone out or a true line out EXCEPT the H300.
Go figure.........

For comfort and portability the Sennheiser PX100 mk1s are hard to beat

Sligjtly less portable but even better sounding are the brilliant Jays V Jays.

I find the PSB M4U 1s to be well balanced but maybe for Rock you need something less polite. Is there any real alternative to a Grado?

" I still could have my h300 internally modified to convert the existing pre out to a full line out independant of music through the speakers."

Hi uberwaltz,
     I didn't know this was even an option and you were considering it.  If it's not cost prohibitive and there's no real downside, this also seems like a good solution to me.  But you seem to prefer an 'all-in-one' solution more than having a separate headphone dac/amp.  
     I understand your reluctance to add a dac and amp or a dac/amp combo to your system because I recently had to make a similar decision with my system.  I decided to add a separate dac and class A headphone amp to my system located right next to my listening position. 
   
      It's just a small JDS Labs dac into a small Aune x7s small pure class A amp putting out a maximum of 2 watts but I'm really enjoying everything I listen to through them with a pair of Sony Z-7 headphones. Class A sounds extremely good in my opinion. If you're interested, you could do something similar with just a good class A headphone amp (no dac required) and the very good Hifiman 400i headphones, once a mod is performed to your H300 pre outs. 
      I think the 400i's would sound exceptionally good utilizing the H300's internal dac outputted through true pre outs to a good powerful external pure class A headphone amp.
     Hopefully,  auditioning an H160 in your system will help you decide which option you prefer.

Best wishes,
    Tim   

To anyone using Grado SR type or the similar looking Sennheisers or really any headphones that employ foam ear pads, like say, Sennheiser 600s, what I found out recently was that foam pads are very messed. The sound is much much better simply taking all of the foam off. Not only is the foam material BAD for the sound but it makes the ear too far away from the transducer so you lose dynamics and volume. One wonders can these people even hear? What were they thinking?! I’d opine the sound is at least twice as good. Super good! You can see what I’m talking about right away if the foam pads on your headphones are removable. Then the trick is to find some way to make the surface of the headphones soft so they won’t kill your ears, I’m using gel strips right now that work fine and keep the distance from the ear to the transducer small. If someone has a better solution I’m all ears. Unbelievable! I’m not hot dogging you. 🌭