Looking for headphones, any suggestions?

First of all...thanks for carrying the torch to the next generation. Our listening future is with you!

I agree with a previous poster; a visit to head-fi.org is your first stop. Lots of knowledgeable posters with varying opinions.

Here is a list of gear that regularly comes and goes here on A'gon. Every piece is either a current or former Stereophile Recommended product. There are other products, but these are a generally accepted as decent choices. You should be able to buy, try and sell anything that is not to your liking without suffering depreciation as you would if purchased new.

Amps
Creek OBH-11, OBH-11se and OBH-21, OBH-21se [newer model of OBH-11]
Headroom (several models)
Channel Islands (CI Audio) VHP-1
Musical Fidelity X-Can (v2 or 3) [tube]

...upgraded power supplies are worth pursuing.

Cans
Sennheiser 580/600/650
Grado RS and SR series
Shure E4 or E5 (in-ear...a different flavor)
Etymotic ER4 (in-ear)

...as always...a good source is critical.

Any combination of amp/can should provide hours of blissful listening and be under your budget. Use the savings to buy more music! Good luck and good listening!

lot of great ideas here! some things to mull over though:
if you're gonna have a roomate, but wanna be able to rock out at all times with zero impact on the roomie: seriously consider one of the in the ear phones (as the above mentioned etys and shures). i sent my tube o phile daughter (her home rig is all tubes) to bennington college last year with grado rs60's, etymotic er4s earphones and a ray samuals xr7 headphone amp, as she wisely opted to keep the tubes in the safety of her room at home (college can be carazy). she ended up using the ety's a LOT as noone else could hear them while she listened. that xr7 amp can be found new for (485 or so from the ever tustworthy TODD THE VINYL JUNKIE) and used for less than 400 at headfi if ya keep looking and have some luck. it is AMAZING (and as you will see written at headfi over and over again it has unusual tubelike properties for a ss amp) also it is PORTABLE so you can use it all over campus and beyond. it also is NOT fragile!!! I've used a lot of high end amps, preamps and headphone amps over the years, and this is the only one i've heard that is at that level for so "little" money. it is just smokin'. i currently have a woo audio 3 with expensive nos tubes in it as a bedroom unit. it is a great tube amp FOR THE MONEY (it's just under 500 also; plus 150 for killer amperex tubs). i just borrowed my daughters xr-7 to compare it for fun. as sweet as the woo is; the xr-7 BLOWS it out the window. it is dead quiet, amazingly dynamic, extremely detailed and has killer imaging/soundstage slash headstage.
nope, i don't work for ray samuals or todd.
also: you might consider seeing how much the new shure /due out in may 2006/ e500 earphones go for (suggested retail is $500?). a bunch of very experienced folks have tested them and apparantly they set a new standard for earphones (people who love etymotics say these blow em away). another thought would be to get a pr of grado sr60's for 69 bucks and one of the current shures which cost less and are extensively reviewed/described at headfi. but a portable amp as good as the xr-7 will see you thru 4 years of anything with audiophile sonics! good luck!!!

Off topic, but a suggestion for a person under 20 who still has great hearing (I'm a dad and I'm 43 but my audiophilia had taken firm root at your age--Also, I apologize if this sounds like a lecture): Whatever you buy, do not listen for long periods (>15 minutes at a time) at high volumes(significantly louder than talking level). Look through some of the tinnitus threads on this site if you need to be convinced. You won't go deaf, but you could end up with lessened high frequency hearing, and needlessly so. Tinnitus can be an annoyance if it's persistent. Also, closed back headphones make it easier to damage your hearing. (Sorry to be such a geezer-nerd, but I couldn't resist, since you seem like a smart kid, based on what choices you've listed.)

i kept calling the ras amp the xr-7 but it is really thr xp-7. its hard bein an old guy...

If you can stretch the AKG K1000 is in another league by itself, very amazing, but it will need rewire and a pricey amp. You will get world class sound with all this though.

I prefer the Senn 600/cardas cable to the Senn 650 which has more bass coloration and is darker sounding.

Or Grado RS-1 which I prefer over any Senn.