Hey all... newbie audiophile here This is gonna be looooong...

Ahem, so I busted my beloved MDR-XD200 cans last week... It feels so weird to have to listen to music just from my laptop speakers... doesn't feel as intimate...

So I want to buy new cans... stepping up from my RM89 Sony... my MDR-XD200 I used mainly for listening to music (I like to nitpick about the quality of the music I hear), watching movies on my laptop, and sometimes I use it with my SE W995 to listen to music on the go... I listen to all types of formats, really (mp3, videos, flac, wav) so in that angle I'm not so specific.

My type of music: well, I'm not too familiar with terms like bass, treble and stuff (care to educate? Lol), but I like to hear my music thump in my ear (club/dance music, or pop with heavy synthesizing, also some alternative). Moreover, I listen to New Age stuff like Enya and also classical pieces like Mozart, so clarity is a must I guess.

So, what I'm looking for...

**I would looooove some closed circumaurals... I may sometimes use the headphones at college so I can't have any sound leak out... (unless someone can recommend some discreet open cans?)

**Portables would be great, but mid-sized cans would be okay too. I worry that portables may be inferior in sound quality to mid-sized cans...

**Cable length is crucial: I kinda had an issue with MDR-XD200's very, very, very, very loooong cable (gets all tangled up), so I'd like the new cans to have a max of 1m cable length... I'm fairly short so I guess that'd be more than enough to reach from my ears to my trouser pockets

**Must have 3.5mm jack.

**Durable!! I'm really clumsy (drop stuff a lot) and I like to bring my headphones when I travel, so cans must be durable~

**Comfort... Something like the MDR-XD200 would be perfect. It's got a firm grip on my ears. BTW, I have small ears.

**I'd also love a fun design... haha, I'm a girl, what'd you expect? Something with colours and such - not just plain silver and black. Something aesthetic But this isn't a major requirement

My budget is about RM500, and I could extend that, but I guess it's more than enough. I know open cans are better than closed ones but I want privacy, so I am willing to sacrifice a bit of quality over that. I've been considering Audio-Technica cans (I love their design @__@), Koss PortaPro, the PX100, and a bit of Grado, but I haven't been able to decide. I did love my MDR-XD200's performance though, so something similar would be cool, though maybe a bit heavier in the 'thumps'.

If someone could recommend cans that would fit these criteria and also the place to buy them, you'd make my month!

Thanks so much!!

EDIT: BTW, are Skullcandy headphones any good? =/

This post has been edited by Mizu: Jan 23 2010, 10:00 PM

Waahhh... that bad? So pitiful... they look so good~ @_@

Any reason why they're so bad?

Right, right... So no SC for me then

Still looking though. I'm really confused as to what to buy. I want to find a place where I can actually try out headphones, but I can't think of a place other than BOSE or Sony or Apple stores... I know these guys make some good headphones but I wanna give the other manufacturers a chance? :/

Would love to try out some ATH, though...

Oh, for me, looks don't really matter, would just be a huge plus. I'm all for the SQ

I'm no professional or anything, just wanna listen to my music the way the artists made them...

@feiraron: So mean... Too expensive! lol But yeah, beautiful @__@

@moniqee: Wow. Cool. The ES7 looks perfect! @__@ I'm torn between ES7 and M50 :}

@akgmalaysia: Nice, but the colours look kinda awkward. Thanks for the rec though

Thanks a lot guys!! I'll definitely keep your recs in mind. RESPECT!!