Samson SR850

These headphones are great for mids and highs. Lacking a little in bass, but not more so than any other non-bassy headphone. I've tried a litany of other headphones including: SRH440s, Phillips Citiscape Uptowns, Brainwavz HM5s, HiFiMAN HE4XXs and more and these have held their own vs each and every one of those. The build quality is also great - wire frame + leather (or pseudo leather) self adjusting headband mean it's lightweight and sits perfectly on your head. The stock earpads aren't the best, but they're easily replaced with softer ones for a few dollars on eBay.

The Samson SR850 can be found so pretty cheap and are great value headphones. They are semi-open, so there's a bit of sound leakage but makes for a better listening experience. The sound itself is quite good for how much it costs. That said, it is not perfect. My biggest issue with the high end. They tend to be a bit overly bright and can make for quite an uncomfortable listen if listening to audio that is naturally bright already. As well as a brittle high end, it is a bit lacking in the low end. I find it doesn't respond to bass frequencies that cleanly. Overall though, it has good imaging and good detail, especially in the higher frequencies. Overall, they are fantastic value but just a bit too brittle in the higher frequencies.

Received the Samson SR850 from Amazon last week. These semi-open headphones sound very nice. Bass is clean and punchy. If you like open sound you'll like these cans. The ear cups are big and soft. They are very comfortable to wear on long listening sessions even if you have big ears. If there was a half star I would give these 4.5 stars. Highly recommend.