A few years ago I bought a pair of Hifiman HE400i headphones for around $300 (they’re less than $200 now I think). These are wired, open-backed and have planar drivers. Going from a pair of $100 headphones to these was like night and day. I’m not an audiophile by any stretch, but wow is there a big difference. If you enjoy music, and are in a position to use open-back headphones, I’d highly recommend trying something like them in the ~$200 range. With proper care they should last many years.
I have a pair of HE-400 headphones that I love - the sound quality is outstanding. But dang if they aren’t the heaviest and least comfortable things around (Compare to something like a nice pair of those seinheisers that everybody owns - those feel like you’re wearing a cloud and still sound 85% as good). To me the HE400s are very much “special occasions” headphones that I bust out for when I’m really sitting down to just listen to music. For everything else I need something a bit more... usable.
