honestly, the beats are crap.  they're all bass.  grados are awesome.  if you're ok with an open air design, grab a pair.

If you want a nice headphone with a flat frequency response with good sub-bass extension but which won't necessarily blast you in the face with bass, I like my Audio-Technica ATH-M50s for techno, although they could do with a little more bass to be honest. They sound absolutely fantastic with any other kind of music and can be found for $120.

Look into the Beyerdynamic DT770s, they're fairly balanced with slightly boosted bass, I listened to them a while ago and really liked them. Make sure to try the 32ohm version which doesn't need a separate amplifier and can be driven straight off of an iPod.

I've heard good things about Sony's new XB line (Xtra Bass) and as you can see in the frequency response graph here (http://www.headphone.com/headphones/sony-mdr-xb700.php) they have quite a ton of bass and apparently sound pretty good everywhere lse, too.

The Beats are a total joke, amateur listeners think they have a lot of bass which drowns out everything else but if you look at a frequency response graph, the truth is even worse than that. They have at on of lower-mids and upper bass but then fall off a cliff around 25Hz so they actually can't reproduce sub-bass at all. This wouldn't be an issue in any other kind of music but techno and hip hop music which they're supposed to be good for generally has a fair amount of musical information down around 20-25Hz.

In my two main speaker systems, I have one sub which rolls off around 30Hz and a HSU sub which can go down to like 18 Hz +/- 1dB and the first (Polk) sub isn't nearly as good with techno or any electronic music.

Remonster wrote:

If you want a nice headphone with a flat frequency response with good sub-bass extension but which won't necessarily blast you in the face with bass, I like my Audio-Technica ATH-M50s for techno, although they could do with a little more bass to be honest. They sound absolutely fantastic with any other kind of music and can be found for $120.

Look into the Beyerdynamic DT770s, they're fairly balanced with slightly boosted bass, I listened to them a while ago and really liked them. Make sure to try the 32ohm version which doesn't need a separate amplifier and can be driven straight off of an iPod.

I've heard good things about Sony's new XB line (Xtra Bass) and as you can see in the frequency response graph here (http://www.headphone.com/headphones/sony-mdr-xb700.php) they have quite a ton of bass and apparently sound pretty good everywhere lse, too.

The Beats are a total joke, amateur listeners think they have a lot of bass which drowns out everything else but if you look at a frequency response graph, the truth is even worse than that. They have at on of lower-mids and upper bass but then fall off a cliff around 25Hz so they actually can't reproduce sub-bass at all. This wouldn't be an issue in any other kind of music but techno and hip hop music which they're supposed to be good for generally has a fair amount of musical information down around 20-25Hz.

In my two main speaker systems, I have one sub which rolls off around 30Hz and a HSU sub which can go down to like 18 Hz +/- 1dB and the first (Polk) sub isn't nearly as good with techno or any electronic music.

I second the Sony's. The XB500's are the best. Of the beats the Pro's are the only ones worth getting, there decent if you can find them for $300ish. The Sudios have the 30hz cliff and the Solo's, even the HD's sound muddy like there packed with cardboard.

Although there On-Ear Id highly recomend the Klipsch Image One's (there actually on my head now) and they have a slight bass boost on a flat EQ but go all the way to the bass of the beats solos if you boost the base in the EQ and they have way better deffined and smoother mids and highs.