I understand that Sony as a corporation is not the best, but they don't operate child / forced labor camps or anything like that (to the best of my knowledge) and abide with the law. My position (which I'm sure many disagree with) is that if people want to be conciseness about something they should invest their time on a decent political campaign rather than trying to figure out what fortune 500 company isn't evil... because they all are in one way or another. Just get the best product at the best price so long as nothing egregious is going on with the seller, and invest time in breaking the stranglehold lobby groups have on our political system.
To stay on-topic, my father was a sound engineer for most of working years, and he insists that
these Sony headphones and their studio monitor series are the best ever made. (disclaimer: linked using my associates tag). They are $75, if you want to stick hard on the $50 limit,
these or
these are very highly rated as well.