Comment I'll second grados. (Score 2) 448
I know everyone else has answered this already. I'm a fan of the Grado SR60is.
As a game design hobbyist, I have spent a little time messing around with wave forms, so I have a little experience. I don't care for most of the audiophile nonsense I've seen around, and I have not performed any form of tests, so this is of course only my non-professional opinion.
They still sound great to me, better than any of the others I've tried. The open cups do reduce the bass some, but the drivers are big enough that it still works well. I've heard the wood ones have slightly better resonance and have considered upgrading them to see if it's true, but probably don't care enough to invest.
They have physically fallen apart on me slowly, frankly, and the build quality is significantly cheaper than their hundreds of dollar sets, but it's nothing a little tape hasn't fixed. And I only really care about how they sound, not how they look.
I got my pair for $70, which is 20 more than your price range, but it's the best i found for the money at the time.
Feel free to take it or leave it, I hope one more opinion in the mix is useful.