I use a Senheiser PX 200, the first version of this http://en-de.sennheiser.com/px-200-ii It's one of the best choices if you work the most part of the time traveling

Thank you all for the advices. I have settled for Sennheiser HD201 for now, and I'm loving it so far. Very rarely I get a very slight weird "trebble" in the right ear from very few YouTube videos where the recording is of poor quality or compression. But, as I said, it happens very rarely, in fact I have not noticed it for the past few days. Overall, I'm pleased. While outside, you hear what you're supposed to hear - the signal from your recorder, although I;m still waiting for my shotgun mic to arrive. The sound quality is amazing. Sound isolation is pretty good, but not 100%. Very comfortable, I could wear them all day (be careful with those poor ear-drums, though) and the looks are very simple (so you don't look like a nerdy alien wearing them). For £15.99 + free shipping from Amazon - this is perfect for now. When I get a dedicated boom/sound man, I'll probably get authentic Sony MDR7506.

The Sennheiser HD 201s seem pretty good for the money, but if you want the most accurate response, most even impedance, and best isolation, the HD 280s still significantly outperform them - especially when you look at low-end frequency response - there's nothing better to hear problem rumbles at low frequencies that you need to watch for when it comes to mic handling, or remove with high-pass filtering. I guess it depends on how serious you are, and how critical your ear is.

I use Sony MDR-V6 headphones and find they have great bang for the buck. They have that reference audio sound which seems very clean, clinical, and present. I often feel like it exaggerates the sound of a mix so that if something doesn't fit, I can easily hear what element it is that's off.

@kronstadt The Sony MDR-7506's do have a somewhat hyped bottom end. However this is not a bad thing as long as you are aware of it. It makes it easier to identify low end rumble when location recording such as boompole handling noise or air currents which helps in determining how much high pass filtering to apply. As the 7506's are an industry standard you will find them everywhere. It's important to know your gear and how it sounds as this will effect your decision making process. Chances are if you continue to work in the business someone will eventually shove some 7506's in your hand to use on a job. I would just bite the bullet and get a pair of genuine 7506's from an authorised dealer. Don't screw around with fake Chinese look-a-like shit or you will just be wasting your money. Buy right, buy once!

I have tried all the top of the line headphones from Stax, Sennheiser, AKG, Grado, etc. and say that in the US, the Grado SR60 for $79 gets my vote as an audiophile value headphone.

for cheap headphones, your not going to get full iso or flat monitoring abilities. Compared to my hd650s the hd 201 are poor, but theres hundreds of dollars difference and custom cables. If im doing something outside I dont want a pair of cans that cost that much due to risk, I use the hd 280 pro or Sony MDR-V700DJ outside. (they fold up and seem to never break). My first non terrible pair was the hd 201s which still get limited use.

A- too subjective, but these are not very hyped or have eq bumps for great sounding playback, I would say semi flat, flattest for <30$. With any decent headphone/monitor flat or not, time spent listening will reveal its hyped/lacking parts and allow you to understand what its playing back.

B- not complete isolation but defiantly useable in those environments.

C- good, they have light padding, but upper ear may get alittle sore after a few hours if you dont have tiny ears

MDR-7506 would be a clear step up, dont see anymore for $33 though, I would have got another pair

@shrigg and @Vitaliy_Kiselev does this look like a counterfeit ?http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-NEW-Sony-MDR-7506-7506-SOUND-MONITOR-Headphones-/150826247544?pt=US_Headphones&hash=item231df1e578#ht_3339wt_1151

And even knowing that they are counterfeits, would they still sound as the real thing?

As I type this I am listening to MDR-7506's I bought off a chinese ebay seller for $33 shipped and they aren't counterfeit. I own another pair of MDR-7506's bought from B&H for $100+ and they are identical, just great sounding, professional industry-standard headphones... The obvious choice. Here's the actual link: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/e11000.m43.l3160/7?euid=23455e252c2f4190b09f7f7726ac144e&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D110854938271%26ssPageName%3DADME%3AB%3ABCA%3AUS%3A3160

Thank you all for the input! Really loving the community effort in trying to find cheap and good solutions.

I've been reading and watching the reviews of all the headphones suggested here. So far I'm inclined to buy Sennheiser HD 201 (£15.99) suggested by @jodydb (thanks!) or AKG K44 (£21) suggested by @oscillian and @soundgh2 (cheers!)

What I'm looking for is: A) Sound Quality (must be able to hear exactly what is being recorded, and not the more "beautiful" version than it really is) B) Sound Isolation (must be perfect or nearly perfect) , especially in a busy street or forest or seaside environments. C) Comfort (not that important, but these will be worn on location shoots for many hours)

Has anyone used these headphones? How would you rate each one of these in terms of the above criteria? If you were to choose between these two which one would you pick?

@oscillian what you said - cheap closed and cheerful :)

for cheap ones I would get a pair of Sennheiser HD 201. No they wont last forever, but they are 25 dollars

http://www.headphone.com/headphones/sennheiser-hd-201.php