ATH-M50s/LE

I see the audio Technicas being worn by everyone across the music industry. Last night watching that new Taylor Swift docu-series with my wife, she had them on along with Max Martin while recording her newest album. They are not just a great value. They're workhorse headphones. But after a while the vinyl on the headband and earcups will start to flake. I bought new earcups for mine a few years ago for like 20 bucks. Brought em back to life. And I actually had the first version of them before the cable was removable and gave them to my brother after there was a fire at his place. I bought them in college (around 2008 or 2009) and they are still going strong.

Audio Technica Mx50s. It's what I replaced my AKG K240s with finally after 12 years.

Im also a musician with migraines. I personally replaced the cups on my ATH M50s with a velour surface that is super soft and also really chunky (which helps keeps my ears off of the speakers too, that caused headaches for me). The headband isnt great, but you can always get a cushion for that. So really my recommendation is to get a great sounding pair that lets you replace the ear cups/head band to make something comfy for you!

I’m an audio engineer and I enjoy practicing steel through my open back Sennheiser 600s a lot but those are out of your budget. Really any good headphones should work fine, the main thing to look for would be comfort. In your budget I’d recommend the beyerdynamic 990 for a more affordable open back option (if background noise isn’t much of an issue) for closed back headphones, Sennheiser 280, Beyer 770, and audio technica M50s are all good options. 

If you can't afford studio monitors or your space isn't treated for them, I highly recommend monitoring headphones. Cheapest: AKG K240s ($50, but they're "open backed," so be careful that your mic doesn't pick up any sound bleeding from them) mid-range: Sennheiser 280 pros ($70), Audio Technica ATH-m40s ($99) upper range: Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 ohm ($179) or Audio Technica ATH-m50s ($150)

First, the photo is of on ear not over ear. I thrifted a pair of Bose quiet comforts and they are nice however I think I like my dt 770pro a little more. It's also way easier to change the pads on the dt 770 than the Bose (unless the newer model of the quiet comfort changed how they put on the pads) I also owned a pair of audio technica m50s and they are not as comfortable as the dt770 but the dt770 do not have a detachable cable so you have trade offs.

Yup - my go-to for 3 years!