HD 535

For my overly sensitive 59cm head the comfiest over-ear are (in USD) 1. old $30-100 Sennheiser HD565/545/535 from the mid 90s 2. $50USD Philips SHP9500 From the ones I haven't tried but are said to be super comfy 1. $1500 Sennheiser HD800S 2. $350 Sennheiser HD490 Pro Most of them have velour earpads, with the exception of SHP9500 which has like nylon braided cloth, and HD535 which is vinyl or whatever that plasticky thin fake leather is. That whole series though might require some maintenance. However prior to my head becoming overly sensitive, I found modern 500 series Sennheisers to be very comfy (well, HD555 are still comfy for me, but the newer ones have more clamp) - current models would be HD560S, HD550, HD505. Also HD600 which I still use, just have to take breaks (but I'm coming around to the idea of permanently bending the metal headband strip using pliers...) - during which I use flathead earphones like Faaeal Snow-Lotus 1.0 and Qigom S300, or on-ears like Koss KSC75 and very old Sennheisers HD330, HD414X and more.

There are dedicated subs for audio which is more useful, but the truth is for the majority of PC use cases, any decent set of headphones is good enough. I have an ancient pair of Sennheiser HD5-- headphones that are still awesome. A monitor or any other PC part from that era is basically garbage today.

Sennheiser’s HD500 series models used

Sennheiser 500eries goes on sale or refurb often cheap. They lasted me about 15 years, hella comfy as they use a velvet cup instead of fake leather shite

I've listened to AC over the years on a few different sets of cans. The best experience in my opinion is a pair of open-back headphones. Specifically Sennheiser HD 5XX or 6XX. It allows the wide soundstage to really shine through the level of detail that is revealed is amazing.