Personally, I find a used hd800 and a used sony ex1000 to be very cheap for getting some of the best sound despite a few issues these products have.
Posted May 4, 2020, 3:24 AM UTC
I just got some Monolith M600 and I really like them. $60 right now at Monoprice. They have one big downside - the cord is this funky thing with a mono 3.5 mm plug for each side that bridge to a stereo plug at the amplifier end. That is basically irreplaceable, and Monoprice doesn't seem to sell replacements. You'd have to make your own. Otherwise they're pretty cool and I think they'd stand up to most of the $200 headphones I've tried.
HD800...very cheap?...
Relative to other options of comparable sound yes. Maybe my question wan't clear enough.
Compared to many others yes, but a used HD540, especially Gold Ref I 600 Ohms, holds its own against HD800, and some say in some aspects it beats HD800. And used HD540s go for peanuts compared to a used HD800.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/wow-sennheiser-hd-540-reference-are-so-good.670255/
He's saying actual Hi-fi, not Lo-fi, or Mid-fi hell like most of us are stuck in.