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Theres the..AKG 240 mk ii, that I've been recommended before. What else would be nice in this price range?? I want the headphones to have very good BASS as I intend on using it with my Ipod aswell, THANKS TO ALL 
Piano; YDP161
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Oh and I want it so you can play music really loud via headphones and the sound doesn't leak out at all/barely noticeable
Piano; YDP161
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Are the akg 271 mkii any better? They are going for around the same price as the 240's.
Piano; YDP161
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Given your spend limits, I think the 240 is a good choice.
Regarding your wish to play really loud ... use caution. You only get one pair of ears in this life.
As for sound leaking out ... that tends to suggest closed headphones rather than open ones, based on forum talk. But closed phones generally don't sound as good as open phones.
And the sound leakage from open phones is minimal. The phones cannot couple much energy to the back side because of the enormous mass impedance mismatch. A person sitting nearby will strain to hear a minimal tinkling of sound. A person in the next room will hear nothing.
Closed phones do a good job of keeping external sounds out. They're good at that (if you care). But I wouldn't be concerned about the internal sounds getting out.
Also, don't limit yourself to the 240. There are many brands out there, and they compete closely at each price point.
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Thank you Mac for that write up!!!  ''Regarding your wish to play really loud ... use caution. You only get one pair of ears in this life'' True say lol, I love my music and I need ALOT of noise in my head!! XD --- "But closed phones generally don't sound as good as open phones." From my brief look I read that somewhere aswell. -------- ''And the sound leakage from open phones is minimal. The phones cannot couple much energy to the back side because of the enormous mass impedance mismatch. A person sitting nearby will strain to hear a minimal tinkling of sound. A person in the next room will hear nothing.'' Well If it leaks only a slight sound which is barely noticeable then thats perfectly fine ---- ''Also, don't limit yourself to the 240. There are many brands out there, and they compete closely at each price point.'' That is true, I've had a little look. Theres plenty of Sennheiser's aswell. Though I have no idea about headphones, they have all these special names and certain specs that don't make much sense to me. I suppose I'll rely on reviews/and youtube etc. --- On another note, I know you love your software. How would one connect a YDP161 to a computer? Is it difficult? I think I'll want to go the software route someday, so just wanted a rough Idea. Cheers, Shokaib
Piano; YDP161
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And another thing Mac, Is it impossible to connect external speakers to the YDP161?
Piano; YDP161
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As for connecting external speakers ... the YDP161 has no line output connection. So the only way is to use the headphone jack. This is not optimal, but it will work. Then you'll need an amplifier and speakers. For piano software use, have a look at this: MIDI hookup How would one connect a YDP161 to a computer? Is it difficult? The diagram shows both a MIDI connection and a USB connection. But I don't think the YDP161 has USB-to-host, so you'd use the MIDI connection shown in the diagram. This requires a MIDI interface. The interface in the diagram is both a MIDI interface and an external sound card. (I needed both. This one is a Presonus Audiobox USB.) Or you could skip the Presonus box and just get a MIDI-to-USB adapter cable for around $40. They work okay. But it leaves open the question: How well will your computer's sound card work? (Mine gave high latency, hence the Presonus purchase.)
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As for connecting external speakers ... the YDP161 has no line output connection. So the only way is to use the headphone jack. This is not optimal, but it will work. Then you'll need an amplifier and speakers. For piano software use, have a look at this: MIDI hookup How would one connect a YDP161 to a computer? Is it difficult? The diagram shows both a MIDI connection and a USB connection. But I don't think the YDP161 has USB-to-host, so you'd use the MIDI connection shown in the diagram. This requires a MIDI interface. The interface in the diagram is both a MIDI interface and an external sound card. (I needed both. This one is a Presonus Audiobox USB.) Or you could skip the Presonus box and just get a MIDI-to-USB adapter cable for around $40. They work okay. But it leaves open the question: How well will your computer's sound card work? (Mine gave high latency, hence the Presonus purchase.) Thanks, that is helpful. "This is not optimal, but it will work" Is it good enough, or you could clearly tell it apart from a line out connection? -- So I connect My YDP to that box and then from there I can connect it to a computer? What would you recommend, I need some external stuff rather than use my computer as a source. My computer is awful, had it for many years now, Its slow, doesn't have that much memory and its sound card is very old. I was thinking of upgrading it at some point. I liked the sound of this; "The interface in the diagram is both a MIDI interface and an external sound card." If I upgraded only the most important things in my computer that I would need to run a software, like RAM etc, and brought external stuff like the one in that picture then that would be preferable.
Piano; YDP161
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That M-Audio box is similar to the Presonus. If I recall correctly it has more features than the Presonus. But it costs more, and I didn't need the extra features. Even the Presonus has features I cannot use: guitar input, microphone input, pan control, etc. So I opted for the less expensive Presonus. I got it used on ebay for only $71.
As for the computer ... forget it. Computer upgrades don't make sense after the first year. After that the only meaningful upgrade is a new box, or a total replacement of the innards. It just doesn't make sense.
My laptop is a six-year-old Dell with a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor and 2 GB RAM. I was okay with the 80 GB 7200 RPM drive. And if I had stayed with "only" Ivory and Vintage D, it would be okay, with a bit of room to spare. But I started buying more libraries and needed more storage, so I replaced the drive with a 330 GB unit for only $80 or so.
I don't think it would be successful with a box less capable than this. So if you have a lesser computer, forget it.
BTW, this laptop runs XP. Windows Vista or Windows 7 would choke this box ... too slow and not enough RAM. The only fix for that would be a complete replacement. But it runs fine with the relatively trim Windows XP.
If you replace your computer and buy a sound card, amplifier, and speakers, you'll need $800 at least (probably more like $1200.) Given that you've had to squeeze hard on your wallet to buy the piano, patiently waiting for many months, I'd suggest spending time on the piano. Forget about piano libraries for a while.
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That M-Audio box is similar to the Presonus. If I recall correctly it has more features than the Presonus. But it costs more, and I didn't need the extra features. Even the Presonus has features I cannot use: guitar input, microphone input, pan control, etc. So I opted for the less expensive Presonus. I got it used on ebay for only $71.
As for the computer ... forget it. Computer upgrades don't make sense after the first year. After that the only meaningful upgrade is a new box, or a total replacement of the innards. It just doesn't make sense.
My laptop is a six-year-old Dell with a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor and 2 GB RAM. I was okay with the 80 GB 7200 RPM drive. And if I had stayed with "only" Ivory and Vintage D, it would be okay, with a bit of room to spare. But I started buying more libraries and needed more storage, so I replaced the drive with a 330 GB unit for only $80 or so.
I don't think it would be successful with a box less capable than this. So if you have a lesser computer, forget it.
BTW, this laptop runs XP. Windows Vista or Windows 7 would choke this box ... too slow and not enough RAM. The only fix for that would be a complete replacement. But it runs fine with the relatively trim Windows XP.
If you replace your computer and buy a sound card, amplifier, and speakers, you'll need $800 at least (probably more like $1200.) Given that you've had to squeeze hard on your wallet to buy the piano, patiently waiting for many months, I'd suggest spending time on the piano. Forget about piano libraries for a while. Cheers, Im going to give some good time to the DP itself, Software Is something I have in mind, In a few months or so. Im running windows Xp, have about 50gb of free space on my hard-drive. And the rest reads; AMD Sempron (tm) Processor 2600+ 1.60GHz, 512MB of RAM
Piano; YDP161
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As for sound leaking out ... that tends to suggest closed headphones rather than open ones, based on forum talk. But closed phones generally don't sound as good as open phones. There are some fantastic sounding closed phones (and eh sounding open ones), so while there may be some truth to the generalization, I would not make that a factor in selecting a specific pair of phones. And yes, since drivers move air and therefore produce sound in both directions, a sealed enclosure for the driver will prevent sound from "escaping out the back" of the phones. Of course the sound is not terribly loud out the back--heck, it's not terribly loud out the front unless it's right up against your ear--but it's certainly audible to people nearby in a quiet room, just as you can still quietly hear someone's voice coming out of your phone if you hold it away from your ear. It's not loud, but it's very audible. If you are recording vocal tracks, you definitely want closed phones, because the audio tracks you are monitoring while singing will definitely leak out through open phones and be picked up by the microphone. The last thing you want in a vocal track during mixdown is hearing a click track in the background! The phones cannot couple much energy to the back side because of the enormous mass impedance mismatch.
???
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shokz,
Look at BeyerDynamic DT 770 Pro (80 ohm version). (I have the 250 ohm version).
Relatively transparent sounding and reasonably neutral but with plenty of bass.
Closed back design so very little sound leakage.
The 80 Ohm version can easily be driven by an iPod.
They are extremely comfortable for extended periods.
The wearing parts (ear pads, headband etc) are replaceable and easily obtainable.
Very rugged build quality.
One of the well known reference headphones and widely available.
UK street price around £125.
Good luck,
Steve
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I use Sennheiser HD380 Pros with my DP and also occasionally for ipod, TV and home recording. They're great for all these, comfortable and closed design too.
£99.99 or cheaper including delivery from a few online UK shops at the moment.
Also, if you're looking at the Presonus and M-Audio boxes, I'd recommend looking at the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. It's roughly the same price as the other two in the UK, and has better mic preamps. I prefer it to the Fast Track Pro I used to have, and it works well with the Sennheisers too.
You could also try Pianoteq, which should work with 512MB of RAM and takes up hardly any hard disk space. You can download a demo for free and see what you think. It doesn't sound quite as good as the sampled pianos, but it's worth checking out anyway.
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Sorry for the late reply, I just got back from watching Titanic lol
@Scott
Thanks Scott, I'll be looking at both open/closed headphones.
@Steve
Cheers Steve, Im going to check that model out!
@Skyway
Thanks, I;ll keep that model in mind. Aah yeahs, the external boxes I'll look through a few in due time. But I was very keen on the M audio one, because I really liked this piano player on youtube and I wanted to know how they recorded the song, and it was through the M audio fast track pro.
Im going to be upgrading my RAM or computer at some point. Definately needs speeding up. I checked out a software piano demo yesterday, I think it was Ivory, I'll be sure to check out Pianoteq aswell and the Galaxy Vintage D which I have seen mentioned.
Piano; YDP161
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Guys for music software and stuff, what is better a dual core laptop or quad core. I mean is it worth spending a bit of extra $ for a quad core? Or is dual core more than enough. Thanks
Piano; YDP161
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Piano; YDP161
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Usually VST's are not processor-limited, and I don't think they make use of multiple cores, so there may not be an advantage to using a quad core processor in this application. More likely issues with laptops are slow hard drives, but I think the current generation of laptops does fine.
My suggestion is to try the onboard sound first and then if you find it lacking in one way or another get an external one. You very likely will because many onboard sound cards are subpar, but if you can make do, saving money is always a good thing.
You can always buy more equipment later.
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Usually VST's are not processor-limited, and I don't think they make use of multiple cores, so there may not be an advantage to using a quad core processor in this application. More likely issues with laptops are slow hard drives, but I think the current generation of laptops does fine.
My suggestion is to try the onboard sound first and then if you find it lacking in one way or another get an external one. You very likely will because many onboard sound cards are subpar, but if you can make do, saving money is always a good thing.
You can always buy more equipment later. Thanks GV! Im going to start saving up from now. Going to play around with the onboard sound at first, then upgrade soon
Piano; YDP161
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I was on the Ivory software website, and was checking the software out. I noticed this under minimum requirements; Hard drive speed of at least 7200 RPM All the laptops I was interested in, and some others, I checked and they said; - 5400 RPM 
Piano; YDP161
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