Headphones for DJing/Producing

[djproben]

"Huh? The Pioneers are not IEMs, they're headphones."

Thats the point, i wanted to get the HDJ-500s, but then after reading the blog I can't decide if I want to get the Westone UM2s instead. What a deciding factor for me is that i want to still be able to listen to the prefade, I want to hear what I am about to play before I play it on the master. And since your not supposed to take out the earphones, you wouldnt be able to hear the cue or the master independently

You can hear either one either way. You can take out earplugs, it's just a little more hassle. And most mixers (and dj software) will let you choose between listening to the prefade or listening to the master mix in your headphones so you don't even need to take them out. Personally I'm probably going to stay a headphone guy myself -- I like IEMs for listening to music players but for DJing I like being able to put the headphones on and off constantly -- but if your only concern is whether you can listen to your cue and your master both, you're going to be able to do that with either choice.

[deevey]

Trusty 'ol MDR-V6's

Cheap as chips (around $60), Volume is serious, Isolation is great, really comfortable for long hours, and sound bloody brilliant (ask any studio engineer) and best of all DO NOT fall apart !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_MDR-V6

Compare the specs to the "pro" version MDR-7506 which is essentially the same headphone with a better warranty and gold plug

I've been bashing mine round for the past 10 years, plenty of friends have bought the v700's and killed the hinges in a month.