Looking for advice about headphones

[robkelk]

My Panasonic DJ120 headphones broke. The electronics are still good; it's the joints holding them to the headrest that broke (left side first, then the right side a week later). My first thought was "Well, they still work, but I have to hold them together. I've had then for a while - can I get parts to repair them?" A look online shows that the DJ120 is long out-of-production - even the "factory overstock" stores don't have any left. So, no chance of replacement parts.

Then I thought, "I'm not retired yet; maybe I should buy a good pair of cans." So I checked out what's available. I've never heard of most of the brands that show up in searches. (And the variation in prices is insane! At least two orders of magnitude between the cheap break-and-throw-away cans and the highest-end sets - part of those high-end prices has to be the sucker audiophile paying for a brand name.)

As far as my ears go, I can easily tell the difference between Sony and Koss, but I have to concentrate to distinguish between Koss and Denon. (Yeah, those three were the brands I recognized.) And as I implied above, I prefer the over-ear style ("cans"), not pads or buds.

What's good nowadays, what should I stay away from, what's "okay I guess"?