Sennheiser HD558 HD518 vs HD380 vs HD280?

[Toucan]

Sennheiser HD380: 130$
Sennheiser HD280: 182$
Sennheiser HD518: 120$
Sennheiser HD558: 180$

What would you recommend, this is for production, and when going to school, etc.

[Kromium]

Where did you find the 380's for 130 dollars? Also the 280's shouldn't be more than 80 (US Dollars). I can personally vouch for the 280's sound but not for their comfort. Sennheiser's 5xx line of headphones are boosted in their highs and if you are going to school with open backed headphones you will be hearing all sounds coming in and people will be able to hear your music too. BTW if you wear the 280's to school you will look like an idiot, but hey I do it. If you are still considering an open backed design of headphones then consider the AKG k701 and buy an amp/DAC with it (if you have the cash of course). Some closed back headphones that you should add to your list are the ATH M50's they've been reccomended by many producers. If this still is between the 518's 380's or 280's I would most definitely choose the 280's. They go very deep but lack impact until you equalize them. Also the 280's are very easy to get accustomed to for mixing. If you can read a headphone frequency response graph then I suggest you see the one that I've tagged. It compares some of the headphones that I've mentioned. The k701's 280's and m50's all perform great at maintaining an even frequency response near 0db's at the midrange while the 518 boosts some of the lower mids and boosts the highs above 10000hz. http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/build-a-graph.php?graphID%5B0%5D=2841&graphID%5B1%5D=533&graphID%5B2%5D=703&graphID%5B3%5D=2941&graphType=0&buttonSelection=Compare+Headphones