Laogeodritt

I'm looking to upgrade some of my audio equipment in the near future (whee Christmas =D ), but given my limited experience with it, I'd like a few suggestions, recommendations and advice.


So, firstly, I'd be looking for some good headphones for no more than 150 CAD. Preferably, sound quality would be relatively uncoloured and adequate for producing music [and listening to it, too, of course] given the price range, and they should be comfortable enough to use for three or four hours consecutively. Any brands to recommend that produce good headphones in this price range, or specific models?


I'm also looking to get a sound card (my current one is an integrated one). I'm not really sure if I should go for low-end professional cards such as the M-Audio Audiophile 2496, or for mid-end consumer cards. I do know, though, that for now, all of my input or output devices use the 3.5mm stereo plug (and one uses a 6.2mm, but I use a 6.2-to-3.5mm plug adapter for it). Are there any particularly advantages or disadvantages I should know about for each? Any recommendations? Again, my budget would allow for no more than $150 CAD or so.

(Looking at some of M-Audio's, I see they have a MIDI input/output... that could be useful.)


My current 2.1 speaker set is way too bassy, and there's no way to change that short of third-party software... I'm not sure if I should go for cheap monitors ($200-250 CAD or less) or for good consumer speakers around the same range. Given that I mostly work on music through headphones, I'm not sure whether monitors are justified, or how they compare to like-priced consumer systems. Any suggestions?


Thanks a lot,
Laogeodritt