Recommend a pair of headphones for me

each individual lead can be attached to the driver in two different ways though, they are completely unmarked. it would be easy to do the earphone equiv of this
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-phase-your-speakers/

that said, this site suggests that they are correct L/R and are in phase.
https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_polaritycheck.php

and, of course, there's the question of if i'd even notice

tested them in the park this morning. they sound good, obvious inprovement in sound quality (although almost everything that played was unfamiliar. maybe i ought to try it on tracks i know)

the metal cases are slightly bigger and heavier. and colder!

the cable is stiffer and twisted, not smooth, but not importantly so - i was worried it would scrape against clothes

when i pushed them in slightly too far they did some odd kind of bone conductivity thing(?) where my footsteps were really loud. re-seating them helped. not clumping around also helped.

so the cable microphonics aren't bad but the occlusion effect is. You didn't get that with the previous ones? Using smaller silicone tips could help. But this is generally why I prefer flat-head buds if I'm using anything while walking around.

i was thinking the larger tips would stop me putting them in so far (which i think the previous ones did just because of their shape). will experiment.

yeah, you can see here the chamfer meant the body wasn't in my ear at all, just the rubber bit

https://i5.walmartimages.ca/images/Enlarge/658/879/6000198658879.jpg

compared with these where the actual barrel can end up inside

https://trn-audio.com/trn-m10.html

Oh I see. At times I have needed a little extending. There's ways. For example, flipping your tips

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/flip-tips-or-fliptips-prepare-to-have-your-mind-blown.906357/

if you don't flip your tips are you even really listening to music

i wouldn't generally recommend that site but that comes in pretty handy lol

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 4.50BTNC wireless headphones (with an optional wire). I love the noise cancellation and the sound reproduction. The earpads were fantastically uncomfortable; I replaced them with some soft, kind of fuzzy ones (described as "Velvet") and I can now wear them for hours.

^ i see that one can get the Sennheiser HD 350BT for about $40 cheaper than the these. are they comparable?

at this point i'm waffling between a pair of $40 soundcore BT noise-canceling headphones (essentially the cheapest option?) and a pair of Sennheisers in the $90 - 120 range.

do I need a headphone amp if I’m already going through a stereo receiver? I’m not having volume issues at all. Do they make music sound better? Warm tubey goodness?

I've gone done that road (without spending all that much) and I would say no. Not unless your receiver sounds obviously noisy or is under-powered (like you're almost maxing it out to listen at a comfortable level).

Light dabbling in tubes I also found kind of a waste of time. And reading accounts of people with higher end stuff (who could be honest about it) it's really kinda like, well the lights look nice. Sort of like digital vs vinyl.

I have a tubey headphone amp, but I needed something as my amp didn't have a headphone jack.

The headphones I have are Beyer Dynamic DT 990's, which I mainly bought because the guy in front of me at the hifi place looked like Jimmy Page, and he bought a pair of them. He wasn't Jimmy Page, but just the fact that he looked like him made me think that there must be something to the product. They're really comfy to wear.

xxp that makes sense, kind of what I suspected. Thanks!