I was wondering what Headphones for music would be ideal with a budget around $500 (assuming there's a meaningful difference at that price range over headphones a few hundred cheaper)
 
I'm used to Sennheiser headphones so my first though was for something like the HD 650 or HD 700 And would like this to be the first part of a really good headphone set-up. I should be able to drive the 300-600 ohm headphones if recommended ones have that.
 
As for other parts of my sound set up, I have Spotify premium streaming (not lossless, could try tidal maybe? rather not have to get a library on my system if possible) and a Soundblaster X7 (soundblaster I'm starting to question a bit more)
 
ANy advice on other links in the chain are welcome too, but want to start with one piece at a time.

Corded ideally, unless there's a cordless set that's better by some chance, I have a cordless set and it sometimes(rarely) hiccups and I'd like to avoid that.

I have a pair of AKG Q701's that I love.  They have amazing clarity and detail.  Bass is deep and abundant, but flat.  Not overly enhanced like Beats and others.  Keep in mind however, that these are open back cans and can bleed some sound.  Another option is to check Massdrop.  They have a custom configured version of the AKG K702's called the K7XX for $199.

I have AKG headphones, they sound great.

I dont have much experience with headphones but mytAudio Techinica ATH-700s sound great. Falls a little short when the bass but still sounds great. 

If you want to get the best out of your music service/files and headphones. Especially if you are going to put down a good amount of money. Invest in a DAC/AMP. You don't a crazy $1k set up something like a objective2 + odac combo is very affordable and will power any set of headphones. 

Tubes amps will distort your audio. It kinda gives it a warm tone or like a "vintage buzz?" where as the solid states is clear and transparent. You hear the music how it was intentionally produced. Not all music will sound good through a tube amp but it really is all preference. I use a solid state Schiit Stack Magni + Modi combo. Mayflower Electronics makes a well built single O2 dac/amp combo. I don't personally don't own a tube amp yet but I've been looking at the Darkvoice amps, been hearing pretty good things about them and the price range is reasonable. Also Tube amps look cool 

EVGATech_JamesL
Tubes amps will distort your audio. It kinda gives it a warm tone or like a "vintage buzz?" where as the solid states is clear and transparent. You hear the music how it was intentionally produced. Not all music will sound good through a tube amp but it really is all preference. I use a solid state Schiit Stack Magni + Modi combo. Mayflower Electronics makes a well built single O2 dac/amp combo. I don't personally don't own a tube amp yet but I've been looking at the Darkvoice amps, been hearing pretty good things about them and the price range is reasonable. Also Tube amps look cool 

Not necessarily so.  WHEN a signal is pushed to "clipping", there is a distinct difference in the way a solid state amp handles it vs. a Tube amp.  A solid state amp does what is known as "Hard" clipping where it cuts off the top and bottom of the sign wave leaving a sharp transition edge which results in horrible distortion.  A tube amp does not cut the signal "hard" like a solid state amp.  Instead, it begins to round out the top and bottom of the signal and also produces harmonics of the original signal.  This is what most people call "warmth" when talking about tube amps.  This is precisely why most guitarists prefer Tube amps over solid state.  When the signal is kept within normal operating range, it sounds clear and crisp and unbelievably loud for seemingly small amounts of power, but when overdriven, it produces amazing distortion because of the subsequent harmonics.

Tweaked

EVGATech_JamesL
Tubes amps will distort your audio. It kinda gives it a warm tone or like a "vintage buzz?" where as the solid states is clear and transparent. You hear the music how it was intentionally produced. Not all music will sound good through a tube amp but it really is all preference. I use a solid state Schiit Stack Magni + Modi combo. Mayflower Electronics makes a well built single O2 dac/amp combo. I don't personally don't own a tube amp yet but I've been looking at the Darkvoice amps, been hearing pretty good things about them and the price range is reasonable. Also Tube amps look cool 

Not necessarily so.  WHEN a signal is pushed to "clipping", there is a distinct difference in the way a solid state amp handles it vs. a Tube amp.  A solid state amp does what is known as "Hard" clipping where it cuts off the top and bottom of the sign wave leaving a sharp transition edge which results in horrible distortion.  A tube amp does not cut the signal "hard" like a solid state amp.  Instead, it begins to round out the top and bottom of the signal and also produces harmonics of the original signal.  This is what most people call "warmth" when talking about tube amps.  This is precisely why most guitarists prefer Tube amps over solid state.  When the signal is kept within normal operating range, it sounds clear and crisp and unbelievably loud for seemingly small amounts of power, but when overdriven, it produces amazing distortion because of the subsequent harmonics.

This. As a musician for well over 20 years and an audiophile, tubes do sound pretty sweet. Almost like recording to tape verse digital. You can saturate tape and push it warm and gooey, try that with digital and you get quantization errors or ugly clipping. They have made some stuff that is pretty convincing. I run my guitars through a solid state amp and tons of processors but at the very end of the chain is a good old 12ax7 tube right before it enters my computer.

Audio progresses at a much slower rate than does the world of PC technology.  You shouldn't "need" to upgrade anytime soon.  However I know all too well how often the upgrade "bug" comes around regardless.

I have very little experience with the hd 700. I'm not saying they are not great but I didn't hear that much difference from them and a sub $50 pair with 40mm drivers. I think they are nice cans but not $500 nice by any means. Funny things is the pair that sounded almost the best to me are an old set of "Koss" headphones. I had that set held together with tape until they finally fell into pieces. I probably mixed half a dozen bands with those headphones and over 100 songs in the early 90's. I suppose if I had the money to throw around hundreds on headphones, my views would be different.

seth89
Bower and Wilkins P7 headphones:
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Headphones/Headphones/Headphones/P7.html

with the remaining 100 bucks get a DAC/amp:
Fiio E07K-  Wolfson DAC with amp-
http://www.amazon.com/Fiio-E07K-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B00A9LHLQ6/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1447887133&sr=8-9&keywords=fiio
 
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$500.00
 

I love me some Bowers and Wilkins.