I tried 7506's (I think?) and found them really bright and fatiguing - kind of the Genelec of headphones. But as others have pointed out, you're optimizing for

I tried 7506's (I think?) and found them really bright and fatiguing - kind of the Genelec of headphones. But as others have pointed out, you're optimizing for a different variable in the studio. First of all, you'd never mix or master on headphones unless you're testing to see how your mix sounds on headphones. So at that point, you probably want cans that translate well to "average" headphones, and it may well be that the Sonys do. Think about NS-10's, or even Auratones - they're not great speakers, they're just a common reference point that everyone knows. And for tracking, you really don't want flat response; you want cans that'll reinforce the musician's ability to hear themselves, the headphone equivalent of a presence peak. Isolation is critical - no headphone bleeding. But the most important quality for tracking headphones is ruggedness; they are going to get abused, and they need to be easily repairable but rarely need repairing. All of which is to say: being universal doesn't imply being the best-sounding or the most-comfortable; it implies being optimal for the needs of a recording studio.