fuck the senheiser and sony headphones. they aint that great. if you want a decent pair of cans audio technica ATH-A900s destroy most sens and sonys that are more than double the price. the top of the line audio technica is a bit steep though. the 900s are kind of the best for the price though. they look fucking cool. they isolate really well and the frequency response is insanely good - especially when you run it via a headphone amp. the downside? you can only get them via the online store audio-cubes.com. they only sell them in japan which is crazy but check out the user reviews. nearly all the audio technica cans are in the audiophile section. i ended up getting the A500s and by god are they amazing.

as for passive monitors it depends your budget. tannoy reveals are amazing. the sound is supposed to be fairly neutral though (which is sort of good for monitoring although some people claim they are bass light). if i get enough money together - these are the monitors i wanna get.