Ones that I really think would work well are the Yamaha RH5MA Monitor Headphones. They have a super flat response and great build quality. However, they're a tad to pricey for me. Are there any other audio-industry standard headphones for a lower price?
On the review recommendation over the last few weeks I just got the Samson SR850, every bit of tooth clatter, sniffle, Logan's street noise is present.
FYI, again, not neutral. I am only telling you this so that you don't come to think of that sound as being actually neutral. They aren't. The trebly is really peaky and prominent, and the bass rolls off. I would have to look into them to get a more accurate description of them, but that is what I remember off hand.
Those are often the go-to for monitoring on the cheap. However, those aren't neutral either. There is a dip in the low-mids, and high end roll off. The upper mids are pretty pronounced though, which will lead to a sense of detail which is likely why it is so popular with mixing and the like.
There is something that I feel that I need to reiterate. Neutrality under $100 is a farfetched dream in the world of headphones as far as I currently know. A big problem with confirming this is that there are a lot of options under $100 (mass market), so there are plenty of options which haven't been tested. Frequency response curves are my preferred way of judging neutrality in general, and those are hard to find on the less common/cheaper headphones. Besides that, most of the experienced people who would be able to accurately tell how neutral something is aren't going to bother with cheaper options most of the time, which makes finding decent reviews for a lot of the cheaper options also hard to come by.
So yeah, neutral under $100 in a headphones is not likely. You might have a better chance with iems. The RE400 is likely to be the best bet under $100. Not headphones though. HF5 is another option too, again, not headphones. For cheaper price ranges, iems tend to offer the better value.
Well, a relative had some Shure E3c earbuds with all of the different earpieces. He rarely used them. They sound amazing (and very flat). The low range (bass) is a little small, but the Windows "bass enhancement" setting seems to help a little.
This first review on Amazon basically sums up how I felt when I first put them on just like this guy...Raw sound quality for my raw music like nothing I've known
Thanks to everyone who replied here. When these break I'll invest in an expensive headset.