My cheap pair finally broke. They were a $30 non-name brand I bought at Staples one day. They sounded okay, nothing special. I'm currently stuck with an annoying earbud pair...oh how I hate earbuds. Uncomfortable and zero bass.

Must-haves:

-noise cancelling. Cover the entire ear and enclosed (some that cover your ear are open to the air and thus not noise cancelling)

-wired. I don't want to deal with batteries.

-inline volume control. My cheap pair had it with a little wheel on the wire and I can never do without it again.

They also obviously need to have the small 3.5mm plug.

I have onboard realtec ALC892 sound which is good but not quite as good as my old audigy 4. It's still realtek's best offering though, at the time, so a decent pair of headphones will be useful. That basically means I don't need an audiophile's $300 pair of headphones, but I don't want a cheap $50 pair either that will sound average at best. I guess the $100-$150 range is okay.

I trust your opinions on this site, and there's simply too many headphone choices out there for me to choose without getting informed opinions first.

Anything by Sennheiser. Their mid-range stuff is mostly in around the $150 mark (maybe a tad more) and it will blow most other similarly priced things out of the water. The HD380s are closed back and can be had for around $150 and are very nice indeed.

If you're willing to spend a bit extra, the PC350s are a fantastic dedicated gaming headset with an excellent mic. I use the PC360s, which are basically the same but with an open back, and the sound quality is phenomenal. But if the mic isn't necessary, then I'd recommend just getting headphones rather than a headset, as you'll get better sound for the money.

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-280-Pro-Headphones/dp/B000065BPB/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1361637964&sr=8-6&keywords=seinhauser+headphones

It doesn't have an inline volume control it looks like but maybe you can find one from this brand that does. I own a pair similar to this and they are GREAT. The best pair of head phones I've bought, I've had mine for at least 6 years or more.

Personally I would go cordless, they also have a cordless version that has a charger that comes with it.