Yeah I did check the cable, it ended up that it appeared to be something inside the headphones that I could not service

I've heard the Grato's are nice, but unfortunately are superaural, which hurts my ears, and I also can't use in ear head phones as I have small ear holes and really start to hurt and fatigue my ear.

I don't really mind hearing some external noise, in my HD540's I was able to hear stuff and cary on a conversation if I turned the music down enough. But if I would keep it turned to a moderate or louder level I was not able to decern any speaking, and I was really only able to hear loud noises.