I splurged on a pair of "Solitude" headphones by "Plane Noise", after doing a fair amount of research. They're supposed to be as high quality as Bose (I haven't tried Bose, so I can't vouch for that) but they're $100 less, $200ish, rather than $300ish. Also, they're physically sturdier than Bose (aparently, the Bose headand has a point of weakiness in a flimsy peice of plastic holding the two sides together, and the can snap. Again, can't speak to this first hand.)

That's still pretty much "in the Bose price range" though, so it may not be what you're looking for. Three were less expensive models by Plane Noise that were also very highly ranked within their price-range-- but agian, I have no first hand experience.

I finally decided to splurge when there was construction going on at work, and an event in town that meant lots of exited kids on the commuter rail. I love them, and I haven't looked back. =^)