In my brief time of owing them, the Mad Dogs were a bit too dark for me, to the point of smearing over a significant amount of detail. It may have been the tuning though.. given he had like 400 versions (1.0, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, etc...).

Haven't heard the Pros.

Nominating two:
 

• AKG K7XX: less wonky than Q701, not lean and cold like K701. Not perfect, but at $200 a fantastic alternative to HD600 doing some things better and others things worse.
• Mad Dogs: dark tonality akin to Audezes, but price isn't bad at all.

The k7XX is an open can, yes?  I'm not suggesting that it shouldn't go up there, but I was hoping to see a closed can nominated at the price...

Edit: Maybe the closed cans are too iffy at that price to be leaderboard candidates?

IMO Slant has more of an emphasis centered around 40Hz-400Hz where as MD pushes that down a bit into the lower bass and in general has more of a darker tilt or perhaps more U-shaped. Think Slant sounding thicker/more woolly in comparison because of that particular emphasis. Slant has larger soundstage, more air, and generally sounds smoother. MD can get a bit congested sounding and is less pleasing in the upper treble than the Slant. In general I like how the MD has the bass and low-mids tuned vs. the Slant but would say I preferred the Slant in basically every other regard. I'm probably more just a regular Paradox guy. LFF's T50RP mods are the most refined I've heard yet. If you find the treble a bit rough on the MD like I did, front damping tweaks can alleviate this.

Also, IME, I wasn't crazy about the Vali paired with most orthos.

1R are not so good. Did you say 1A is bettar? When did 1A come out? Still a Sony fanboy at heart.

If the V-Moda M80 is under consideration, the XS should replace it. Better isolation and higher sensitivity. Similar sound though the XS has a smoother response. Both have similar distortion in the bass (really can't expect much from a small on-ear) and upper mids. Good comfort and decent isolation if it fits your ears. Minus points because the cups don't swivel on the vertical axis which could cause fitment issues for some, but the super-compactness, durability and case are a big plus for portable use.

I had the Mad Dogs for a while and was kinda underwhelmed. The pads are nice, but beyond that they didn't feel like much beyond a good DIY T50rp mod. Those pads are something like a $100 though right? So I guess factoring that in the Mad Dog is a good value.