Earphones / Headphones: Where to try, what to buy?

I've got the AKGs on their way, will report

..also got the K451's now.

Needed to replace Koss Porta Pro that I fucked up by shredding the cable,
and because my old Sony MDR-V150 are duct taped so much it has become embarassing to wear them outside.
Basically would've just bought Porta Pros again, even though I think they are not as good as they used to be (sound wise),
but I have to use public transport a lot these days, so I need closed headphoes I thought.
Would have bought another pair of MDR-V150 as well, but since I went through at least five of those in my life, and because more premium sound quality was alluring I went for the AKG's when I had the chance to grab them cheap.

So first impressions:

Build quality is nice. Not superb, but nice.
Design is good. If you (need to) adjust / extend them not as great though.
They're very comfortable. Don't fit very big heads.

Sound is good, but need some getting used to in my opinion.
Well I guess it depends on what sort of headphones you had before.
Of course they sound more "closed" than the Portras, but they even sound much more closed than the Sonys do.
It made me think of hearing music in a small car with a subwoofer.
I guess they sound rather "neutral", with a bit of a punchy bass.
They sound somewhat "3D".

Have to listen to more stuff though, so far it's been death metal and Eminem.

Ps: oh - and another thing: they really are loud. When I read reviews stating they have quite some output even with smartphones etc. I thought "..ja, ja...",
but have just been listening to some mp3s with an iPhone 4 and i actually could not stand it cranked up to full volume (because it was really fucking loud, not because it sounded "bad) -
and this is like the first time something like this has happened to me, really.