London Underground

The London Underground is a damn noisy environment. I am not sure that I would spend £200 if that was the main place I was going to use them. I would content yourself with some Sennheiser PX100's or Porta Pro's. Admittedly they leak and may annoy people around you a little. They cannot be as bad as iPod 'phones though and no one seems to care. From what little knowledge I have, closed phones will not sound as good.

If you don't want in ears, you need active noise cancellation. No full sized headphone isolates enough for the DC Metro and if anything, the Tube is louder. I have no idea what prices are like in the UK, but the AT ATH-ANC7 are decent sounding and well withing your price range in the US. It's the only noise canceling headphones I've heard that both sound good and do a good job of noise canceling. The are probably others since I've not heard too many.

This advice is a quick route to hearing damage. The reason they might bother others is because you have to listen so loud to hear the music over the ambient noise. The ambient noise on the DC Metro is 95-100dB (with peaks of 115dB when I measured it). That means you'll be listening at 110-150dB or higher. Unless you have a very short tube ride, that's not good.

X2, don't use open headphones on tube travel. Get something like a Sennheiser HD-25 II. They are nice and isolate pretty well. Check around the sale forum.

Sennheiser also has a decent pair of noise-cancelling headphones in the PXC350 and PXC450. No active noise cancellation headphone will isolate as well or sound as good as in-ear monitors, however. If your concern is about discomfort from inserting tips in your ear canal, you can have custom silicone ear molds made to your shape. I had a pair done by Westone for my ER-4P, they are very comfortable to wear, even if they do not isolate quite as effectively as the tri-flange silicone tips.

Check out this listing: Sennheiser HD-25 II

i really recommend IEM's, there are tips which are very shallow inserting and feel like they arent there at all... have you tried to put a pair on? you really shouldnt dismiss them just based on the idea of sticking something into your ears, for the same price you get much better portability, less hearing damage, higher sound quality and better isolation than noise cancelling cans, and probably longer battery life on whatever device you are using too

I really think IEMs are a far better bet, but if you're decided on headphones, I second the above nomination of the ATH-ANC7. Its NR is quite good, and it's pretty good sounding overall, and it falls in the price range.

Of the passive headphones the HD280 and HD25 are the ones I would nominate for best noise attenuation, but neither one will block out Tube noise to the extent an ANR headphone will. Of the two, the HD280 isolates somewhat better but is larger (though foldable when not in use) and IMO rather uncomfortable. I find its sound dull and not particularly enjoyable, but it is fairly neutral, which for me is important with classical material. The HD25-1 is IMO a far better-sounding headphone, very clear and enjoyable, and smaller and more comfortable as well (though it does not fold up as the HD280 does). Its sound is rather bass-weighted, making pianists' left hands sound abnormally heavy, making orchestras sound overly cello-dominated, etc. But for pop and dance it's brilliant.

Fair point well made.

I looked for an isolating, full sized headphone for about 2 years before giving up. Of all I heard, the HD280 Pro isolated the best, but not well enough for the DC Metro. It's uncomfortable because of how hard it clamps. But that's also why it isolates as well as it does. No full sized headphone that isolates well will be comfortable for long term listening.

There is simply no other way than balanced-armature in-ear for the Underground. NC is ineffective against the combination of noises (especially that rail shriek) combined with the changes in air pressure, and turning up phones with inadequate isolation is basically you punching out your eardrums all by yourself.


If you MUST go headphone, then as said above the HD25-1 is the best bet without looking like a complete berk like the HD280 / SRH840. I find these very uncomfortable and sweaty though beyond an hour at most, even with the velour pads.

I agree that IEMs are the way to go. Some are not uncomfortable. I have pretty bad seasonal allergies and can't use most IEMs 8 months out of the year. I've never had a problem with the UM1 however. I use the largest Shure black olive foam tips. On a couple of long flights, they've started to get uncomfortable after 5 hours. I also have a pair of Klipsch X5s. With the stock tips, I can't use them except in winter. With Comply tips, I can use them most of the time. I have problems with the only when pollen is really bad.

My daily commute is around 1 hour, between walking and the subway.

Balanced-armature IEM's are very different. You ram them in far further down your lughole (which is a big part of the isolation), but you get to tune your fit to a much higher degree. I recommend Shure as they have a comparatively thin eartube, and therefore accomodates the widest range of lughole diameters. The SE420 is a dual-driver balanced-armature phone which will deliver a more headphone-like sound (fuller, basically) than most single-driver armature phones. In addition to fitting very differently, balanced armature phones sound different... more accurate-seeming, but at the same time more limited in the range of frequencies they can properly deliver. So you'll notice that the best armature IEM's have multiple drivers. Two drivers seems to be in general a reasonable compromise of frequency response and cost. The phones come with a 'fit kit', a starter pack of different tips. Once you get the hang of wearing them properly they should become a pretty indispensable part of portable listening... until, that is, you get the itch to upgrade


I use the SE530 (three drivers) for the Tube and generally speaking the silicone tips work best for me in terms of offering excellent for-Tube isolation, combined with relatively rapid whipouttability(sic) and stickbackinnability(truly sic). The black foam tips which will also come in the fit kit offer outstanding isolation along with decent comfort, but they are more expensive to run as you have to replace them more frequently than the silicone tips and they're also a bit of a bugger to re-insert with dirty hands, since you have to roll them up before sticking them in your ears.


I've used these guys in the past, they're pretty quick in dispatching in-stock items.
Shure SE420 Black Sound Isolating Earphones | SALE Now On!