A good pair of noise blocking headphones to help with my migraines?

[overhaze]

Hello

I have recently added sound sensitivity to my list of migraine symptoms. I had one a few days ago and the sound of cars driving by outside or the TV downstairs was agony. Unfortunately all three pairs of headphones I currently own are open back and where of little help blocking the world out unless I cranked the heck out of them which caused its own problems. Active or passive I just want something that will block external noise and sound good at low volumes doing it. Something that sounds soft warm and soothing basically.

 

Any suggestions?

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

Of course when you want noise blocking/cancelling headphones the first two on your list should be the Bose QC series and the newly released Sony mdr-1000. The Sonys actually have better NC capabilities (to my ears at least) but I don't know much about the sound quality of either. You know how the in store demos are, well at least here. No way to play my own music.
Other than that there are many others with good passive isolation but most of my recommendations depend on price range. I would actually reccomend IEMs for passive isolation, but if that isnt possible then there are several cans that can be reccomended. (Not by me sadly though. I haven't been able to amass much of a collection yet, so the pool of headphones that I can reccomend usually finds it's basis in research, as I am fairly new to this hobby.)

 

[akg fanboy]

For passive options, the dt1770 is a champ for noise isolation, the dt770 is a cheaper option that supposedly has comparable isolation but it is more v shaped sounding. I have no experience with ANC and it may or may not make your migraines worse if your ears are very sensitive 

 

[serman005]

+1 on IEMs for your passive option. The level of isolation you can achieve using a well-isolating IEM is generally much better than you can achieve from most over-ears (and all on-ears). You should try a good IEM on and see how it feels.

 

[overhaze]

My local CEX has a used par of Bose QC35s for €240. While I'm sure the noise isolation is quite impressive I'm not sure I can bring myself to buy Bose headphones...

 

[overhaze]

After yer another migraine I bought the Bose headphones. I couldn't pass them up at that price. They have been a huge relief the noise cancellation is so good its frankly eerie. They actually don't sound too bad for casual listening either. They won't be replacing my HD650s but being able to escape into silence when I need to has so far been worth every penny. 

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

Glad to hear that! Yeah the Bose QC line has some surprisingly effective noise cancellation. Every time I tried them i was taken aback at how well they muted the world around me. Hopefully you don't have any problems with them, but as far as I can tell Bose headphones aren't normally plagued by quality issues.

 

[overhaze]

Not build quality has never been their problem, nor comfort. Credit where it is due Bose are amazing at making phones that feel good on your head. I still consider the Triports to be the most comfortable headphones I've ever put on. Their problem (historically) is their horrible bass heavy one dimensional scooped audio. These are are actually quite good. They are entertainment headphones to be sure but they are way flatter than I would have expected and have an amazingly large soundstage for a closed back pair. I could actually see these being ok for gaming.