[phishie]

Me: Flying coast-to-coast in the United States twice a week, tons of plane and travel time with headphones for music and movies.  Working on my laptop 10+ hours a day with lots of Microsoft Lync / Office Communicator calls.
 
Music: All kinds of alternative, EDM, blues, classic rock, and small bit of R&B. Some of my current favorites: Jack White (ANY of his bands), Black Keys, TV On The Radio, Justice, Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Lemon Jelly, Reptar, Jeff Buckley, Ray LaMontagne, Bon Iver, Talking Heads, Arcade Fire, Muse, The Knife... I could go on for a while.

Budget: $400 or less
 
Prior headphones: Sony MDR-V6 (too bulky for travel), Etymotic HF5 (just lost! a bit tired of IEMs).  This should give you an idea of minimum sound quality I'd like.
 
New Headphones preferences:

1. Would like to try moving back to sealed over-ear headphones.  Sealed so there's some noise isolation (flying/planes are loud), noise cancellation is a nice bonus but not required.
 
2. Portability!!!  I travel as light as possible to make the constant travel easier.  I have a over the shoulder Dell laptop bag that usually contains 2 laptops, charger, notebook, iPad, Kindle, and other odds and ends.  Thus I need a pair that can fold flat or has a thin profile.  They should be pretty high quality materials / durable with all the travel.  Removable cable, etc are nice to have features.
 
3. Inline Mic, listening to music all day while taking calls.  I don't want to have to switch to a headset every time I need to switch from music to a call.  This is not a must but greatly preferred.
 
I haven't found much of anything that fits these constraints, can anyone help?
 
*edit* I also wouldn't turn down any IEM w/ inline mic reccs!
 
Thanks!

 

[jackwess]

V-moda M100 have all the features you need + build quality is top. 

 

[phishie]

Thank you, I got the same recommendation on Reddit when posing this question.  I pulled the trigger!

 

[GramKraker]

I would agree that the m-100's have top of the line build quality but they are quite heavy, so I wouldn't recommend them for travel/around neck use... just my opinion, love the sound though

 

[jackwess]

  Thank you, I got the same recommendation on Reddit when posing this question.  I pulled the trigger!

 
Great. 
I never found them to be heavy, after a few hours of use i felt pretty comfy. 

 

[Closingracer]

  I would agree that the m-100's have top of the line build quality but they are quite heavy, so I wouldn't recommend them for travel/around neck use... just my opinion, love the sound though

 
 
They are heavy just by in your hands but I don't think they are heavy around my neck or on my head or anything

 

[HAN2929]

I have the PSB M4U2, you might want to consider it. For $399 you will get a closed, active noise canceling, built-in-amp, foldable headphone with inline microphone, volume/track rocker, and mute button. It looks like that it ticks all of your boxes and more. So take it into consideration.

 

[Closingracer]

  I have the PSB M4U2, you might want to consider it. For $399 you will get a closed, active noise canceling, built-in-amp, foldable headphone with inline microphone, volume/track rocker, and mute button. It looks like that it ticks all of your boxes and more. So take it into consideration.

 
 
Ill still take the V-moda M-100 simply because for $100 less you get Passive noise isolation an without all the electronics of active noise cancelation and honestly I would prefer the Bose QC 15 if you want active noise cancelation headphones at $300

 

[HAN2929]

   
 
Ill still take the V-moda M-100 simply because for $100 less you get Passive noise isolation an without all the electronics of active noise cancelation and honestly I would prefer the Bose QC 15 if you want active noise cancelation headphones at $300

 
I personally have not hear the V-moda M-100 however I have tried the Bose QC 15. The QC 15 have a better ANC that the M4U2, but the difference in ANC is not much of a deal breaker. The deal breaker here is the price and the sound quality (between the QC 15 and M4U2). It is entirely up to phishie, do you want to sacrifice SQ for $100 or sacrifice $100 for sound quality. 
 
BTW, both of this headphone, the M4U2 and QC 15, is a widely available headphone. Go down to your local Bose store or Hi-Fi store and you would be able to have a try on them.
 
Hope this help,
Handara

 

[Closingracer]

   
I personally have not hear the V-moda M-100 however I have tried the Bose QC 15. The QC 15 have a better ANC that the M4U2, but the difference in ANC is not much of a deal breaker. The deal breaker here is the price and the sound quality (between the QC 15 and M4U2). It is entirely up to phishie, do you want to sacrifice SQ for $100 or sacrifice $100 for sound quality.
 
BTW, both of this headphone, the M4U2 and QC 15, is a widely available headphone. Go down to your local Bose store or Hi-Fi store and you would be able to have a try on them.
 
Hope this help,
Handara

 
 
 
Well I wouldn't take the Bose QC15 (for Sound quality) but if I was in the market for active noise cancelation I would go with the QC15 . That being said Good passive isolating headphones probably can block 75% and the Sound quality out of the V-moda M-100 are nothing short of amazing at $300 if you do live a more live sound. I would also figure they sound better overall then the M4U2 because of it's active noise canelation