[TheBard]

So.. I've been looking around and gathering some info to get myself a new pair of cans for the office, but I figured I'd ask for help here too since the last times I came to ask I ended up getting great stuff.
 
What I'm looking for are some Noise Isolating/Cancelling Headphones to use in the office, so everyone else won't hear my music, but most of all, so I don't hear them. I've had to start coding in the office to make some tools recently (even tho it's not exactly my job) and I can't code two lines in a row if I hear any chatter at all :\
What I'm looking for is something that:
- Kills all the noise with extreme prejudice, but voices most of all, active noise cancellation is good if works with chatter and such, if not some passive insulation will have to do. 
- Around-the-ear and comfortable, ideally something similar to the ATH-AD700, I can keep that thing on all day long and not even notice it's there.
- Sounds nice of course. Ideally something analytical and clear, balanced (Thanks to the "Describing Sound" thread as usual). The source is pretty good, but not great.
- As far as budget goes, I was expecting to spend anywhere between 80 to 200$, I wouldn't go higher than that if it's not *really* worth it.
At this point I'm looking at the ATH-ANC9, but I'm not fully convinced.
 
Other than that, it's been a lousy week and I managed in the span of a few days to:
- Have my ATH-AD700 implode (hopefully it's just some wiring issues inside the cans since they're sorta old and abused a lot, they're in for repairs now)
- Lose after a party my Brainwavz B2 while being too drunk to even remotely remember where.  Those were less than one year old... T____T
 
So I'll need for sure another pair of in-ears and if I'm unlucky a pair of headphones at home too, so suggestions on that front for alternatives with a similar sound type are welcome (atm my plan is to just get more of the same as soon as I find them at a good price since I love them both, maybe a step up to the AD900)

 

[pbui44]

Ultimate Ears UE6000 for the office (has active noise cancellation and is comfortable), panasonic rp-htf600 for home (if your ad700s don't make it), and UE600 for your earbuds (looks like they have enough mass to not forget. This all totals to about $185 shipped at amazon, cheaper than the ath-anc9, which shine on an airplane. You did not say that you frequently travel, so that should do it.

 

[TheBard]

Thanks for the suggestions, I didn't know the UE line by Logitech and the UE6000 seem really nice.
 
As for the others I'm looking at them now, being a bit of a Logitech fanboy I'm quite curious about the UE600 too, but I wonder how they compare soundwise against the DBA-02/B2.
 
Anyhow, living in the old world (namely in Italy), Amazon often isn't a big help since it seems they decide prices by getting american ones and increasing them by 50% at least T_T
Just to make an example, the ATH-AD900X on amazon.com are at 200$, but on the various EU amazons (.de,.it,.fr,.co.uk) stand at an average of 500$, with peaks up to 550$
I could order at Amazon.com, but usually it takes ages to ship :\

 

[pbui44]

Thanks for the suggestions, I didn't know the UE line by Logitech and the UE6000 seem really nice.

As for the others I'm looking at them now, being a bit of a Logitech fanboy I'm quite curious about the UE600 too, but I wonder how they compare soundwise against the DBA-02/B2.

Anyhow, living in the old world (namely in Italy), Amazon often isn't a big help since it seems they decide prices by getting american ones and increasing them by 50% at least T_T
Just to make an example, the ATH-AD900X on amazon.com are at 200$, but on the various EU amazons (.de,.it,.fr,.co.uk) stand at an average of 500$, with peaks up to 550$
I could order at Amazon.com, but usually it takes ages to ship :\

Just checked amazon italy, and UE6000 is 102 euros. RP-HTF600 is 73 euros, so it might not be worth it. Still, get 2 UE6000s and UE700s for 50 euros usato (or used), and you are still have 20 euro to spare against the ATH-ANC9. Not that I am against the ATH-ANC9 as the noice cancelling is obviously better than the UE6000, it is just a waste to see all that technology go to waste when you really do not travel often enough, unless you haven't mentioned that, either.

Edit: The UE600 is rated 8.6/10 and the UE900 is rated 9.2/10 by |joker|, so I am thinking the UE700 is around 9.0/10, since |joker| almost always favors more drivers (UE700 has 2 drivers). The brainwavz B2 is 9.2/10, but considering they are 114 euros at amazon.it, the UE700 is the obvious value. With your clumsiness, you might need 2 pairs . The Brainwavz HM5 is also 107 euros, just in case you want to look at those.

 

[TheBard]

Nah, I don't travel much, I think the sum of it is maybe ~7 hours a month by train and I wouldn't use those headphones anyway since they'd be at the office most likely. I'm not set on the ATH-ANC9, it's just that I read nice reviews about it and I always found Audio Technica stuff to be great quality  and REALLY comfortable (a big concern, considering that I wear headphones around 15-16 hours a day between work and home and in-ears for another half an hour while I bike to and from the office), especially the ADH-AD*00 series is amazing in that respect.
But the ATH-ANC9 don't have that nice double arc on top like the AD series so the UE6000 should work well enough.
 
As far as the headphones go, losing them again shouldn't be an issue, I'll just have to leave them at home and bring some cheap knockoffs if I plan to go and drink several liters of "clumsiness" but the UE700 seem actually quite nice especially since they're dual drivers and, it seems, even using the same drivers that the DBA-02/B2 use... plus they don't look as weird as the B2 and I get to throw money at Logitech ;D
Anyhow, looking at some other inear that use the same drivers, I found those: http://rockitsounds.com/shop/product/?prod_id=22 reviews seem great, they're cheaper and got a mic in them that could become handy since I'd mostly use them with my phone.
 
Anyhow, as long as it's not several hundreds of dollars, I don't mind the pricetag on headphones as long as the difference in price with the cheaper alternatives is justified by an increase in quality too. 
 
OH! and good news, I just remembered a friend of mine that's studying in NY will be back in Italy for Christmas, so I'll end up just shipping him the headphones Yay for lower prices!