[Agnostic]

I keep seeing people that use and/or recommend open headphones that leak a lot of sound for portable use. Personally I get really annoyed by people "sharing" their music (or loud telephone calls for that matter) with the rest of the public and I can't help but finding it rude to be in a train or bus or other public place wearing headphones that leak a lot of sound.

What are your opinions?

 

[Elephas]

I don't recall reading many recommendations to use open headphones portably.

I wouldn't use open headphones anywhere that has a high environmental sound level. The music isn't going to sound good. Turning up the volume to "override" the ambient noise level increases the risk of developing tinnitus.

I would use IEMs or closed headphones with decent isolation, such as the Sennheiser HD25-1.

It's also a good idea to put the headphones away in locations where awareness of the environment might be important, such as walking on a busy street.

 

[leng jai]

Um no one is recommending open cans for use on the train or the bus. Portable doesn't always mean on public transport, it could mean moving them around the house easily, taking them to the office or on holiday etc...

 

[robinclp]

No... i think it's more towards the fact that my hearing is deteriorating ...

I can't come up with a quick comeback when I'm taking more and more time to decipher what other people are talking about lol

 

[Televator]

I love walking around the city with my SR-60... but then I am purposely using them to create a musical background to the city sounds. I put on some instrumental postrock or something and do not try to focus on the music alone. This prevents me from using the phones too loud but gives a very interesting effect (like a soundtrack to your own life).

If I want to focus some more on the music itself, I use my eggos and for public transport/planes/libraries I'll go for IEMs.

I would also like to see all these recommendations for open phones for portable use, as openness is mostly one of the first things even a purebred grado-fan will warn ppl of when they want headphones for portable use.

 

[kuden]

but aren't IEMs that block all outer sound anti-social as well as you can't hear people talking to you

 

[Agnostic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuden /img/forum/go_quote.gif but aren't IEMs that block all outer sound anti-social as well as you can't hear people talking to you

Huh, huh? You talkin' to me?

 

[Quint]

I’m not anti-social. I just hate people and want to block out as much of their drivel as possible. Now back to my Joy Division!

 

[filipelli]

I hope not. I belong to a professional fraternity and am class president at my graduate school. I'm antisocial when I want to listen to my music though...so stay away!

 

[krmathis]

I certainly don't consider myself to be anti social.

 

[SactoMan101]

Interesting you mention this because there was a recent AP article that talked about people wearing open air headphones while listeing to their portable music player and people nearby could hear the sound clearly. Is it small wonder why IEM sales have gone through the roof lately?

(That's why with my iPod nano I wear the headphones mentioned in my sig--people don't have to listen to what I hear.

)

 

[Assorted]

I think it's an offence as a head-fier to use open headphones in public transportation; you'd have to listen to music at considerably high volumes.

 

[Duheed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quint /img/forum/go_quote.gif I’m not anti-social. I just hate people and want to block out as much of their drivel as possible. Now back to my Joy Division!

hahaha you just contradicted yourself within the same sentence

 

[gdeth]

lots of things in public irritate me... but that's what it means to be in public. you don't have to like it, but it's totally acceptable.

 

[SR-71Panorama]

go away. Im listening to my headphones.