[LouisPhu]

Hi all!
I'm a student who commutes for one and a half hours on the bus every day and am looking for a pair of headphones get away from the awful droning of the engine(as well as other public noises). Recently, IEMs have been hurting my ears so I'm looking for a good pair of over-ear headphones with either very good isolation or ANC. I am hoping that on here you all would be able to provide your advice and experiences to me, and other commuters in similar situations. Thank you all!

For me specifically:
I love the promise in the Sony MDR-1000X as a commuting headphone primarily in the ANC and, from what I've read on Head-Fi, a pretty good sound quality. However, I don't need all the bells and whistles it comes with and would rather not pay for those if I don't have to. At $399, I believe there are cheaper alternatives that have the things I'm looking for. I value sound quality over anything and have heard mixed reviews about the MDR, especially wired. Or is this the best there is...

Requirements:
-Best sound quality for value(during commute, and in a quiet environment)
-At least a good soundstage
-Can isolate, or cancel out the majority of noise on a bus/train/subway
-Less than $399

Music Genre:
-Classic Rock(Eagles, Skid Row, Queen, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits)
-Sometimes Modern(Panic at the Disco, Maroon 5, Los Lonely Boys)
-Sometimes Golden Oldies
-Sometimes Misc.(Rap, OSTs, strong voiced Female singers)

Driving with:
Laptop(Conexant SmartAudio HD/Fiio K1), Fiio X3-II, Smartphone

Experience so far:
Sony MDR-1A
-Love the sound...mostly. Nice, warm, and full. However the bass is pretty strong and pounds at my head, also seems to overpower rest of the range. Great for modern and pop, NOT great for rock, instrumentals and vocals IMO
-Soundstage is decent
-Doesn't isolate very well on the bus...but its so soft....

Sennheiser Momentum "Over ear" 1.0
-Pretty good sound! Highs, mids lows are at the right level for fun listening, BUT all of it seems to be muffled, closed, and seemingly coming from tiny box. I've heard it sounds similar to Momentum 2.0, so maybe not worth the upgrade.
-What soundstage?
-Isolation...I think not
-Ouch, my ears

Sennheiser HD280 Pro
-WOW. These just sound great with everything, period(for the price)
-Did not try on a bus, but in a busy library it was very good at blocking out voices
-Only complaint is the pads....

Status Audio CB-1
-Comfort a little better than Sonys
-Sound is relatively neutral, and this ones okay
-Soundstage? Yeah I guess it has
-Feels.....cheap

Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohm
-Great sound
-Great soundstage
-Minimal Isolation
-Velour not bad

Bose QC...just no

Obviously headphones that work off the bat are best, but mods are cool too.

My apologies for the long post, but I wanted to provide as much information for everyone's convenience. Any advice for me would be immensely appreciated, but sharing your experiences for anyone else is even better!
Thank you all!

 

[serman005]

I like the B&W P7 wired a lot for you. It has outstanding bass extension, great mids and tons of detail. Very good isolation. Currently $349 on amazon. Doesn't sound like your head is in a box, or however you described it. A very nice headphone. Two more for you to look at are the Oppo PM-3--excellent, very neutral--and the MEZE 99 Classics, which is just a terrific all-rounder.($399 for the Oppo and $309 for the MEZE).  A few thoughts for you. You might read about these and see what you think. Maybe one will work for you.

 

[niotio910]

I own a DT770s, and it is great for commuting! The DT1770s is, afaik, an upgrade of DT770, but much more expensive!

 

[Bloos]

ANC will be your best bet for getting rid of droning-low-frequency-engine noise. Pretty much every passively isolating headphone does basically 0 noise isolation below 200 hz. (Some even amplify the noise due to earcup material and size like a helmholtz resonator). As you can see here, Random headphone measurement (top right is the isolation graph): http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SonyMDR1R.pdf

I can usually find a Bose QC15 for ~$100 through my local craigslist. Which has great isolation and decent SQ.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BoseQuietComfort15.pdf

 

[LouisPhu]

  I like the B&W P7 wired a lot for you. It has outstanding bass extension, great mids and tons of detail. Very good isolation. Currently $349 on amazon. Doesn't sound like your head is in a box, or however you described it. A very nice headphone. Two more for you to look at are the Oppo PM-3--excellent, very neutral--and the MEZE 99 Classics, which is just a terrific all-rounder.($399 for the Oppo and $309 for the MEZE).  A few thoughts for you. You might read about these and see what you think. Maybe one will work for you.

Thank you! I will definitely try out the B&W P7 since you say it has very good isolation. As for the Oppos...as much as I desire them the $399 is also too high.

 

[LouisPhu]

I own a DT770s, and it is great for commuting! The DT1770s is, afaik, an upgrade of DT770, but much more expensive!

I have considered those and would really like to try out the 80 ohm version, but was deciding whether to try the 770 vs 770M. The 770 velour seems to sound great, but does it have good isolation? And the 770M seems to have great isolation, but not very good sound quality. Can you testify for whichever you have?

 

[niotio910]

Mine is the DT770, only! (not Pro, and not M). I like its sound, and I've used for 5 years. I use it mainly in my office, and a couple of times commuting. In the office, I hardly hear people talking next to me. As I remember the last time I used it on the bus, I didn't feel disturbed by outside noise either.

Hope it helps!

 

[Trunks159]

I like the B&W P7 wired a lot for you. It has outstanding bass extension, great mids and tons of detail. Very good isolation. Currently $349 on amazon. Doesn't sound like your head is in a box, or however you described it. A very nice headphone. Two more for you to look at are the Oppo PM-3--excellent, very neutral--and the MEZE 99 Classics, which is just a terrific all-rounder.($399 for the Oppo and $309 for the MEZE).  A few thoughts for you. You might read about these and see what you think. Maybe one will work for you.

+1 The p7 seems perfect.

Using the DT770 on the go was bad for me. The cablessing is too long, the headphones themselves were too large, any time I turn my head Id partially lose a seal, and I personally feel that they need an amp. Theyre also unattractive.

P7 is nice and warm, isolates well, very portable. Just a little pricy.

 

[LouisPhu]

I will definitely try the P7's after this week of midterms. On a side note, I received the DT770 Pro 80ohm(velour) and its going very well...have not tested on a bus yet though.

 

[LouisPhu]

Update on the DT770 Pro-80 Ohm
These are probably the best sounding headphones I have listened to so far. Bass is great and produces vibration you can feel similar to subwoofers. However, boost it too far and it seems like the headphones themselves are rattling...not that i'll ever listen to that much bass. Vocals seem like someone is singing right in front of you and the rest of the range is clear. These don't seem to have quite the range the Sony MDR-1As have. Soundstage is up there for closed headphones. While these were easy enough to drive with a smartphone and sounded just fine, they almost *need an amp to reach its potential.
-In a library with medium noise, these isolate well enough that you don't hear anyone(without music playing)
-Library with loud noise, these don't work well and voices interfere with music.
Sadly I will have to return them, as great as they sound, cannot isolate well on a bus. The droning of the engine passes through and makes the music seem very transparent.
*One thing I didn't get to try is these headphones but with DT770M pads.
Next, I will try the P7's and the MDR-1000X

 

[taxifahrer]

I own a DT770s, and it is great for commuting! The DT1770s is, afaik, an upgrade of DT770, but much more expensive!

I agree with you. DT770 is a great headphone and DT1770 is way more expensive and not really for commuting.

 

[LouisPhu]

I got to try the P7's. These really have their own sound signature, and nothing I've heard compares.These make all music sound so smooth, silky and amazing. All types of music are very pleasurable and pleasing on these. Soundstage is good.
The P7's did isolate better than all the headphones I've tried, but still let in a little bit of the outside noise.
I did not keep the P7's mainly because I prefer a slightly more neutral sound than the very fun and smooth signature of the P7's. They also let in more noise than I would have hoped.
I'm starting to think that there isn't a headphone that isolates well enough, and I may have to sacrifice sound quality for an ANC headphone. I've decide to try out the DT770M since they're one of the top isolating headphones, just to see if passive noise cancelling is viable for the bus.

 

[fvvxflakes]

Louis, it's been a few weeks since your last post. What's your current commuter ?

 

[peskypesky]

I also am in desperate need of some good headphones for commuting on noisy public transportation. I like the isolation of IEM's (and their tiny size) but I much prefer the way music sounds on headphones.

I received some AKG Y50s a couple of days ago, hoping they would fit the bill. They get a lot of rave reviews, but I thought they sounded very mediocre, so I will be sending back.

I ordered a set of the venerable Sony MDRV6's and should receive in a few days. I think they should sound good, and have good isolation....but they do have a very long cord, so that may not work for me. I will give them a fair chance....but I'm really starting to think that the Sennheiser HD25s may be the ones to get. They are legendary and are supposed to be ruggedly built, have very good sound, and also provide good isolation.

If the Sony's don't cut the mustard, I'll probably order the HD25s.

 

[LouisPhu]

Louis, it's been a few weeks since your last post. What's your current commuter ?

Thanks for calling me back to this. I got busy with stressful finals, but that's all over now!
So I got to try the DT770M and I think they isolate well enough for a loud bus and to be able to enjoy music. It's quite unfortunate that they don't sound great as many report. But this gives me hope for passive isolation headphones and maybe there's one I haven't found yet through googling-one of the reasons I created this post: someone else may have experience/knowledge. I have yet to find one though, so I'm going to try the MDR-1000x in a few weeks. Although I don't have the equipment to try, many people report that LDAC really improves the quality of these headphones so that is promising to hear, especially with the exciting rumor that LDAC is coming with Android O. Also, there is a recent price drop to $328 on amazon.us as of this post...