[BustedKeaton]

I went from the Grado 60's to the Sennheisher 280pros for this very reason.

Actually I used to have annoying podmate who babble to another coworker for hours. I found I absolutely needed to shut him out so I got isolating headphones.

I also found with the Grados that if I wasn't careful it leaked to my closer coworkers. Usually it wasn't too bad, but if I stayed late at the office, the air conditioning would shut off at 6:30PM and then without the low rumble of the AC I could be heard clear across our entire open office.

The 280Pros are very isolating initially. I needed to turn up the ringer on my phone or else I would miss calls. I had to tell my coworkers it was OK to tap me on the shoulder if they needed me, because my desk faces away from the hallway and I would not hear them come up behind me, even after they called my name several times. Sometimes I have the 280's on my head when I not listening to music just to keep the outside noise out. So the isolation has some benefits and some drawbacks


I just tried the 280's with and without my glasses and did not notice a change in bass at all, my glasses are very thin-wire rims though

 

[tyagi]

Yes, bangraman, I bought the HD25-1s. Having used them all afternoon, first impressions are the my ears feel a bit squashed after extended use. This is due to the headband being a bit tight, but I'm assured by the shop staff that this will loosen. (Either that or my head will be compressed to fit I guess)

As for the sound, it's exactly what I wanted. A good selection of tunes passed through them today from Yo La Tengo and Stereolab to Hardfloor. Very nice, tight, sound. They'll also cater well for my other passtime which is traveling up and down from Leeds to London on the train every few days, so they will often get chucked in to a laptop bag along with other bits. Being pretty rugged and componentised, this should be winner.

I was expecting a grilling for criticising the 580s though

 

[bangraman]

If you want to compare the PXC250 with the HD25 then I think that there might be a Head-Fi micro meet in London next week with a grand total of 2 people so far, probably with not very impressive kit. A META42 or two might be present if you're curious. Seeing mine is ill (again) and has to go back to Apple, your iPod might be welcome in comparisons...

 

[gerG]

Hi Davie. I am not sure if you are asking about the equalizer or the curve. The response of the A1000 is something like this:

...shown with the DT831 as a comparison to other closed cans.

Basically I counter the bass rolloff and compensate for the 2 ditches at 200 and 3000. A mild boost to the treble above 6000 also helps. I haven't spent much time with the A1000, so I don't have them quite wonderful yet.


gerG

 

[zowie]

What the hell's with 7000-11,000? That's ridiculous for modern equipment.

 

[Daroid]

Quote:

Originally posted by tyagi Yes, bangraman, I bought the HD25-1s. Having used them all afternoon, first impressions are the my ears feel a bit squashed after extended use. This is due to the headband being a bit tight, but I'm assured by the shop staff that this will loosen. (Either that or my head will be compressed to fit I guess)

So did my ears, and it turned into head-ache if I kept them on. They had loosen up after a month or so, and the trbles got more laidback and "complete" than they were at stock out of the box, that's gonna take a month's time, too

 

[gerG]

zowie, that big ditch is an interaction between the driver, the mic, and my head. I do my measurements with the cans on my own noggin. 7 khz would correspond to a wavelength of 2 inches. For a cancellation I need a 180 degree phase shift, so half a wavelength difference in distance from the driver to the mic. For reflections nearly perpendicular to the line between the driver and mic the distance becomes .5 inch (there and back). Since it is a strong cancellation, it must be something that is capturing a lot of energy (large relative surface area). The bowl of my outer ear fits the criteria, so that is the most likely culprit. The question then becomes, is this effect there when I listen to speakers? Probably to some extent, since this is part of directional sensitivity.

Since this is a hypothesis that I just made up while I ate lunch, I need to verify some of this conjecture. In the mean time, don't worry about response irregularities in headphone graphs above 5 khz or so.

The one that really intrigues me is that uniform ripple in the A1000 curve starting at 10khz. Another surface interaction?

fwiw I have a testing technique that takes out the hf interactions due to the cranium, but shows the headphone behavior. I haven't posted results yet because I want to iron out some consistency issues first.


gerG

 

[BPRJam]

I sounds like your looking for some higher-end phones than this, but I have to admit that I really like my HP170s for work. I listen to HD600s at home, HD280s on a plane or in a noisy place, and the HP170s are just good enough that I don't really feel like I'm missing anything compared to the higher end phones(esp. when listening to MP3s).

Plus, the isolation of the 170 is such that you can still hear the phone, a knock at your cube, etc, but your coworkers can't hear your music. Plus, they're cheap, so if the new janitor (or new guy across the cube hall) decides he can get some money for your phones, your only out $20, max.

My HP170s with a META Mint really rock, and I think they're worth considering for a work situation.

BPRJam