[headcheese]

I listen to headphones mostly while commuting in NY's noisy subways, or running, and I need something that can seriously drown out outside noise. My Etymotic Er6i's which recently broke did a good job of that, but they left my ears feeling sore and bruised with daily use and I was never that impressed with the sound. I probably missed bass, I'm a big fan of bass but I went with those anyway based on something I read that recommended canal phones for tinnitus sufferers through the logic that you wouldn't need to turn the volume up as high. And today I read something opposite that says canal phones are worse - but is it possible to find cup-style headphones that drown out enough sound to keep the volume low? I am open to in-ear headphone suggestions, but I don't want to purchase my 3rd pair of ER6i's since the other two broke within two years each and I'm not that thrilled with them anyway.
 
I've had tinnitus for years and I keep the volume down on my headphones, but I'm not going to stop using headphones entirely. I was reading about the Senheiser HD 280 or the Audio Technica ATH A900, but I wasn't sure if those would offer enough sound isolation to keep me from cranking the music up to drown out the trains.
 
I also noticed the etymotics rattled at very low volumes, sometimes when listening in a quiet room I found I couldn't turn the volume down far enough to my liking, or without them rattling, but that might have been due to physical damage since I only noticed that later into their lifespan.
 
My budget is about $200.
 
Thanks!

 

[calipilot227]

Etymotics are hard to beat in terms of isolation, but Westones come pretty close and are much more comfortable. I'll suggest the Westone 2 (you can usually find it used for around $200).

 

[vladimirK702]

What about the HD25's? i've heard good things..

 

[calipilot227]

Quote:

What about the HD25's? i've heard good things..

The HD25s have very good isolation....for closed headphones. In my experience, they are on par with shallow-insert IEMs (Triple.fi 10 with silicone tips, for example), but they are no match for deep-inserting IEMs (Etymotics with tri-flange tips or Westones with long Complys). And I personally found IEMs with foam tips to be more comfortable than the HD25. Again, YMMV.
 

 

[headcheese]

Thank you.... Sorry I didn't see the thread about headphone recommendations earlier.... I will look into these, hopefully nothing too "bright" as the treble is what really irks the tinnitus.

 

[calipilot227]

If you're looking for something that won't be too bright, also look into the Westone UM2. Doesn't get much smoother or non-fatiguing than that!