[LordJezo]

It has always been closed for me because I have been in dorm rooms or had my computer in a room with a bed, never went open because even though they are headphones they would have bothered people around me. Well, I am no longer in that situation so my options can increase.

How much sound bleeds out of open headphones? Late at night when the wife is sleeping I am still awake doing my thing on the computer and I don't want to wake her up. When the PC was in the bedroom it was closed to keep sound from bleeding out but now that she has made me grow up and move the pc to the second bedroom I guess I don't have to be as concerned.

With an open set of headphones (which seem to have better sound from what I read) will there be so much noise that she'll be able to hear them in the next room through the wall or down the hall? Should I stick with closed since I have the potential to disturb others or will open finally work for me?

 

[Meliboeus]

Completely open headphones like the Grados leak quite a bit, but at normal listening levels it's unlikely you'll hear someone listening in another room...

 

[iareConfusE]

I have ATH-AD700's. When I play music through them at a decent level that doesn't hurt my ears, which is actually pretty low, I can still hear them all the way from downstairs, and its a pretty windy path from my room upstairs to the place I was standing downstairs. These things leak pretty loudly and it would probably be annoying to anyone that doesn't have their own music to keep their ears occupied.

If you wanted open headphones, you'd probably want to keep the volume really low if you are really concerned about leaking sound and bothering others.

 

[Deiz]

I find it varies widely from headphone to headphone.

With the HD650s I find if you're off-axis from the headphones (That is, behind or in front of the listener, not beside.) they don't leak much, at normal volumes.

However, what I consider to be "normal volume", acquaintances of mine consider to be unlistenably low.

 

[krmathis]

Highly depending on the position of the volume knob on the amplifier.

Some headphones (ex. K1000) bleed more than others (ex. SR-007) as well, making it a bit hard to be specific. But no question asked, they are louder (to others) than closed-back 'phones.

 

[swayne]

I suspect it depends on:

1) the headphones
2) how far you have the volume turned up
3) how deeply asleep they are.

Steven.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Depends on the headphones and how loud you have them. If you're listening at low/moderate levels, it won't bother people more than the sound of passing traffic, wind, TV on in the other room, etc. Unless you really have it blaring, people will tune of out as background noise. I won't wear open headphones next to someone sleeping or on an airplane, but they're usually tuned out otherwise.

 

[apatN]

If you are in a separate room having an open headphone won't wake the neighbors. What you might want to take in consideration are the noises you are hearing. Be it your PC or your wife that is having a telephone conversation in the other room.

 

[Barock]

On your own in a room with the door closed won't disturb anyone else. Otherwise it will sound like tinny portable speakers annoyingly blaring away. Generally speaking.

 

[scompton]

Except for maybe the K1000, if your listening loud enough to disturb someone in another room, your listening loud enough to damage your hearing. I listen to very open headphones and I doubt if I'd disturb someone who wasn't sitting right next to me.

Right now, I'm listening to my MB Quart QP85 which is a float. If I hold it at arms length, I hear almost nothing. With something like the AKG K501 at arms length, I can't hear a thing.

Someone extremely sensitive to sound in the same room might be bothered, but typing makes as much noise, at least on my keyboards.

 

[Tacoboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordJezo /img/forum/go_quote.gif It has always been closed for me because I have been in dorm rooms or had my computer in a room with a bed, never went open because even though they are headphones they would have bothered people around me. Well, I am no longer in that situation so my options can increase. How much sound bleeds out of open headphones? Late at night when the wife is sleeping I am still awake doing my thing on the computer and I don't want to wake her up. When the PC was in the bedroom it was closed to keep sound from bleeding out but now that she has made me grow up and move the pc to the second bedroom I guess I don't have to be as concerned. With an open set of headphones (which seem to have better sound from what I read) will there be so much noise that she'll be able to hear them in the next room through the wall or down the hall? Should I stick with closed since I have the potential to disturb others or will open finally work for me?

I would be very surprised if the sound from my ATH-AD700s "open" headphones could be heard by someone in the next room.

 

[mbd2884]

When its night out, and everyone is sleeping and quiet. I can play my music on extremely low volume and hear it very clearly.

That volume shouldn't wake your wife. Remember you will be hear even better when its night out and its quiet, unless you live in the city with traffic all night.

 

[noremedy]

Listen to it until your wife tells you to ****! Haha, no seriously they do leak quite alot of noise, and I really don't listen very loudly. I was upstairs revising, and up a spiral staircase, my dad was downstairs and asked me to turn them down twice, he was watching tv too!

With regard to your typing being as loud as your headphones, we have a button masher!!!

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by noremedy /img/forum/go_quote.gif With regard to your typing being as loud as your headphones, we have a button masher!!!

Maybe, but I also listen at 65-70dB with very open headphones. I can hear every external sound.