[subwoofer]

Hello All, I need to get some over ear closed-back headphones that are great with bass, but most importantly that won't leak any sound. My Sennheiser HD 380 it seems leak enough that my colleagues at work can hear them, so I need better isolation than these give.

I do use canal phones sometimes, but find over ear easier especially when someone asks me a question and I have to take them off.

Any ideas for some options that are also no so expensive I wouldn't leave them in the office?

 

[MARK27]

What is your budget?

 

[subwoofer]

What is your budget?

Probably up to £100 (these will stay on my desk at work), maybe £150. The limit is based on risk of damage/theft.

 

[MARK27]

When anyone asks me for recommendation with solid bass and good isolation, for under $200 ($125 used), my answer is always the Beyerdynamic DT-770. It has great bass and great isolation. All the studio people I know, including myself, use them for tracking, so they should be more than adequate for the office.

What makes them even more amazing is that you can get them with a variety of impedances, so if you have a small headphone amp at the office, get the 250 ohm version. If you don't, you can get the 80 impedance version and you are good to go. The difference between the different impedance versions is so slight (especially for casual listening) is so minimal that you shouldn't bend over backwards avoiding the lower impedance version. I think there is even a version with 32 ohms impedance, but I haven't owned or heard those, so I shouldn't comment on them.

Buy with confidence. They have been an industry standard for years for a very good reason.

 

[subwoofer]

When anyone asks me for recommendation with solid bass and good isolation, for under $200 ($125 used), my answer is always the Beyerdynamic DT-770. It has great bass and great isolation. All the studio people I know, including myself, use them for tracking, so they should be more than adequate for the office.

What makes them even more amazing is that you can get them with a variety of impedances, so if you have a small headphone amp at the office, get the 250 ohm version. If you don't, you can get the 80 impedance version and you are good to go. The difference between the different impedance versions is so slight (especially for casual listening) is so minimal that you shouldn't bend over backwards avoiding the lower impedance version. I think there is even a version with 32 ohms impedance, but I haven't owned or heard those, so I shouldn't comment on them.

Buy with confidence. They have been an industry standard for years for a very good reason.

Thanks. The DT770 is one I already have. When new, the velour ear pads are lovely, but they can get mucky quite quickly, so I swapped mine for the vinyl option. I wonder if this makes any difference to the potential leakage.

I will be getting my wife to help rank the leakage of the two I currently have, but was also hoping for some other options too.

 

[subwoofer]

Just carried out a wife (or sometimes called 'girlfriend') test. The HD380 Pro failed badly, and the DT770, though better still failed. The only acceptable type so far have been canal-phones. (My current are the RHA T20)

So anything over-ear that can better the DT770 for not leaking?

 

[MARK27]

In your price bracket, I don't know that you are going to find significantly more isolation than the DT-770s. If you wanted to spend a bit more for Neumann NDH-20s, you might get better isolation, but they cost five times your budget (and honestly, they still might leak too much for your girlfriend).

I'm afraid that for your budget, you are only going to get the isolation you need from IEMs (or canal-phones, as you say). If it were me, and that was my budget, I would try to find a pair of Moondrop Starfields and call it a day.

 

[SilverEars]

Yeah, that's a tight budget. AKG K371 would be another with good bass and isolation.