[Sonic Defender]

I use mine on noisy public transit and they seem to do quite well; however, a caveat here, I do tend to listen to music fairly loud so that is undoubtedly a factor. 

 

[ninjapirate9901]

  I've read some of this thread.  Not all of it just yet.  Was wondering, how well do these headphones seal out external noise?  I'm considering using these on my PC for atmospheric first person games like Stalker, Skyrim, and Bioshock. 

 
I only have one other fully closed headphone to compare them to and the HP50's do isolate better than the Alpha Dogs. If you want some actual measurements, Innerfidelity has isolation measurements on each of their headphone data sheets:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-data-sheet-downloads

 

[Lohb]

Yes, have to say the headband is quite annoying/uncomfortable after extended listening due to :
 
1) too narrow a balance point putting all weight on such a small area (left to right weight distribution is narrow)
 
and
 
2) the cushion is curved & narrow underneath rather than flat & wide again focusing too much on one place (back to front weight distribution is narrow).

 

[JR2014]

   
I only have one other fully closed headphone to compare them to and the HP50's do isolate better than the Alpha Dogs. If you want some actual measurements, Innerfidelity has isolation measurements on each of their headphone data sheets:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-data-sheet-downloads

Wow, nice resource there!  I'm looking for "broadband isolation in db (100Hz - 10kHz)," right?

 

[ninjapirate9901]

  Wow, nice resource there!  I'm looking for "broadband isolation in db (100Hz - 10kHz)," right?

 
Yep.

 

[PJDubyaM]

  Yes, have to say the headband is quite annoying/uncomfortable after extended listening due to :
 
1) too narrow a balance point putting all weight on such a small area (left to right weight distribution is narrow)
 
and
 
2) the cushion is curved & narrow underneath rather than flat & wide again focusing too much on one place (back to front weight distribution is narrow).

I think the headband comfort is a 'love it or hate it' thing. I've worn mine *a lot*, and have no worries whatsoever about the headband. Even though I have the band at full stretch, the contact point up top just disappears. I'm not even aware of it.

 

[PJDubyaM]

Well, I'm on to my second set now.
 
On a flight from London over to San Francisco for GDC, the lefthand input socket died. At some point during the flight, when I plugged the lead into that socket (my favoured one, because of the pocket I put my iPhone in, and because of the USB port my DragonFly goes in), I only got mono sound. Fine at the beginning of the flight.
 
I still got stereo when plugging in via the righthand socket.
 
I do unplug and plug-back-in quite a lot, as I take the phones to the office with me most days, and the soft case that comes with the phones isn't constructed to allow you to leave the lead in place.
 
Still, Sevenoaks Holborn (where I got the first set from) replaced them without any hassle. Weirdly, though, I had to drop the old set off, wait until they'd registered the fault, and then come back and grab a new pair (i.e. I couldn't swap old-and-confirmed-broken with new in a single visit).
 
Now enjoying warming the new set up...

 

[Lohb]

  I think the headband comfort is a 'love it or hate it' thing. I've worn mine *a lot*, and have no worries whatsoever about the headband. Even though I have the band at full stretch, the contact point up top just disappears. I'm not even aware of it.

Sure, it's subjective. Cannot dispute that.
My band will be getting re-made next week with wider and deeper sponge...got them on as I type. Smooth and darkish signature is great so it's not all bad !

 

[ninjapirate9901]

  I think the headband comfort is a 'love it or hate it' thing. I've worn mine *a lot*, and have no worries whatsoever about the headband. Even though I have the band at full stretch, the contact point up top just disappears. I'm not even aware of it.

 
I don't mind the headband that much either. It certainly isn't the best I've tried but it's not terrible.
 
Also woot, PCARS!

 

[Luvdac]

  I've read some of this thread.  Not all of it just yet.  Was wondering, how well do these headphones seal out external noise?  I'm considering using these on my PC for atmospheric first person games like Stalker, Skyrim, and Bioshock. 

Not as well as IEM's. For air travel I prefer my IEM's

 

[PJDubyaM]

 
Also woot, PCARS!

 
Ha! Turns out that the internet's quite a small place then...
 
(Thanks for the support!)

 

[Painful Chafe]

   
I only have one other fully closed headphone to compare them to and the HP50's do isolate better than the Alpha Dogs. If you want some actual measurements, Innerfidelity has isolation measurements on each of their headphone data sheets:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-data-sheet-downloads

Could you do a bit of a comparison between the HP50's and AD's? I am considering trying the Alpha's.

 

[Lohb]

  Could you do a bit of a comparison between the HP50's and AD's? I am considering trying the Alpha's.

Yes, I'd be interested too. I think the AD's are more monitor precision type tuning ?

 

[Anouk]

Hi,
I wonder if anyone compared the nad hp50 vs the focal spirit classic/professional?
I think the price in eu is a bit steap i can only find it here for 300 euro while it should be around eur220 if the retail price is 300 dollar.
 
Are there any places that sell it for cheaper in eu (dont see it on thomann) or international places that ship to eu?
I was thinking about the original momentums but i cant easily find those here only the on-ear version.
Greetings, Anouk,

 

[HeretixAevum]

So I've had my HP50s for a couple of days now. I can confirm the V-Moda audio cable fits perfectly and works without an issue, so if you need a longer cable for desktop use it's perfect.
 
Otherwise, I'm actually very happy with these headphones. They do sound very good indeed. Quite spacious and coherent. They also don't look anywhere near as bad on my head as they do on other people I've seen. I think it depends greatly on your hair and the shape of your head, and it works OK with my noggin! Comfort is good, maybe not quite at the level I'd want for all day desktop use, but certainly passes for listening for a few hours. I think I want to make this my portable headphone (once I get contact lenses).