[santiu]

Hey all...

Well, I moved into a new office (sea of cubes

) and it's much noisier than my old office. So I'm looking for a pair of noise-cancelling headphones or some sealed phones that have really high noise attenuation.

Currently I listen to a pair of DT-770/80, but I hear too much ambient noise for my liking. I have a pair of HD-280 Pro's which i think attenuate more, but I don't particularly like their sound for casual music listening.

I've never had any experience with active noise-cancelling headphones, so I currently have no opinions on them, nor do I know anything about them. Do any of them sound good? No point in getting rid of background noise if the sound you do hear is no good. Also, most of the noise is voices, telephones, clacking keyboards, and other such non-uniform noises, which I'm not sure how well those active headphones work with..

Comfort is very important as I wear these things for hours and hours on end.

Hoping to keep things around $200.

Suggestions? Recommendations? thanks in advance for any help.

 

[exX08]

What about IEM's? They isolate VERY good. I have the ER4P's and they are great. With the music on I can't hear anything going on.

 

[Equus]

IEM's are fantastic if you don't have people visiting you and talking to you throughout the day. That was what pretty much convinced me to plug down the money for a closed set for while I was at work, just because I was tired of pulling my earphones out and putting them back in all the time. As far as isolation, however, not sure if they can be beat.

I've only listened to active noise-cancelling Bose headphones at the store, so I can't really say much about them. I really was not particularly impressed by how they sounded (my $40 earbuds sounded better), though they did seem to cut down the noise of the local Target pretty well. Can't say if the poor quality was due to the source or if some of the other active noise-cancelling headphones are any better. I seem to recall a Sennheiser one that some people were fond of.

If you don't have to deal with phones or people walking into your corner of the cube farm, though, IEMs may be the way to go.

 

[cconroy]

while I'm not a particular fan of bashing for the sake of it, IMHO my KSC-75s are leaps and bounds ahead of the $330 Bose QuietComfort2 headphones...

IEMs will be a pain if you have to take them in and out frequently...so my vote would be for some nice sealed phones..perhaps the ATH-A line? I'm looking into those myself once I stop spending $$ on other things...

 

[TimmyMac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cconroy /img/forum/go_quote.gif while I'm not a particular fan of bashing for the sake of it, IMHO my KSC-75s are leaps and bounds ahead of the $330 Bose QuietComfort2 headphones...

Sounds to me like you ARE a fan of bashing for the sake of it. That was completely off topic especially as KSC75s are open. And I have my doubts they actually outdo the QC2s. KSC75s are good, and QC2s are a ripoff, but it's not that extreme.

 

[Claus-DK]

I have the senn PXC 250, and like them a lot, I am no expert but like the sound of them and the NC is quite good, I used them for an 8 hous workday, Whitout any discomfort, a little warm to the ears but thats all..

Now I´m using IEM but that is manly becauce i work in a quite noisy enviroment Apr. 85 DB and the senns unfortunately lacking in that kind of noise..

The IEM I use now is DJAYS, the bass is not as good as the senns but they are more precise in the midtone area IMO..the higs are about the same...

If you have to take them off lots of times during the day i would prefer a NC phone instead of IEM..

 

[santiu]

yeah, i think IEM's might be too much of a hassle as I do need to deal with people throughout the day. Also, I used to have a pair of ER-6's for recording use, and I found them to be sort of uncomfortable for extended use.

do the Audio-Technica's isolate better than the beyerdynamics? Looks like the A-900 is the one that's in my price range. Any other good closed cans out there?

 

[Claus-DK]

Phillips also made a new NCphone 9900 as far as i remember and they also sound quite good..

 

[lutwey]

how about the v6(might sound similar to ur hd 280) or the k81dj(one of the favs in h-fi).

with ur budget, u can get both of 'em. they are considered "classics" in here, so reselling them (if u dont like 'em) in a minimal loss should not be a problem.

 

[Gross]

I own the Senn PXC-250s and they are some nice little cans. SQ is decent, and the noise cancelling works fairly well. However, I just picked up some Shure E4c's and when you put them in, it is like wearing ear plugs, as they isolate very well. One problem with the noise cancelling, is there is always a bit of hiss that you hear, which is just part of the circuitry. I also picked up the PTH module from a pair of Shure E500PTH, which has a button and microphone on it, It will attenuate your audio source and amplifies what it picks up in the mic, and you dont have to take out the IEMs. Worked like a charm on the plane today. I found the PTH( and the E4c's) in the for sale forum here, and I would imagine if you asked, somebody would be willing to sell theirs.

-Gross

 

[snejk]

Have you read saint.panda's review below? It's a good write up on several closed cans with special regard to isolation and portability.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=130998

Regards,
Jacob

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by santiu /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah, i think IEM's might be too much of a hassle as I do need to deal with people throughout the day. Also, I used to have a pair of ER-6's for recording use, and I found them to be sort of uncomfortable for extended use. do the Audio-Technica's isolate better than the beyerdynamics? Looks like the A-900 is the one that's in my price range. Any other good closed cans out there?

The Shure E500 has adeptors for muting the music and hearing what's going on outside without having to remove the IEMs, it just might be what you need. I don't remember what its called, though.