[Sorrows End]

Howdy!

I find myself living in Texas working in a very large corporate office environment. I enjoy listening to music while im droning away on my computer. But I have encountered a serious problem.

People in Texas do not understand the concept of an "indoor voice"

People in this office enjoy having conversations as loud as possible. They literally YELL at each other from 5 feet away. I work in the marketing department so these folks are even more animated and louder than the average office dweller.

As im typing this I cannot even hear any music with my HD595's (yes I understand they are open, but they have worked fine in other offices).

So my question is thus.... Which would you choose for a good set of closed/noise cancelling cans for a loud office? I do not want any type of in ear at all. Im looking for complete over the ear cans. Size/Look does not matter. Remember im used to wearing HD595's in public...I don't care about the looks I get. =)

Thank you for your help.

 

[jagorev]

The HD 280 has the best passive noise-cancelling I've heard, better than any active noise-cancellers. But I'm afraid none of these will be enough for people shouting like that - get IEMs. The Etymotics have incredible isolation.

 

[vo328]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sorrows End I do not want any type of in ear at all. Im looking for complete over the ear cans.

Hi there... I'm just curious as to why you don't want any type of in-ear system. I work in what can sometimes be a noisy environment and my IEM's literally keep me isolated beautifully. Is it the feeling of something in your ear that you don't want?

Cheers,
-Vik

 

[Sorrows End]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vo328 Hi there... I'm just curious as to why you don't want any type of in-ear system. I work in what can sometimes be a noisy environment and my IEM's literally keep me isolated beautifully. Is it the feeling of something in your ear that you don't want? Cheers, -Vik

As for no IEM's I had many hearing problems as a child. I used to have chronic ear infections so was at the doctors multiple times a year due to my ear problems. Since then I've developed a serious dislike for anything in my ear canal. This dislike has carried on over the years, even at the age of 30 I cannot stand any type of ear bud or IEM. I've sampled various high end IEM's and while they sound great I can't tolerate them even for a minute.

They are just very uncomfortable to me. Blame it on psychological issues if you will. I just prefer over the ear cans. =)

 

[vo328]

I see... thanks for the explanation! In my experience, noise-cancelling headphones tend to block out ambient noise, but not so much with voices. So, if you were in an environment, say, with lots of fan noise and people talking, you'd be able to drown out the fan noise, and the "droning" of lots of people around you, but if folks in your vicinity were talking loudly, if anything, you'd hear that more with noise-cancelling headphones. This is one of the main reasons I steered clear of this technology. The other thing that keeps me away from noise-cancelling headphones is the loss of SQ.

Most likely, a good set of non-noise-cancelling full-size cans is what you would benefit most from. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of experience there, so I can't help any more. I highly encourage you to stay away from noise-cancelling technology in headphones for your purpose though.

Good luck!
-Vik

 

[LaBreaHead]

I don't own any good headphones (having spent too much on IEMs to date), other than the entry level Sennheiser 201's, which don't really count ... but since you have Senns already, why not one of the closed Sennheisers? I don't know about comfort issues for the closed 'phones, but you seem to be a dedicated headphone person, so start researching their closed offerings.