[CannedHam]

I used open cans in my office for awhile (Grado 325s). I sent a note to the folks to let me know if they objected to the sound... and noone did (then again, I am the boss... sometimes that changes things). Bottom line is.. I did not like it. Was a little too self conscious on the volume, I found external noise bothersome, never mind people kept asking questions about what the h*ll was I listening to!

My solution was to get the 271s. Pretty happy with them (much better than the 325s for me). Oh yeah, then I bought the 600s for some late night listening when few are around (play my shortwave then too)...

With the price of 600s on the used market, I would just buy em.. and use both! Work late and enjoy the Senn's... crank up the AKG's in the daytime.

C.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally posted by commando That could be true for some jobs pspivak, but i'm a developer and can go days without needing to talk to anyone. It's quite for developers to wear headphones, and it helps me concentrate.

I can't imagine how I would develop anything worthy in that zoo I have to work in if I didn't have my trusty headphones. Closed headphones on, and I'm quite enjoing my staying at the desk.

 

[Jonathan Griffin]

I've successfully used HD600's at work, in an open cubicle environment. At low volumes it doesn't disturb my colleagues. The big advantage is that I can hear when somebody comes into my cube. The big disadvantage is the distraction of nearby conversations, and a number of my colleagues wear closed or in-ear phones for that reason. (A couple use monitor mirrors too.)

The other big disadvantage is the penetration of computer hum and air-con noise. Quiet passages in the music can disappear altogether, especially for classical music. For that reason I've switched to active noise-cancelling headphones at work

- the loss of sound quality is made up for by being able to hear the music.

 

[Chinchy]

I'll provide the flip side to the whole headphones in the office thing.

- Yes I use open headphones (Grado SR-100) in the office
- No, no one ever complains
- I have full height cubicle walls
- I have succeeded in Grado-ifying all coworkers who have cubicles touching mine (okay, only 2 of them). They all have SR-60's.
- With open headphones I can still talk to people while listening to music, I can still hear the phone ring, and sometimes I will sit with the headphones on pretending to listen to music when there's actually nothing playing and I just want to ignore them. And yes, I have made fellow coworkers stand outside my cube for 5 minutes trying to get me to pay attention while I sit there with headphones on and no music playing, bobbing my head like I'm listening, all the while watching them in the reflection of my monitor and internally laughing because I'm totally ignoring them.

- And here's the clincher. Don't just get open headphones for work. Get open AND closed headphones. I have both the SR-100 and the Senn HD-25 powered by a Meta at work. So I can either listen to the glorious richness of an open can, or when work becomes hectic, I can use the closed cans and totally shut out the work environment.

It works well for me. But YMMV.

 

[beerguy0]

I've used both open (Sennheiser HD490 II), and closed (AKG K271 Studio). I got few complaints about the open phones in the lab, or in my cube for that matter. However, I must say that I much prefer the closed phones. I find that I can listen at lower levels, plus the music and phones really mask the distractions around me. I work in an Engineering lab, and the noise from test equipment fans, UUT cooling, etc., can really drive you nuts. Open phones do a poor job of masking external sounds, even if you really crank them.

In the office, they block other conversations quite well. I always found it really annoying when two idiots stand right outside the doorway and yap for 20 minutes while I'm trying to get work done. And, unless I really crank them, I don't bother anyone else. There is the aspect of people sneaking up on you, but I have very good peripheral vision, so I rarely get totally blind sided. I may invest in a monitor mirror, though.

Cheers,

bg

 

[BigD]

I have grado in the office and one of co-worker kept bitching about the noise she was hearing from my cans. What upset me most was the fact that there was a speaker radio front of her which never bother her. Supposely, We get along fine too.
Maybe different taste in music triggered her to come forward.

There was one more factor that used to kill me alot. Everytime there is phone call parked or transfer, I would hear the announcement of calls parked or pick-up request.

This turned me off many times during my pink floyd sessions.

I definitely go with closed cans

 

[Beto]

Quote:

Originally posted by pspivak Unless you are working alone and the telephone never rings and nobody is going to ever want something from you, do not wear head phones at the workplace. People think that it is rude to wear headphones and you appear to be inaccessible and therefore not part of the team. I would only wear them when alone in the office; at night or on the weekends. Even if other people do it and the boss condones it , it is not appropriate in the work environment from a customer service standpoint.

Not in our office for sure. Here we ALL got our respective headphones. only thing we beg to differ is that the programming girls have earbuds and I prefer something, um, bigger...

But truth be told, I find myself not using the cans at the office often, with all the phone calls, requests, meetings and whathaveyou that goes in a single day. If I want to listen to music for real, I do it at home.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally posted by commando It's not sounding too promising for open cans in an office, is it? Damn, I wanted an excuse to buy some nice open cans Since my source and amp are at work, i'd have to buy another amp if I wanted the HD600s at home... which would work out a bit expensive FYI, I wear headphones mostly to block out external noise, but obviously also to hear the music! Maybe I should just go with really high quality closed cans. CD3000 perhaps? I might search or ask that in a new thread.

I very highly recommend you give the CD3000's a long listen before you commit to buying them. They are far brighter and more agrressive than the HD280 Pros.

 

[commando]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jasper994 I very highly recommend you give the CD3000's a long listen before you commit to buying them. They are far brighter and more agrressive than the HD280 Pros.

I can't audition headphones here in NZ, you just can't get them here. I've bought a mint pair second hand, that way if I don't like them I can sell them for very little loss

 

[LordKestrel]

I use closed cans at work, one of the guys next to me has open ones. Frankly, when I'm not listening to music, I can hear his, even though it's not very loud. Very annoying. If you work in a cubicle type area, go with closed over open.

 

[kunwar]

open cans with all the phones ringing arouond you would be a definite NO NO.
you would just get pissed off real soon.
Still f you are fussed about getting open phones get something inconspicuous like a Grado or Alessandro or something.

 

[Zoide]

What about covering the grill of open ear headphones? I'm sure someone has tried this before?

I'm waiting for my 580's to arrive, and I'm already thinking about how to devise a way to cover the grill in order for my roommates not to be disturbed if they're studying/sleeping. Hopefully this would also block outside noise if I need to concentrate on something.

I suppose that covering the grill would sacrifice sound quality (it's open in the first place for some reason), but having the option to do so at select times would be pretty good.

Has anyone tried this?

 

[go_vtec]

Quote:

What about covering the grill of open ear headphones?

It will make HD580 sound different... can't say it will improve or degrade. Few headfiers had experimented with replacing HD580's grills with HD600's and reported the change in sound.

 

[Beto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide What about covering the grill of open ear headphones? I'm sure someone has tried this before? I'm waiting for my 580's to arrive, and I'm already thinking about how to devise a way to cover the grill in order for my roommates not to be disturbed if they're studying/sleeping. Hopefully this would also block outside noise if I need to concentrate on something.

Can't tell about the 580's grill, but when I get my HD600's grill covered for some reason (pillow, etc) the sound quality actually does change, and not for the better. Not something to cry about, but definitely noticeable. I can see how the noise can disturb your roommate... these cans are way noisier than most in that respect, but I guess that's the trade-off for the kind of sound you get with these...

 

[yblocgerg]

Off topic but Edwood I have one of those CHIMPS, works great, hehe.