[LazerBear]

Hey all,
 
I'm in the market for a portable pair of over-the-ear headphones. My ideal pair would have:
 
1) Good isolation: I tried the Momentum and liked the sound but isolation was not quite there. I am going to use these commuting a lot.
2) Good sound: quite easy at this price point, I do not mind something warmer and a little colored as long as it is not overdone. I listen to almost every genre with the exclusion of pop and R&B.
3) Portable: foldable inward or flat, carrying case, strong build
4) Easy to drive/inline mic: out of home I am going to use mostly Android devices, might upgrade to some decent DAP soon though.
 
I browsed this forums and other websites quite extensively and came up with the following list and opinions, in no particular order:
 
1) V-Moda M100: bassy, isolation not so good; excellent build (299$)
2) Bower&Wilkins P5: balanced, warm sound; good isolation; solid build (299$)
3) Bower&Wilkins P7: balanced, detailed sound; very good isolation; solid build (399$)
4) Bose QuietComfort 15 or 25: superb isolation; very average sound; decent build (299$)
5) ThinkSound On1: slightly bassy; strong build; no idea about isolation (250$)
 
Now, I'm having a very hard time comparing these 5, so first of all any kind of comparison from head-fiers who have used two or more would be extremely welcome (especially isolation and usability outside). Secondly, I realize that for commuting something with active noise-isolation would be better (Bose) but I cannot really bring myself to spend that kind of money on something with such a crappy audio quality (for the price), so feel free to point out if/why I might be wrong. Thirdly, is there such a big difference between P5 and P7? The latter is kind of outside the budget that I imposed myself..
 
Thanks in advance for any input, have a nice day!
 
David

 

[Canuck99]

NAD Viso Hp50, Tyll put them on his wall of fame.

 

[zunehdrocks]

You can find measurements here:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/YamahaPro500.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/VModaM100.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BowersWilkinsP7.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/bowers-wilkins-p5-portable-headphoneheadset-measurements
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BoseQuietComfort15.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/NADVISOHP50.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/PolkUltrafocus8000.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/comparative-review-high-end-noise-canceling-headphones-page-3
The best sounding noise canceller according to tyll is the polk audio ultrafocus 8000 but the noise cancelling isnt as good as the competition.

 

[LazerBear]

Thanks, that was a lot of good info!!! I never noticed innerfidelity had "isolation" on their graphs.
 
Now, I have a couple of last questions, if anyone can help me:
 
- I have no way of testing most of the headphones listed, but I do have a pair of old Sony XB500 laying around. Considering the following graphs, would the isolation be significantly improved with the HP50 compared to them? I see that the slope is more marked, but am unsure how much real world difference I would hear in, for example, a subway.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SonyMDRXB500.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/NADVISOHP50.pdf
 
- I know this is a very personal choice, but I am incredibly torn between a good set of cans (HP50), with good but passive isolation only, and an average set of cans (Bose QC15) with a good active isolation. I would really like to step up in quality from my previous phones (Klipsch S4), but I am going to be using them a lot for commuting and only sporadically in a more quiet environment. What would you guys choose?
 
Thanks a lot again,
 
David