ctate
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2011
- Posts
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Yeah, I know this is a little off the wall.
I've been upgrading a bit lately at home, and now that I have a quality DAC + headphone amp instead of using my PC's janky built-in audio, I'd like to ditch my thoroughly wretched Sony MDR-V400s [don't bother ragging on them; i know!]. I know from experience, though, that using my heavily-isolating A-Ts doesn't work well, because I can't hear my family when they need my attention even if they're speaking to me fairly loudly -- they need to come physically accost me, and that's not great for either me or them.
On the other hand, open cans like Grados aren't a great solution because they emit a lot of sound ambiently. Just because I might want to listen to Nine Inch Nails or Arvo Pärt at some particular time doesn't mean my wife in the same room wants to!
I use my Grado 125is at work where it's not such a big deal; the office is a little noisy in general anyway and the background sounds from my headphones don't bother my neighbors.
Hence this question's sort of weird criteria: are there decent phones that don't emit a lot of sound ambiently, but do allow the wearer to hear what's going on around them to at least some extent? The only thing I can think of offhand is that maybe ON the ear rather than AROUND the ear is a starting place for thinking about specific models. (I'm open to correction/suggestion though!)
I'm sure I don't have to spend much to do better than those Sonys, and given that I'm looking for something that isn't a fully-involved detailed listening environment sort of use case, I'm thinking under $150 for sure and under $100 there should still be some significant quality available.
So, uh. Any thoughts what might fit the bill? Thanks!
I've been upgrading a bit lately at home, and now that I have a quality DAC + headphone amp instead of using my PC's janky built-in audio, I'd like to ditch my thoroughly wretched Sony MDR-V400s [don't bother ragging on them; i know!]. I know from experience, though, that using my heavily-isolating A-Ts doesn't work well, because I can't hear my family when they need my attention even if they're speaking to me fairly loudly -- they need to come physically accost me, and that's not great for either me or them.
On the other hand, open cans like Grados aren't a great solution because they emit a lot of sound ambiently. Just because I might want to listen to Nine Inch Nails or Arvo Pärt at some particular time doesn't mean my wife in the same room wants to!
Hence this question's sort of weird criteria: are there decent phones that don't emit a lot of sound ambiently, but do allow the wearer to hear what's going on around them to at least some extent? The only thing I can think of offhand is that maybe ON the ear rather than AROUND the ear is a starting place for thinking about specific models. (I'm open to correction/suggestion though!)
I'm sure I don't have to spend much to do better than those Sonys, and given that I'm looking for something that isn't a fully-involved detailed listening environment sort of use case, I'm thinking under $150 for sure and under $100 there should still be some significant quality available.
So, uh. Any thoughts what might fit the bill? Thanks!
