[Bersercci]

New job, and new rules for me. I'm 40 years old and going to join a bunch of younger tech savvy hipsters that all look sooo cool. Office rules say that listening to music with cans must not bother others and is a aign you want to work in privacy.

So in this setting I need overears
a) with wide soundstage and excellent articulation (my preference)
b) minimum sound leakage to outer world (so no one is offended)
c) that the hipsters would find - well, acceptable for the old guy

abc is also the priority of criteria.

Budget is up to $500

 

[5370H55V]

AKG k550's would suit A and B well, but not too sure on C. Maybe ath-esw9's or beyer dt1350's might be more their style?

 

[goropeza]

I would say Bose Quiet Comfort 15 for noise cancelling. IDK how noisy your office is but one thing Bose does well is noise cancellation and it's a good way to make sure you are not bothered. Don't worry about the hipsters you won't be able to hear them anyways. Or you could go with Beats and be the coolest kid in school, which is really the most important thing. =P
 

 

[ninjames]

He didn't ask for noise cancellation and the Bose sound terrible. He also clearly wants good sound quality.

 

[Bee inthe Attic]

Quote:

I would say Bose Quiet Comfort 15 for noise cancelling. IDK how noisy your office is but one thing Bose does well is noise cancellation and it's a good way to make sure you are not bothered. Don't worry about the hipsters you won't be able to hear them anyways. Or you could go with Beats and be the coolest kid in school, which is really the most important thing. =P
 

+1 for ironic headphone choice

 

[goropeza]

Quote:

He didn't ask for noise cancellation and the Bose sound terrible. He also clearly wants good sound quality.

Opinions on headphones vary so greatly its not realistic that we can categorize them as simply 'good' or 'bad'. For instance, I would not call Bose terrible like you claim but just not worth the price tag. If they were $100 I might even buy a pair just for the noise cancelling. But to some they are worth it and thats not for me to decide. I'm just throwing stuff out there that make sense to me, and to me noise cancellation might not be a bad thing to look for in an office environment.
 
Anyhow, maybe the FA-003?

 

[TK277]

If you want an aesthetic that the hipsters will accept, it'd probably need to be similar to the Grado appearance, but a little less dorky. The wood or metal cupped Grado's would probably be acceptable; Grado cans don't even come close to fitting your isolation needs, sadly. Are there any closed cans that utilize wood cups? You could buy custom wood cups for Denon models. Someone with experience listening to Denon headphones could chime in on sound stage and quality.

 

[ninjames]

Quote:

Opinions on headphones vary so greatly its not realistic that we can categorize them as simply 'good' or 'bad'. For instance, I would not call Bose terrible like you claim but just not worth the price tag. If they were $100 I might even buy a pair just for the noise cancelling. But to some they are worth it and thats not for me to decide. I'm just throwing stuff out there that make sense to me, and to me noise cancellation might not be a bad thing to look for in an office environment.
 
Anyhow, maybe the FA-003?

Right but at one point you need to look at the overwhelming majority and realize that you shouldn't be, in good conscious, recommending the Bose. 

 

[Soundfreak33]

Completely forget C of your critera, if you like them who cares what anybody else thinks.

 

[Ishcabible]

Definitely the K550. I mean, they show up on a screenshot on the Instagram download page:
 

 

[roma101]

V-MODA M-100 or M-80. Check those out.

 

[Pulse14]

Quote:

Completely forget C of your critera, if you like them who cares what anybody else thinks.

Listen to this man!

 

[sfoclt]

Sony MDR-7520
 

 

[roma101]

Same as my Z1000 (which I'm currently selling as you can see below) but more handsome-looking without the blue sticker.

 

[sfoclt]

I've been meaning to replace my Sony's that I got rid of awhile back. It's hard to beat them for portable use. Here in L.A. I'd say about 70% or more of the people I know who edit for a living are wearing the Sony's, while I see a good bit with Bose also (yeah, I know but it's a fact).  Despite what headfi might make you think, you rarely see any real professionals around town sporting any of the brands popular here.