[Herky151]

For all those suggesting a wood cup and closed, look at the audio technical esw9. And a plus side is if you have a best buy with a magnolia center, they will probably have them there to demo, or at least mine had them there a week ago.

 

[SONIC BOOM]

Quote:

Hang on to your dignity and stop caring what they may or may not think about your headphones. If anybody makes a snarky comment or rolls their eyes when they see your cans, don't spend one nanosecond thinking about it. Buy something that sounds good and enjoy them like a man.
 

+1

 

[SONIC BOOM]

what about the b&w p5?

 

[twizzleraddict]

Here's an option for c). I can't speak for a) and b) since these aren't even out yet.
 
http://www.californiaheadphones.com/silverado.html
 
And I work with a bunch of geek hipsters in the office who think they're all that (I'm in my 40s) but I throw on my T50RPs and I couldn't give a rats ass how I look or who's around me. They better be getting a pair of their own headphones on while I crank my tunes to ear splitting levels.

 

[Penarin]

Quote:

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

 
Denon AH-D2000 takes care of A and B.
 
For C, apply some of these wood grain stickers to the sides of the cans-
 
http://www.zazzle.com/cool_varnished_wood_glossy_stickers-217788171403374398
 
Or maybe hipsters would prefere the look of weathered timber-
 
http://www.zazzle.com/wood_grain_sheet_of_weathered_timber_sticker-217501604741606996
 
Seriously though, I think you would like the sound of the Denons, and while I like the look of them myself (I'm 35) they probably don't have enough flash for the young kids.

 

[Bersercci]

Hang on to your dignity and stop caring what they may or may not think about your headphones. If anybody makes a snarky comment or rolls their eyes when they see your cans, don't spend one nanosecond thinking about it. Buy something that sounds good and enjoy them like a man.

Hence hipsterism was third and kinda as added bonus on the crieria

But short list now is K550, AH-D2000 and the ever suspicious pair of PSB's. Now for the final hype on PSB's - they are pretty much sold out in Europe making it even more like the miracle of new continent. But both K550 and AH-D2000 really sound great with K550 even bit more to my liking.

But again, thanks to everyone for truly great advice and pep talks!

 

[A Ham Sandwich]

The Denon cans are really, really nice but they are definitely NOT going to be OK with the sound leakage aspect by any means.  They may as well be completely open cans.
 
I'm voting for V-MODA M-100.  The B&W P5s are good but they don't have great sound and they're not great on the leakage issue.  Not bad but not great.

 

[WhiteCrow]

Koss Pro-4aa, a good headphone and it looks really "hip".

http://www.amazon.com/Koss-Pro-4AA-Studio-Quality-Headphones/dp/B00004Z7G9

 

[Dyaems]

you guys forgot the ath w1000/ w1000x. haha just chiming in, sorry!

 

[Penarin]

Quote:

The Denon cans are really, really nice but they are definitely NOT going to be OK with the sound leakage aspect by any means.  They may as well be completely open cans.
 
I'm voting for V-MODA M-100.  The B&W P5s are good but they don't have great sound and they're not great on the leakage issue.  Not bad but not great.

 
Yeah, the Denons have that "acoustic optimizer" thing that lets some sound out the back.  Forgot about that.  Last night I took mine off with some loud music going and sure enough, there was plenty of leakage.  So the 2000s wouldn't be so great in an office. 

 

[karohan]

Quote:

 
Yeah, the Denons have that "acoustic optimizer" thing that lets some sound out the back.  Forgot about that.  Last night I took mine off with some loud music going and sure enough, there was plenty of leakage.  So the 2000s wouldn't be so great in an office. 

 
You can't test leakage like that because most of the sound that's leaking will be blocked by your head when you have them on. If you have some foams or something to cover the ear cups when you take them off, that's a better measure. Alternatively, you could use a free program like Audacity to record your surroundings when you're playing music to measure leakage. 
 
Or probably most pragmatically, you could just ask someone in the room haha.

 

[SoundFreaq]

My Creative Director rocks the TMA-1, hard to go wrong there. He's paid big money to be hip. ESW9 is pretty slick too. 

 

[obobskivich]

ESW9 isn't the most comfortable headphone though, and they're very commonly faked (so only buy them from an authorized dealer).

 

[Pingupenguins]

Quote:

 
You can't test leakage like that because most of the sound that's leaking will be blocked by your head when you have them on. If you have some foams or something to cover the ear cups when you take them off, that's a better measure. Alternatively, you could use a free program like Audacity to record your surroundings when you're playing music to measure leakage. 
 
Or probably most pragmatically, you could just ask someone in the room haha.

 
 
I test leakage buy sealing the headphones on my leg. Call me old fashioned but I'm 18 so that won't work.
 
Try it on your headphones, it works and you get a great idea of leakage.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

I test leakage buy sealing the headphones on my leg. Call me old fashioned but I'm 18 so that won't work.
 
Try it on your headphones, it works and you get a great idea of leakage.

 
Yeah this totally works, especially if we're not trying to be super-precise (i.e. anal) about it.  Leg or a bookshelf speaker gives you a quick and easy dead reckoning.  I'm surprised that people don't intuitively do this.