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The bible for purchasing headphones is here: http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide

I personally dropped $38 on the Superlux HD668b Evo, and could not be more pleased. They are semi-open, so not as closed, but they're still pretty isolating - I can't hear anyone unless they're yelling into my ear. And the sound quality to price ratio is astounding. They are far superior to the pair of Bose on-ear headphones I had a while back.




Great link. The money quote is probably

>Things to avoid In general it's best to avoid products made by Skullcandy, Bose, Beats, or Monster unless otherwise specified in this thread. These companies spend a lot of money on advertising and looks rather than quality. That isn't to say these companies haven't put out headphones worth buying, the Monster Turbine Coppers are actually fantastic IEMs, it's just that a lot of the time you're paying a premium for the name.

While surfing the previous amazon link I actually fell in love with the Sennheiser HD800 - though I'm pretty certain my employer won't shell out 1500$ for those...


Being semi-open, don't the headphones leak sound to whomever is around you?


I have the Superlux HD681, which are pretty close to the HD668. They sound great. The amount of sound they leak is modest, but they are definitely not great as far as isolation goes. In general, I'd go with in-ears if isolation is important to you. If you can't tolerate in-ears, a good pair of closed headphones like the ATH-M50 will do well, but you'll have to pay more $ for the same sound quality (at least in my experience).

For some extremely comprehensive comparisons, see http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/ (in-ears) and http://www.head-fi.org/t/433318/ (portable headphones).




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