

Ask HN: What headphones do you use in the office? - smanek

When I programming/reading at work, I often listen to music. I currently have a pair of great in-ear headphones (Shure E2Cs) that are lightweight, portable, and sound great. However, they get a bit uncomfortable after a few hours, and I was thinking about switching to a pair of circumaural headphones.<p>I was wondering what headphones the rest of you use in the office (if any)?<p>I was hoping to take some inspiration from your choices, as I suspect my requirements are similar to most of yours. For what it's worth, the big things I care about are that they not disturb a coworker who I share the office with (~6ft away) and that they should cost under $200 (although, obviously, the cheaper the better). Size/heft/appearance aren't a big issue, since I'm willing to leave them at the office all the time and just use my E2Cs most of the time.
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chunkyslink
Sennheiser HD280 Pro <http://tinyurl.com/dd475w>

They are massively comfortable, and quite tight on the head so no one else can
hear anything. If I dont feel like music I sometimes wear them anyway as they
are great at blaocking out the noise.

Oh and did I mention they sound amazing.

~~~
alecst
Great for the money, but in my personal experience they become really
uncomfortable after about an hour. It's kept me from using them as often as I
would like. Maybe I just have a weirdly shaped head.

~~~
stcredzero
Try the Beyerdynamic 770 pros. I own both the Sennheiser 280s and the
Beyerdynamics. To me, the Beyerdyamics are more comfortable, have better
highs, and better sound isolation. You can even find 80 Ohm versions of these
if you look. (So you can use them with your laptop or iPod without a headphone
amp.)

If you don't care about sound isolation, it's hard to beat the Grado
headphones for price/performance.

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extantproject
Sony MDR-V6 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_MDR-V6>
[http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-V6-Monitor-Headphones-
Voice/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-V6-Monitor-Headphones-
Voice/dp/B00001WRSJ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1237208817&sr=8-1)

~~~
maximilian
A lot of sound techs who record outside rock these I've noticed. I have a pair
and they are quite nice, durable, and sound pretty good. I picked mine up for
like $60, which is very reasonable i thought. Comfortable and are sealed, so
you can tune others out and the music in.

~~~
extantproject
They really do block quite a bit of noise; with music playing I usually don't
hear anything else, even in a noisy shared work environment.

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piranha
Grado SR80: <http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/sr80.htm>

Very nice.

~~~
Hates_
Brilliant headphones _BUT_ they are open back and send just as much music
outwards as they do inwards, so not a good choice for commuting or if you work
in a room full of people.

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hboon
I find that sometimes music distracts me. Instead of earphones, I use earplugs
(the wax type) that works pretty well. Especially useful nowadays where I work
near a construction site and very inconsiderate neighbours.

~~~
pasbesoin
Do you find the wax ones better than the foam ones? The foam ones are
comfortable and convenient, but they don't block enough noise. I'm
particularly bothered by nearby speech, e.g. in a cube environment.

~~~
hboon
I do.

I'm using
[http://www.epharmacy.com.au/product.asp?id=3902&pname=Ea...](http://www.epharmacy.com.au/product.asp?id=3902&pname=Ear+Plugs+Antinoise+3+Pairs+Surgipak+6244).
The packaging says it's -21db. I searched a little and found
[http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/369209-REG/Hearos_2210...](http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/369209-REG/Hearos_2210_Foam_Ear_Plugs_.html)
which rates as -32db which sounds surprisingly high, but I've never tried it.

For the foam ones that I'd used, the wax I've got is much better. It could be
the way I wear them or maybe their size. Using the wax earplugs, with very
loud construction works at say 200m away, I can block out enough for me to
work and I can't hear the TV in the other room with open door.

One thing with wax though, they are waterproof. I do feel a little pressure
build up so it might take a little getting used to.

~~~
pasbesoin
Thank you for the response. I may give the wax a try. I recall trying a pair,
many many years ago. I also tried silicon some years ago; from that, I have
some idea of what you mean about the difference in feel.

The foam plugs I wear are rated at something like -29 or -31 dB, depending
upon which exact box I have (even though they all carry the same brand name).
Even if the rating is accurate, it is measured against a frequency / frequency
spread that does not apply much if at all to speech.

Here's a resource I've been considering mining; I haven't pulled the trigger
on an order, yet.

<http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/>

It appears to be a Yahoo store account. Maybe pg could get us a discount? ;-)
(Viaweb went to Yahoo, right?)

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mellampudi
Checkout this link. [http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-headphone-type/sealed-
type...](http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-headphone-type/sealed-
type/?ob=ourPrice&dir=DESC)

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electromagnetic
I have a pair of RCA HPNC300's, they weren't all that expensive and their
noise canceling works great. I even wear them at home, they can cut out a lot
of background noise as they clear a lot of the bass noise that tends to
overpower other sounds.

I used to fly a lot and they worked amazing, it really helps when you don't
hear the rumble of the engines.

The only problem with the HPNC300's is that they're on-ear headphones and as I
wear quite thick-armed glasses once every few days the headphones just really
pile on the pressure. If you don't wear glasses then I don't imagine you'd
ever have a problem with on-ear, although personally I'm also looking for a
good pair of circumaural (over-ear) but I don't really have a need to spend
money on them now. When I got my current pair of headphones the price
difference between noise canceling on-ear and over-ear was just shit stupid,
it was like double-tipple the price for equal dB reduction through the noise
canceling and not simply being a $400 pair of ear protectors with earphones
built in.

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KB
I've had good luck with AblePlanet headphones
([http://www.ableplanet.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_...](http://www.ableplanet.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=38)).

Very similar to Bose technology, considering Bose has since sued them for
patent infringement.

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mildweed
KOSS's "The Plug" (not SparkPlug) <http://tinyurl.com/dkcryy>

They act like ear plugs (expanding foam in your ear canal) but play pretty
darn good music quality too. And cheap. Really, I can't go wrong with these.

~~~
silentbicycle
I have these. I found that, for my ears, they're more comfortable if I take
off the foam part and turn it around, so the wider part of the cone faces
outward.

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silentbicycle
I have Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000s ([http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-
JUG-00001-LifeChat-LX-3000-H...](http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-
JUG-00001-LifeChat-LX-3000-Headset/dp/B000J4WPW8/)), since we use skype once
in a while. They're nothing remarkable sound-wise, but they're pretty
comfortable, cheap, and they have a mic.

My only point against them is that there's a volume / mute box about a third
of the way along the cord from the headphones, and it tends to bump into
things, fall off the desk, etc. That's probably true of many similar
headphones, though.

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wallflower
I used to use AudioTechnica ANC ATH-ANC7 Noise Reduction headphones. I found
that the active noise reduction doesn't really work in an office setting
because there is some serious leakage when active. The noise reduction feature
works great on a train/plane/coffee shop (anywhere there is lots of ambient
noise) though. On a train, it cuts out the rumble and smooths it out so there
is very little oscillation (e.g. no rumble but some low frequency sound).

Now, I just use my RadioShack headset with boom mic. The ANC7's are bulky and
tend to hurt my ears if I wear them too much.

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mxcl
BeyerDynamic 770 Pros: <http://bit.ly/zbEBB>

You can wear them all day and barely notice. Great bass. You can turn them way
up and there is almost no leakage.

~~~
stcredzero
Not only is there little leakage, but the sound isolation is quite good. The
isolation is significantly better than the Sennheiser 280s, as well as the
comfort. (I own both.) The Beyerdynamic are also the best sounding closed
headphones that I own. I find that they have better highs and a more pleasing
sound than the Sennheiser 280s, and are just as detailed.

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skorgu
Sennheiser CX300S Canalphones. Bought them on a whim from newegg but I'm
pleased with them. I can't be isolated for more than about an hour before some
emergency crops up so the comfort is less important.

The HD280s are amazing though, I think I'll be getting a pair of them for home
soon.

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gtani
good info, big timesink:

<http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/>

<http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/>

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callahad
I'm quite fond of my Sennheiser PX100's. They're cheap, exceptionally
lightweight, and outrageously comfortable. Plus, the sound is quite decent (on
par with the Sennheiser HD280 Pro).

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menloparkbum
I've had a pair of Beyerdynamic DT250-80s which haven't had any problems in 7
years of daily use.

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Hates_
Etymotic ER-4p in the office and Er-6i out and about.

