

Ask HN: Best over-ear headphones 2015 - fredkelly

So this question has been discussed multiple times in many different forums. I&#x27;ve read tons of (often conflicting) advice and recommendations and I&#x27;m still none the wiser. I appreciate this is a subjective topic, and so no exhaustive ranking will ever exist. That said I know many of you will relate to my use case: I work as a software engineer in a shared office space, I want to listen to music whilst I work, I want some level of screening from background noise, be it a byproduct of good audio itself, or some form of passive&#x2F;active noise canceling. Until recently I had a pair of Bose QC15s which were revolutionary to me when I first tried them (likely because I&#x27;d never spent more than $50 on headphones). I would be tempted to go ahead and get the updated QC25 and think nothing more of it. I have read however that whilst the noise canceling is by far the best, some amount of audio quality is compromised as a result. I&#x27;m now leaning toward something more refined, that isn&#x27;t making such compromise. My problem is cutting down the myriad of options to a list I can actually attempt to compare myself. As such I&#x27;d love to try and get some consensus on the top five options (at least in terms of popularity) for the scenario I describe.<p>Thank you all in advance!
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lightblade
Lots of companies just updated their line up last week at CES. You should do a
round of search on "headphones CES 2015".

Bose QC25 has best noise cancellation. What you can do is wear a good sounding
earbud inside it so you can get best of both worlds.

Sennheiser updated their Momentum with Bluetooth, this is actually the one I
want to get.

Philips released a MFi headphones with noise canceling powered by your iPhone
(so the headphone itself is super light)

Bang and Olufson released BeoPlay H8 which is their premium line of Bluetooth
headphones. It's priced the same as Momentum Wireless, but offered only as on-
ear option where Momentum can be both on-ear and over-ear.

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fredkelly
That's perfect, thank you for the tip. I had been looking at the momentums
purely on an aesthic level they certainly win, Bluetooth would be an awesome
addition - wonder how quickly they burn through battery?

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anigbrowl
Sony MDR 7506. You can find them at any Guitar Center for about $95.

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fredkelly
Will be sure to check them out - thank you!

