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Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

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Re: Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

#71

Post by gmays »

I use Bose QuietComfort 15 (noise cancelling). Link: http://www.amazon.com/Bose%C2%AE-QuietComfort%C2%AE-Acoustic...

I got a pair for my wife and I used them constantly, so I got a pair of my own. I absolutely love them. I often use them just for the noise cancelling (i.e. when travelling) without any music playing.

I'm not an audiophile and haven't tried every pair out there, but I'm very happy with these. If you're married these really come in handy. If you don't get it, you will.

Re: Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

#72

Post by ScottWhigham »

vosper wrote: post #5

Sennheiser HD-380 Pro headphones have excellent isolation and are circumaural (enclose your ears, rather than sitting on your earlobes) which makes them very comfortable for long sessions. They also sound great. Only downside is they're not that portable, but if you just need headphones for your desk then I highly recommend them.

Another vote for the HD-380 Pros. They aren't the most comfortable to wear for long sessions for me though but I do like everything else about them.

Re: Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

#73

Post by ScottWhigham »

bboyan wrote: post #21

Etymotic hf5: 35-42 dB isolation + good frequency response and accuracy

Another etymotic ER-4S user here. They lasted two years and, when they broke, they were 3 weeks out of warranty. Etymotic replaced them for free - good customer service.

Re: Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

#74

Post by btgeekboy »

I used to use a pair of in-ear monitors, a Shure SE210 set. The problem was that, after a few months of continuous daily use, I started to suffer inner ear impactions. Not fun at all.

I still have them, but I save them for travel now due to their size vs. sound quality. Otherwise, at the office, I use a $20 pair of Sennheiser over-the-ears that does okay (but I don't care if something happens to them), and at home, my Shure SRH440 are a great middle ground between quality and price.

Re: Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

#75

Post by MaryPreston »

wting wrote: post #19

I have a bunch of expensive headphones (Bose QC2, multiple inner ear), and the best solution I've found costs $28 and allows me to listen to music comfortably on a Mac at 0.5 tick! I use a pair of earphones[0] covered by industrial ear muffs[1]. For comfort reasons, it's important that the earphones are not pressured by the surrounding ear muffs. I haven't found any inner ear headphones that meet this constraint. Som…

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Re: Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

#77

Post by RossM »

howradical wrote: post #47
RossM wrote: post #24

I use a pair of Bose active noise cancelling headphones (Quiet Comfort 15, over ear). I work in an open plan office with many people using the phone or talking across the room. I'm fairly distracted by this and these help, but it doesn't exactly silence outside noise. In fact, for some people their voices seem more pronounced when the noise cancelling is on. However they're pretty good quality, comfortable to wear an…

I second these and also recommend the new QC20's. Neither offer the best sound quality, but hands down the best noise canceling capabilities. The QC20's are in-ear and much more wearable outside of the office.

I've been thinking about switching back to in-ear buds - are they any better at blocking out voices? Also does that battery pack(?) on the QC20s get in the way much?

Re: Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

#79

Post by brentm »

If you don't mind having to get an inner ear mold made and spending ~$700 the Sensaphonics 2X-S are awesome. Since they are molded to your inner ear they block out near 100% of sound without using audio noise reduction. The sound quality is pretty top notch as well, their usual purpose is as in ear monitors for musicians on stage.

http://www.sensaphonics.com/?p=328

Re: Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

#80

Post by theneb »

vosper wrote: post #5

Sennheiser HD-380 Pro headphones have excellent isolation and are circumaural (enclose your ears, rather than sitting on your earlobes) which makes them very comfortable for long sessions. They also sound great. Only downside is they're not that portable, but if you just need headphones for your desk then I highly recommend them.

+1 for these too, I've had mine for over a year now. At first they were a little un-comfortable on my ears in terms of listening but they're now perfect.

The best part is that you can get any spare part for them from http://spares.sennheiser.co.uk/pro-audio-headphones/hd-380-p... . You could probably build a pair of headphones from the spares site alone.

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