Ask HN: Best isolating headphones for hacking?

It seems like there's a lot of high-end kit flying around this thread. I'm sure everybody's recommendations are quite good, but this isn't a problem on which you need to spend a ton of cash to solve.

When I had this problem I went to Best Buy and picked up a $12 pair of earbuds which used memory foam instead of silicone. They might've been skull-candy brand? They came with three sizes of memory foam. For me the medium-sized one made the best seal, but wasn't so tight that they were uncomfortable to wear for a full 8-hour coding session.

Personally I work best when I listen to music which I can easily tune out. Sometimes that's music without lyrics (techno, classical guitar, or other random stuff like Explosions in the Sky or The Section Quartet), sometimes it's catchy upbeat pop songs which I've heard a million times. If you don't want to listen to music, download a white (or pink) noise generator. Between the seal formed by the memory foam buds and the white noise (which your brain will very quickly tune out for you) you won't hear a thing.

Another tip: I also find that if my screen is in a position where it faces the crowd, it negates some of the benefit of wearing headphones since I can't tell who's looking over my shoulder as easily. It's not that I usually have things on my screen which I feel I need to hide, more that I'm kind of a privacy nut. This would probably still be the case even if I were to get one of those privacy filters, just because I'd periodically feel the need to look over my shoulder to see who's there. Maybe one of those C.H.I.M.P. mirrors from Think Geek would solve that, however.

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 and can truly deaden the sound of air conditioning and keyboards.

Major downside is that you have to turn on noise cancelling to listen to music - which is powered by a single AAA battery.

The glasses angle is something that I had not considered. The QC15s fit nice and snug around your entire ear (not in an uncomfortable way) so glasses could potentially be an issue. They are fairly soft, though, so I suppose it could be worse.

I use Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi 10, which have apparently been replaced with the UE 900[1]. They have great isolation with Comply Foam and surprising quality for IEMs. The replaceable cord is also a great feature, so when it inevitably gets a kink that kills stereo, you can replace it without spending $$$ on a new pair. The only problem I've had is that one of them has gotten loose where the cord connects so it sometimes falls off, but usually they're good through the day. This may have been fixed in the newer version.

1. http://ue.logitech.com/en-us/product/ue900

Here's a good write-up on The Wire Cutter: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-noise-canceling-headph...