51–60 of 80 posts
If you do regular meditation ( Seven Pranayams ), then you can concentrate on your work easily. Little chat and your surrounding will not be able to disturb you any more. That may sound unbelievable but I do this and I know this is one of the many benefits I got from meditation.
The company that I work for purchased these for me a few days ago: http://www.amazon.com/Bose%C2%AE-QuietComfort%C2%AE-Acoustic... I'm pretty happy with them. I'm fairly easily distracted by noises: Heavy walking noises, talking, laughing, phones ringing, folks rustling potato chip bags... It can all mess up my concentration if it comes at an inopportune moment. I'm the only programmer here so most of the folks here…
Does anyone know if noise-cancelling headphones are bad for your hearing? By creating a wave that's out of phase with ambient noise, isn't that just as "loud" as the noise around you?
They seal well enough that sometimes I swear I can feel a quick pressure change if I remove the headphones quickly enough. That bit could just be my imagination, though.
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…
"Coworkers have gotten used to pinging me or waving to get my attention" . One of my coworker is just like you. We have to ping him to have small discussions.
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…
Being semi-open, don't the headphones leak sound to whomever is around you?
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).
In Ear: On in ear, you should spent the extra money for custom ear molds. This will allow for all day comfort: http://www.sensaphonics.com/
If the headphones you are considering are not on this list, then I would not consider them. I like shure, but you can also get etymotic research.
Over Ear: Beyer Dynamic DT 770. Velour ear pads (for all day comfort and isolation)
I have owned: Shure E2C, E4C with custom molds, Shure 840, Beyer Dynamic DT 770, Bose TriPort (previous lightweight champion, but lacking on sound)
I have tested extensively: Audio Technica m50 (more base response), beats (too much bass), All kinds of sennheiser under $150, and various other brands under $200.
I bought a pair of 1964 Ears quad-driver in-ear monitors for my band, and I ended up using them EVERYWHERE - when at work (open-plan office, ugh), when traveling (plane, motorcycle, etc), even when mowing the lawn. They're incredible, with the best sound quality I've personally ever experienced. All the other noise just... goes away, and I don't pick up anything that doesn't come through the IEMs.
Did you send them custom ear molds, etc?
I've gone with fairly cheap, over-the-ear solutions. I'm not an audiophile, though I can detect poor quality encoding and have had my share of "wow" moments when I've heard something subtle in a good recording. In short, I consider myself an "average" consumer in this regard.
Currently, I have a pair of Sony MDR-XD100s which you can get at Amazon for about $33. They're quite comfortable, the sound quality is decent, and the cord is nice and long if you need to roll back from your desk to get something. If you're looking for at least a starter set of headphones, I would recommend these. If they don't meet your expectations, you can always move up to the more expensive solutions.
When traveling or at customer sites, I use MEElectronics IEMs. These are reasonably priced, so I'm not worried about breaking or losing them. They are great on airplanes. They are small and often go unnoticed. The over-the-ear memory-wire configuration stays securely in my ears. I also use Comply foam tips and keep some extras with me in case the headphones end up on the airplane floor or some other place I don't want in my ears.
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…
"Coworkers have gotten used to pinging me or waving to get my attention" . One of my coworker is just like you. We have to ping him to have small discussions.
We ping / discuss topics over IRC even though most of my team is within talking distance. This provides (remote employees|other teams|working from home people) a chance to provide input, logging for reference, and is more multi-tasking friendly (semi-asynchronous communication). However if it feels like a lot of back and forth, we'll discuss in person or via Google Hangouts.
You know how engineers complain about being distracted by people asking random questions throughout the day? We have an email / IRC first culture which minimizes distractions as much as possible.