I am curious to know what others use especially for noise cancellation. The Shure 215 are not noise-cancelling but do significantly block.
I am glad to find these headphones. You should definitely try these without bothering about price. The price will look small when you start using them. If they allow you to go into Deep Work and focus on whatever you are doing then the price pays off!
In-ear headphones don't provide enough comfort for extended listening day in day out, so over-ear headphones are the best choice IMO.
Anything of good build quality in the $150+ price range is likely worthwhile, assuming you don't go for the overmarketed brands like Beats. I chose the DT 770 Pro because they are studio-quality, meant to last, and Beyerdynamics even supplies repair parts. They are meant to last through heavy use while providing studio level sound quality.
At home I use Beyers and Sennheisers because I enjoy the audio quality, but at work these headphones are as essential to me as my keyboard and mouse.
They can be worn all day. My girlfriend referred to them as head pillows. The main downside is, being semi-open, these headphones make no apologies for their clear, audible sound leak, even at sensible volumes. But paired with an amp and DAC, they sound glorious. I've used headphones and monitor speakers nearly five times what I paid, which do expose the warmth and slightly punchier-than-neutral nature of my Beyerdynamic cans, but they're fantastic for enhancing virtually all listening experiences, music or otherwise (games!).
AKGs have a more roomy sound (doesn't sound like the band plays in your head), but for really good overall sound quality you have to get the models that are priced at least 100 bucks more. The half open beyerdynamics might also be an option, but they bleed sound more and block noise less.
I like IEM's for the size but in terms of comfort not so much.
For those on a tight budget, best value headphones I've used are Soundmagic e10 IEM's and Superlux HD681 Evo closed back headphones, for about £25 each they are great.
I simply use some cheap skull candy earbuds. The important thing to me is earbuds. They almost never leak sound, and can easily drown out surrounding noise at mid-volume.
Some examples. Sitting outside in a noisy cafe, with NC and white noise playing: zero background noise.
Same setup without a track playing, only NC: I can hear everything, but it's just quieter. Voices, cars still there. Not acceptable.
The way I interpreted the promise of NC was it would actually play the inverse wave and cancel everything. I don't understand why some sound gets through. And I feel cheated.
I don't think my expectation was unrealistic because it was based on the following episode. I was on a plane and the Qatari American guy next to me chatted to me about films. When our conversation died he started watching movies, with some huge black headphones. I asked him about them. And he told me they were NC and asked if I'd like to try. I put them on, then he pushed one button on the side and whsp! Every noise disappeared! The plane engine was gone. He kept talking but it was gone too. It was literally a religious moment for me. I glimpsed another world I didn't know existed. I never knew I could end all the noise. So naturally I had to get myself a pair. I asked what they were and he said Bose QC. They were from a few years ago. So you see I thought I'd found something I could trust.
At Yodobashi Camera I was so excited to buy my QC 35. But when I used them, I could not rationalise away my disappointment. It was qualitatively different. On the plane those headphones had clearly put my ears in a pressurized bubble. Of total silence. But the QC 35 was just like God had turned the world volume down a third of the way. Really not good enough.
So now I still wear them, but I'm always playing tracks. At least I've discovered Spotify. But I still think I'd much rather prefer, the Total Noise Cancellation my first experience promised. Now sometimes I even go back and question the trustworthiness the guy who introduced me to NC such is the magnitude of the difference between my expectation and the reality. Did that Qatari American guy trick me? Did he just start mouthing silently as soon as he pressed the NC button? Or did that NC tech really cut everything? And if the tech was legit, did Qatar or 2014 get better NC tech than Japan or 2017? Why has Bose foresaken me?
The isolation you are looking for you can achieve with ear defenders. Put them over in ear headphones, and you won't hear anything else but your music.
Although ACS no longer make custom eartips there are other places that do such as snugz, without doubt custom tips are the single best upgrade you can buy for your sound
I couldn't switch back from using bluetooth headphones. Once you get used to the wire not getting in the way and how you can walk around without having to take your headphones off, wired headphones just feel awkward. When you can get ones with 40 hours battery life then that isn't an issue either.
About sound quality there is no doubts about AKG, in my opinion one of the best brands out there.
In reference to the price.. yes they are expensive compared to other headphones but for someone who uses them more than 5h a day.. I think they pay off
Pushing for this shouldn't be underrated.
The HD600s are brilliant for gaming, music and movies, but obviously are open backed so are no good for a busy office. I find in games, people often complain they couldn't hear me coming, but I could hear them! The sound quality is amazing and I don't think I'd ever replace them, unless they broke - in which case I'd either buy more or try HD650s.
The momentums are great for travelling and this morning I actually bought my other half a pair of the folding on-ear versions for travelling and being away from home.
Also have Sennheiser 380 Pro but am looking for something that blocks a lot more.
Also if your media playback hardware is Sony, you can use their proprietary Bluetooth audio codec (less compression) for superior sound... (assuming your source media is high enough quality)
Build quality is phenomenal and they're surprisingly low profile. My first pair actually had a problem with the touch interface and B&O not only replaced them, they expedited shipment so I'd get them in time when I explained I had a long trip coming up - so great support.
The only drawbacks are:
- they're on-ear which takes some getting used to, especially early on before the band takes shape to your head and can press to your ears. However, the padding is very soft and even replaceable! I now believe on ear produces the best accuracy as there's no acoustic reverberations and feedback that you can sometimes get with over ear. However, over ear is more comfortable and even after breaking these in, you'll still get ear fatigue after some hours of use. That being said, I've fallen asleep for hours on flights wearing these and not even playing music as the noise cancellation completely eliminates engine noise and most external sound in general
- they cannot be charged and used at the same time, even if using the wired lead. This is probably the biggest drawback though at 14 hrs play time and having a replaceable battery, this can be mitigated
- the previously mentioned drawback of not having noise cancellation when using them wired is annoying because the noise cancellation is exceptionally good
- they don't fold in any way, so you need to consider how to carry them if not in use. I usually just extend the headphones and keep them around my neck. In general though, you'll find the higher quality headphones won't be foldable as that's an easy point of failure
They're pricey but I've tried a number of other brands and the features/sound quality of these are far and away the best to be had. Not to mention, they look great when worn unlike most others that look cheep or goofy in their bulk. Highly recommend
Amazon has them on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Bang-Olufsen-Wireless-Headphone-Cance...