Good noise-cancelling headphones?

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: Aflac

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
You want buds or sealed cans.

All you need to know ....
In ear type:
http://www.headphone.com/produ...phones/in-ear-monitor/
Sealed/noise canceling:
http://www.headphone.com/produ...d-and-noise-canceling/

I have these and love them:
http://www.headphone.com/produ...nheiser-hd-280-pro.php

The best thing about headphone.com is that they are enthusiast and are brutally honest about the headphones in their write ups.

Since he's coming from Grado SR60s, I would definitely not recommend the HD 280 Pros. The sound difference between the two is... jarring, to say the least. I dislike the HD280 Pros very very much. Although, since the OP is using them for classical, he may not notice...

HD-25 IIs will sound more similar to the Grados, though. I haven't heard them, but I've read impressions of them and I nearly bought these as a replacement for my Grados.

Anyway, OP - passive noise cancelling (sealing headphones) >>>>>>>>>> active noise cancelling (Bose and most headphones marketed as "noise cancelling"). If they use batteries, they're active noise cancelling.

Thanks for the input. Can I ask for elaboration? With the first paragaph especially; but can you also explain why passive's better? Are the active ones just too prone to problems (the popping and whatnot that's been mentioned by others?)

With active noise cancellation, you are adding something to the signal. With passive sound attenuation, you are just sealing out the noise rather than covering it up with an approximate inverse of the noise.

Since you are used to the sound of grado, your ears are used to a boost in the 10khz range with a slight boost in the mid-upper bass. This is grado's signature sound quality and stands out from many of the other manufacturers. Of course, sound quality has more requirements than just frequency response, but frequency response is an important specification and tells you how a headphone is voiced.

Your SR-60 isn't as good as the SR-125, but here is a graph of the SR-125 showing the "signature" grado curve: Grado

Here is the "signature" sennheiser open headphone curve: Senn 555

Here is the Sennheiser closed 280 pro: 280pro

The sennheiser HD25: HD25

The Denon D2000 for kicks: D2000

I personally own the Grado SR-125 and have modified its voicing by parametric equilization so that it is closer to that of the D2000 until I can save up enough $$ for the D2000. My ears like the sound of a flat FR with slightly boosted mid-bass for headphones.

If you like the sound of the Grado as it is, that is important information for you to eliminate other models of headphones that do not have close to the FR of the Grado.

AKG makes some headphones that may have similar sound, the K240 Studio for example might work out, but you really need to audition it yourself. Buying a pair of headphones that do not fit your subjective requirements will just lead to headphones collecting dust on the side of your desk.

AKG K240 Studio

Of course, if you are curious about FR, Isolation, harmonic distortion, Impedance profile of most of the headphones HeadRoom sells, they have measured them. You can use this tool on their website as I have for all my posts in this thread: Headphone Measurements

 

[brtspears2]

My Sony MDR-NC500D works great on the airplane or in a car. Cancels the wind and jet sound nicely so I don't have to crank up the ipod to near max to listen to music. Since I got no ear for high quality sound, I couldn't say if it is great sounding, but it sounds fine to me. Since these are active noise canceling headphones, it requires battery power. I can make it 10 hours before the internal battery goes, then I can go another 10 or so hours on the external 2xAA battery pack.

 

[TroyEade]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
I know i will be flamed, but bose is the second to none when it comes to noise canceling. Rip off or not, that is how it is. I think sony is #2 (in numbers sold) when it comes to noise canceling headphones. I have never tried them, so I cannot tell you how they are. I owned a set of noise canceling headphones from Philips....they blow.

Bose is overated and you pay through the nose for an average set of cans. Amazing how many people fall for there advertising.

Athough the OP has said you don't like IEM's, i find them superior to ANC cans. I've a pair of Shure 530 IEM's and the audio quality blows away the likes of Bose, etc... Also, as they are not active, i don't need to take batteries or recharge them before travelling. They are small so as not to take up much space. Also, they block out nearly all of the noise in the background. Work a treat on Planes, also can sleep with them in. Only "bad point" is the price, then again they are worth it, especially if you value your hearing (no need to crank the volume up to hear quiet parts of music) and sound quality (unless you have 128 kpbs mp3's, lol).

But hey, don't take my word for it, check out the reviews on the web, plus audiophile forum reviews.

 

[AmberClad]

I own a pair Beyerdynamic DT770s that I use as my gaming headphones. They provide decent isolation -- you can still hear some muffled noises coming from outside if you have the volume fairly low though. I don't recommend them for classical music -- I use them for gaming because they really bring out the heavy bass pounding in games like UT and Need For Speed.

As for the AD700s that Ricemarine asked about -- those are open headphones, so they provide no noise isolation whatsoever. I use them as my music headphones, and they're very good for classical musical actually. But Audio Technica also has a closed back version of it, the A700 (I haven't personally tried those, so I don't know how much their sound signature differs).

 

[Gibson486]

Here come the bose downers....

like it or not, Bose is the bar for ANC. If there is a better set (and there probably is), great, its too bad they horrible marketing and no one knows about it. Until then, Bose will be the industry standard that all noise canceling will be compared too.


OP, I am not trying to convince you to buy Bose (yes, it is expensive)...I am just tired of the mis information of Bose Sucks claims. It just people who heard from this source that heard from that source, that heard from his source that heard from an experts source that Bose was horrible.

One thing that people do not tell you in that noise canceling headset performance can differ from person to person. WHy? Because to get really good noise canceling, you must also get a very good fit/ seal around the ears...if not, all the canceled noise will just leak through.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Ok guys, I don't know why you're still talking about Bose, open headphones (Grados are about the least isolating phones you can find, aside from say K1000), or in ears since the OP has ruled them all out. Denon's headphones, while offering good sound quality, offer poor isolation, so they wouldn't fit either. The HD280s are solid and pretty good as far as isolation, they aren't the highest build quality though. The Beyer's are ok, but not as good and would be the least portable. The HD-25 is good but the most expensive of the 3.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Thanks for the suggestion. I should clairfy-I hate earbuds. Can't stand anything I have to shove down into the ear canal.

Problem is in ears will give you best isolation, even better than noise cancelling. You could try ordering a pair of Senheiser 300B which is on sale for 20bux at amazon.com


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E6G9RI


If you don't like it, return it in 30days. Actually, right now you got til end of January for returns, so even better.

 

[Drakkon]

I can't do ear canal headphones either an i can't do huge "cans" either as i find both of them equally as uncomfortable. The Bose QC2 were the best combination of size and cancellation quality i have tried - although i didnt try too many to be honest as i only dealt with what was in the store and frankly brands like denon and grado and ect aren't in the stores i visit.

 

[ivan2]

boy OP you sure are picky.

Was going to say livewires are great but since you don't want to put anything in your ear I guess you can see if anyone has a pair of Sony V6 that you can try out. They are very common closed phones back in the days and they have wonderful sound when amped.

 

[ViviTheMage]

ATH 700

ATH 900

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
ATH 900

Those are the A700s, not the A900s ...

 

[ViviTheMage]

those are good too...fixed.

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
ATH 700

ATH 900

 

[wota]

audio technica anc7
too bad the amazon option rose from $91 to $99

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Thanks for the suggestion. I should clairfy-I hate earbuds. Can't stand anything I have to shove down into the ear canal.

Problem is in ears will give you best isolation, even better than noise cancelling. You could try ordering a pair of Senheiser 300B which is on sale for 20bux at amazon.com


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E6G9RI


If you don't like it, return it in 30days. Actually, right now you got til end of January for returns, so even better.

You get charged for the shipping both ways if you return to amazon because you simply didn't like them.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: ivan2
boy OP you sure are picky.

Was going to say livewires are great but since you don't want to put anything in your ear I guess you can see if anyone has a pair of Sony V6 that you can try out. They are very common closed phones back in the days and they have wonderful sound when amped.

I've stated all of two conditions: no earbuds and decent isolation or noise cancelling. You'd make a lousy salesman if you think I'm being difficult.

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
I can't do ear canal headphones either an i can't do huge "cans" either as i find both of them equally as uncomfortable. The Bose QC2 were the best combination of size and cancellation quality i have tried - although i didnt try too many to be honest as i only dealt with what was in the store and frankly brands like denon and grado and ect aren't in the stores i visit.

How long have you had large headphones and in ear phones on when you've tried them? I didn't like either when I first tried them, but after a while I got quite used to them.

 

[courtjester123]

I bought a pair of Sony MDR-NC60's a few months ago. The store had these as well as the Bose QuietComfort 2's and 3's, so I was able to compare them all in the same setting. It was nice and loud in the store too since there were a lot of people around. I liked the Sony's more than either of the 2 pairs of Bose, for comfort, sound and NC functionality. Unfortunately, with these NC60's, the noise cancellation works quite well, but I can actually HEAR the noise cancellation depending on the positioning of my head. It's a very low frequency sound and also gives off a noticeable vibration. This usally happens in only 1 ear or the other. It's easily reproducable and if I lean/turn my head one way or the other, I can get this to stop, but who in their right mind would be satisfied with such a situation?!?!? If you read the operator's manual closely, it actually says "When you turn the POWER switch on, the operation sound of the noise canceling may be noticeable. This is not a malfunction." Well, that's great, thanks for telling me, but I would suspect most people would not expect to hear and feel the NC when it's working. I should have taken these back right after my trip, but I dilly-dallied about it and here I am several months later. At this point, I'm going to see if I can get Sony to give me a credit or something.

Bottom line, I would give the Bose a try.

 

[The_Dude8]

Originally posted by: wota
audio technica anc7
too bad the amazon option rose from $91 to $99

I have that same pair, i paid $140 for them a year ago. Any one has the klipsch image X10 IEM? How is the SQ and comfort level?

Thanks

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: ivan2
boy OP you sure are picky.

Was going to say livewires are great but since you don't want to put anything in your ear I guess you can see if anyone has a pair of Sony V6 that you can try out. They are very common closed phones back in the days and they have wonderful sound when amped.

I've stated all of two conditions: no earbuds and decent isolation or noise cancelling. You'd make a lousy salesman if you think I'm being difficult.

earbuds are the ones that hang on your ear, in ear channel are the ones you jam into your ear, you have problem with the latter too?

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Thanks for the suggestion. I should clairfy-I hate earbuds. Can't stand anything I have to shove down into the ear canal.

Problem is in ears will give you best isolation, even better than noise cancelling. You could try ordering a pair of Senheiser 300B which is on sale for 20bux at amazon.com


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E6G9RI


If you don't like it, return it in 30days. Actually, right now you got til end of January for returns, so even better.

You get charged for the shipping both ways if you return to amazon because you simply didn't like them.

20 dollar is a small amount to spend for finding sound nirvana.

 

[PeteyCPU]

Jabra c820s, get em' new on Ebay for $60 or so (less with cashback). I think they are great. I have also owned the Sennheiser's PXC-250. They were pretty good but I find the Jabra to be better even though it costs less.

 

[jteef]

I have a set of sennheiser hd 280 pro's and I don't like them very much. The isolation onboard a plane is good, but i find them incredibly uncomfortable to wear for more than an hour. the pads are very stiff and the band puts too much pressure on my outer ear. I used sony mdr 7506's for about 12 years until i bought the senns this summer. The sony's had better decoupling of bumps and brushes to the headphone chassis than the senns and I liked the bass in the sony's much more than the minor soundquality improvement of the senns. They fit me much better and I could wear them for 6-8 hours without noticing.

Although you said you dont like canal types, I will echo the etymotic er4's as the best headphones i've ever used with 2 gripes. Mine broke waay to early in their life (after maybe 3 months of light use, the point where the ear pads slide over the transducer tube thing broke..) and they were not suitable for running at all, as any jostling of the cord was picked up in the signal to a really annoying degree. I haven't decided if i'm going to try something new again or try to scrounge a few pairs of the old sony's yet.