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Ask HN: What headphones do you use in the office?

11 points by smanek ↗ HN
When I programming/reading at work, I often listen to music. I currently have a pair of great in-ear headphones (Shure E2Cs) that are lightweight, portable, and sound great. However, they get a bit uncomfortable after a few hours, and I was thinking about switching to a pair of circumaural headphones.

I was wondering what headphones the rest of you use in the office (if any)?

I was hoping to take some inspiration from your choices, as I suspect my requirements are similar to most of yours. For what it's worth, the big things I care about are that they not disturb a coworker who I share the office with (~6ft away) and that they should cost under $200 (although, obviously, the cheaper the better). Size/heft/appearance aren't a big issue, since I'm willing to leave them at the office all the time and just use my E2Cs most of the time.

31 comments

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hboon
I find that sometimes music distracts me. Instead of earphones, I use earplugs (the wax type) that works pretty well. Especially useful nowadays where I work near a construction site and very inconsiderate neighbours.
pasbesoin
Do you find the wax ones better than the foam ones? The foam ones are comfortable and convenient, but they don't block enough noise. I'm particularly bothered by nearby speech, e.g. in a cube environment.
hboon
I do.

I'm using http://www.epharmacy.com.au/product.asp?id=3902&pname=Ea.... The packaging says it's -21db. I searched a little and found http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/369209-REG/Hearos_2210... which rates as -32db which sounds surprisingly high, but I've never tried it.

For the foam ones that I'd used, the wax I've got is much better. It could be the way I wear them or maybe their size. Using the wax earplugs, with very loud construction works at say 200m away, I can block out enough for me to work and I can't hear the TV in the other room with open door.

One thing with wax though, they are waterproof. I do feel a little pressure build up so it might take a little getting used to.

pasbesoin
Thank you for the response. I may give the wax a try. I recall trying a pair, many many years ago. I also tried silicon some years ago; from that, I have some idea of what you mean about the difference in feel.

The foam plugs I wear are rated at something like -29 or -31 dB, depending upon which exact box I have (even though they all carry the same brand name). Even if the rating is accurate, it is measured against a frequency / frequency spread that does not apply much if at all to speech.

Here's a resource I've been considering mining; I haven't pulled the trigger on an order, yet.

http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/

It appears to be a Yahoo store account. Maybe pg could get us a discount? ;-) (Viaweb went to Yahoo, right?)

chunkyslink
Sennheiser HD280 Pro http://tinyurl.com/dd475w

They are massively comfortable, and quite tight on the head so no one else can hear anything. If I dont feel like music I sometimes wear them anyway as they are great at blaocking out the noise.

Oh and did I mention they sound amazing.

whatusername
I've got the HD212. (when doing some renovations recently - I found it cut out more sound than my dad's old protective ear-muffs)

I'm not particularly an audio buff - but I reckon these sound great!

alecst
Great for the money, but in my personal experience they become really uncomfortable after about an hour. It's kept me from using them as often as I would like. Maybe I just have a weirdly shaped head.
stcredzero
Try the Beyerdynamic 770 pros. I own both the Sennheiser 280s and the Beyerdynamics. To me, the Beyerdyamics are more comfortable, have better highs, and better sound isolation. You can even find 80 Ohm versions of these if you look. (So you can use them with your laptop or iPod without a headphone amp.)

If you don't care about sound isolation, it's hard to beat the Grado headphones for price/performance.

mildweed
KOSS's "The Plug" (not SparkPlug) http://tinyurl.com/dkcryy

They act like ear plugs (expanding foam in your ear canal) but play pretty darn good music quality too. And cheap. Really, I can't go wrong with these.

silentbicycle
I have these. I found that, for my ears, they're more comfortable if I take off the foam part and turn it around, so the wider part of the cone faces outward.
piranha
Grado SR80: http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/sr80.htm

Very nice.

Hates_
Brilliant headphones BUT they are open back and send just as much music outwards as they do inwards, so not a good choice for commuting or if you work in a room full of people.
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ctp
Agree with Hates_ - My SR80's 'leak' a lot due to the open back - they are very good headphones, but this makes them impractical for office use.

I ended up with a pair of KOSS TD-85 as they are completely closed-back - they barely leak sound at all, and are reasonably comfortable. After a full day wearing, the headband can dig in a little, though.

Hates_
Etymotic ER-4p in the office and Er-6i out and about.
skorgu
Sennheiser CX300S Canalphones. Bought them on a whim from newegg but I'm pleased with them. I can't be isolated for more than about an hour before some emergency crops up so the comfort is less important.

The HD280s are amazing though, I think I'll be getting a pair of them for home soon.

silentbicycle
I have Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000s (http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-JUG-00001-LifeChat-LX-3000-H...), since we use skype once in a while. They're nothing remarkable sound-wise, but they're pretty comfortable, cheap, and they have a mic.

My only point against them is that there's a volume / mute box about a third of the way along the cord from the headphones, and it tends to bump into things, fall off the desk, etc. That's probably true of many similar headphones, though.

extantproject
Sony MDR-V6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_MDR-V6 http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-V6-Monitor-Headphones-Voice/d...
maximilian
A lot of sound techs who record outside rock these I've noticed. I have a pair and they are quite nice, durable, and sound pretty good. I picked mine up for like $60, which is very reasonable i thought. Comfortable and are sealed, so you can tune others out and the music in.
extantproject
They really do block quite a bit of noise; with music playing I usually don't hear anything else, even in a noisy shared work environment.
mxcl
BeyerDynamic 770 Pros: http://bit.ly/zbEBB

You can wear them all day and barely notice. Great bass. You can turn them way up and there is almost no leakage.

raamdev
I second Beyerdynamic. I have a pair of DT 770 Pro at home and DT 231 in the office. A bit pricey, but great quality.
stcredzero
Not only is there little leakage, but the sound isolation is quite good. The isolation is significantly better than the Sennheiser 280s, as well as the comfort. (I own both.) The Beyerdynamic are also the best sounding closed headphones that I own. I find that they have better highs and a more pleasing sound than the Sennheiser 280s, and are just as detailed.
callahad
I'm quite fond of my Sennheiser PX100's. They're cheap, exceptionally lightweight, and outrageously comfortable. Plus, the sound is quite decent (on par with the Sennheiser HD280 Pro).
wallflower
I used to use AudioTechnica ANC ATH-ANC7 Noise Reduction headphones. I found that the active noise reduction doesn't really work in an office setting because there is some serious leakage when active. The noise reduction feature works great on a train/plane/coffee shop (anywhere there is lots of ambient noise) though. On a train, it cuts out the rumble and smooths it out so there is very little oscillation (e.g. no rumble but some low frequency sound).

Now, I just use my RadioShack headset with boom mic. The ANC7's are bulky and tend to hurt my ears if I wear them too much.

electromagnetic
I have a pair of RCA HPNC300's, they weren't all that expensive and their noise canceling works great. I even wear them at home, they can cut out a lot of background noise as they clear a lot of the bass noise that tends to overpower other sounds.

I used to fly a lot and they worked amazing, it really helps when you don't hear the rumble of the engines.

The only problem with the HPNC300's is that they're on-ear headphones and as I wear quite thick-armed glasses once every few days the headphones just really pile on the pressure. If you don't wear glasses then I don't imagine you'd ever have a problem with on-ear, although personally I'm also looking for a good pair of circumaural (over-ear) but I don't really have a need to spend money on them now. When I got my current pair of headphones the price difference between noise canceling on-ear and over-ear was just shit stupid, it was like double-tipple the price for equal dB reduction through the noise canceling and not simply being a $400 pair of ear protectors with earphones built in.

menloparkbum
I've had a pair of Beyerdynamic DT250-80s which haven't had any problems in 7 years of daily use.