[Dave]

I'm after good sound quality, comfort / breathability of open air,
quietness of closed air headphones (for neighboring cubes at work),
and possibly under $100. I've been searching / testing headphones for
over a year with no luck.

The problem I encounter is most closed air headphones trap too much
heat in on my head and give me a headache. I'm fine with most open
air headphones but they have all been loud and disruptive for others!

Do such headphones exist?

thanks, dave

[Richard Crowley]

"Dave" wrote ...
I'm after good sound quality, comfort / breathability of open air,
quietness of closed air headphones (for neighboring cubes at work),
and possibly under $100. I've been searching / testing headphones for
over a year with no luck.

The problem I encounter is most closed air headphones trap too much
heat in on my head and give me a headache. I'm fine with most open
air headphones but they have all been loud and disruptive for others!

If headphones are loud and disruptive to others, recommend
having your hearing checked. Seriously. If you don't already
have diminished hearing, then running headphones at those
levels will certainly get you there. Look at all the deaf rock
musicians and learn from their peril.

Do such headphones exist?

Have you considered in-ear style devices?

[Dave]

On Sep 14, 10:32 am, "Richard Crowley" wrote:
"Dave" wrote ...

I'm after good sound quality, comfort / breathability of open air,
quietness of closed air headphones (for neighboring cubes at work),
and possibly under $100. I've been searching / testing headphones for
over a year with no luck.

The problem I encounter is most closed air headphones trap too much
heat in on my head and give me a headache. I'm fine with most open
air headphones but they have all been loud and disruptive for others!

If headphones are loud and disruptive to others, recommend
having your hearing checked. Seriously. If you don't already
have diminished hearing, then running headphones at those
levels will certainly get you there. Look at all the deaf rock
musicians and learn from their peril.

Do such headphones exist?

Have you considered in-ear style devices?

I work in an ultra quiet / right knit room so hence my request. (yes
i have minor hearing damage but not too bad so far / not listening
very loud at work.)

Ear buds are fine for the gym and so on, but not so comfortable for an
entire work day.

So i refer back to my original question.

[Richard Crowley]

"Dave" wrote ...
Ear buds are fine for the gym and so on, but not so comfortable for an
entire work day.

So i refer back to my original question.

Not talking about generic ear-buds. Suggesting the custom-
molded kind like hearing-aid wearers use. There are many
good-quality devices that connect to custom-molded eartips.
Etymotic was one of the first in the field and now has some
relatively popularly-priced products in addition to their high-
end professional products. http://www.etymotic.com/
Shure and others are also players in this market. These are
the kinds of things musicians use for "in-ear-monitor". (IEM)

[Dave]

On Sep 14, 11:16 am, "Richard Crowley" wrote:
"Dave" wrote ...

Ear buds are fine for the gym and so on, but not so comfortable for an
entire work day.

So i refer back to my original question.

Not talking about generic ear-buds. Suggesting the custom-
molded kind like hearing-aid wearers use. There are many
good-quality devices that connect to custom-molded eartips.
Etymotic was one of the first in the field and now has some
relatively popularly-priced products in addition to their high-
end professional products. http://www.etymotic.com/
Shure and others are also players in this market. These are
the kinds of things musicians use for "in-ear-monitor". (IEM)

I'm after over the head headphones, and only wear in ear devices for
short term because of discomfort. (thanks for the suggestion though).

[Ralf R. Radermacher]

Dave wrote:

I'm after good sound quality, comfort / breathability of open air,
quietness of closed air headphones (for neighboring cubes at work),
and possibly under $100. I've been searching / testing headphones for
over a year with no luck.

I have just received a brand new replacement cable for my 35 years old
AKG K240. Besides the fact that I wouldn't want any other headphones, I
like products where you can still order spares after 35 years.

They are sort of half-closed. Might fit your bill.

Ralf

--
Ralf R. Radermacher - DL9KCG - Köln/Cologne, Germany
private homepage: http://www.fotoralf.de
manual cameras and photo galleries - updated Jan. 10, 2005
Contarex - Kiev 60 - Horizon 202 - P6 mount lenses

[Steve[_3_]]

Dave;
Unfortunately your choice are limited to either over the ear closed back
headphones, or in-ear monitors when it comes to noise isolation (both from
outside noise or the headphones being noisy to others around). Even
closed-back "on the ear" headphones will emit some noise.

As Richard said, if you are not into the bulky around the ear closed back
headphones, your only other option is in ear monitors. They can be quite
comfortable provided you have ear molds made specifically for your ear from
an audiologist (sp??). For $50, you can have some made and plug your in ear
monitors into them giving great isolation. I use Shure E3C's at work. They
have excellent isolation, great sound and plus with good isolation you don't
have to turn them up loud to drown out noise. I use them when laying down
drum tracks and they have never "bugged" me to the point where I wanted to
take them off.

As for closed back headphones, I just bought a pair of Sennheiser HD280's.
They cost me $99 and they are awesome. They are closed back and with any
headphone of this type when it gets hot they get uncomfortable. Of course,
I would never use them to lay down drum tracks.

Hope this helps.
Steve-o


"Dave" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Sep 14, 11:16 am, "Richard Crowley" wrote:
"Dave" wrote ...

Ear buds are fine for the gym and so on, but not so comfortable for an
entire work day.

So i refer back to my original question.

Not talking about generic ear-buds. Suggesting the custom-
molded kind like hearing-aid wearers use. There are many
good-quality devices that connect to custom-molded eartips.
Etymotic was one of the first in the field and now has some
relatively popularly-priced products in addition to their high-
end professional products. http://www.etymotic.com/
Shure and others are also players in this market. These are
the kinds of things musicians use for "in-ear-monitor". (IEM)

I'm after over the head headphones, and only wear in ear devices for
short term because of discomfort. (thanks for the suggestion though).

[Arny Krueger]

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Dave;
Unfortunately your choice are limited to either over the ear closed back
headphones, or in-ear monitors when it comes to noise isolation (both from
outside noise or the headphones being noisy to others around). Even
closed-back "on the ear" headphones will emit some noise.

As Richard said, if you are not into the bulky around the ear closed back
headphones, your only other option is in ear monitors. They can be quite
comfortable provided you have ear molds made specifically for your ear
from an audiologist (sp??). For $50, you can have some made and plug your
in ear monitors into them giving great isolation. I use Shure E3C's at
work. They have excellent isolation, great sound and plus with good
isolation you don't have to turn them up loud to drown out noise. I use
them when laying down drum tracks and they have never "bugged" me to the
point where I wanted to take them off.

As for closed back headphones, I just bought a pair of Sennheiser HD280's.
They cost me $99 and they are awesome. They are closed back and with any
headphone of this type when it gets hot they get uncomfortable. Of
course, I would never use them to lay down drum tracks.

Too bad you didn't get a little more spendy and invest in the closed-back
ATH-A700. Unfortunately they don't isolate as well as the 280s, even though
they are closed back. But, they are about as isolating as the MDR-7506s, and
their leakage didn't stop them from being so widely used for audio
production.

The HD 580s are probably the best combination of value and sound quality
around. Unfortunately, they are open-ear and therefore impractical for a lot
of real world audio production. The AT AT-A700s are an economical
alternative, a little less accuracy for a lot less money (at least in the
US).

If you like the smooth sound of E3Cs you'll probably like the sound of the
HD 580s and either of the ATs a lot better than 280s.

[Jakub Hadraba]

Have you tried something like Sennheiser PX200?

J.H.

[Dave]

thanks for all the great suggestions - i'll consider them all in the
future!

for the moment i grabbed the sennheiser HD-280's online for 85 bucks
and when i get the hot ear / headache thing again - i'll then also
consider checking out in-ear-monitors, koss headphones, other
sennheiser models, etc. as backup.

i stayed under 100 as i'll be leaving the headphones at my desk at
night when not there...

thank, dave