Block Out The Noise, Block Out The Funk
September 1, 2010 5:04 AM   Subscribe

Great headphones for a noisy office in the $80-$120 range?

I am a researcher by trade. I currently work in a noisy office (conversations, phone calls, televisions, etc...). Imagine a city paper news room and you'll get the idea. The noise is distracting and is negatively impacting my ability to write.

I am looking for a solid pair of headphones I can wear to avoid being distracted by the audible ruckus around me. My price range is $80-$120.

I heard good things about noise canceling headphones, however they are expensive and seem more designed to block out white noise rather than TVs and chatter.

I would absolutely love any headphone suggestions from the Ask.Metafilter community.

Thank you in advance.
posted by LudgerLassen to Technology (6 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
For what you need, you want noise isolating headphones, not noise cancelling. I'll let you price shop, but look for ones by Ultimate Ears, Etymotic, and Shure. I know at least UE should have something in that price range.
posted by mcstayinskool at 5:48 AM on September 1, 2010


Best answer: Sennheiser HD-280s or Sony MDR-V600 (or MDR-7506, which are nearly identical).

The Sennheisers isolate a little better, the Sonys are a little comfier. Both are durable professional monitors. Neither offer active noise-canceling.
posted by box at 5:51 AM on September 1, 2010


If you're looking for in-ear monitors (IEMs), mcstayinskool has some great advice.

If you're looking for headphone info in general, headphone.com (a commercial site) and the head-fi.org forums offer some great advice.

(It might be worthwhile to look at prevoius AskMe posts tagged 'earphone' or 'earphones' or 'headphone' or 'headphones,' too--there have been quite a few of them, and people have offered some good advice.)
posted by box at 5:55 AM on September 1, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks all!

Based on the Amazon reviews of the HD-280, they sound like exactly what I need.
posted by LudgerLassen at 6:05 AM on September 1, 2010


In-ear headphones are the best for blocking noise, since they are really like earplugs with your music covering up anything that slips through. Given that, I don't like them for an office setting. You can't hear anything, so you have no situational awareness and people actually have to tap you on the shoulder to get your attention (which always surprises me).
posted by smackfu at 6:26 AM on September 1, 2010


My previously.
posted by chairface at 12:21 PM on September 1, 2010


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