earbuds vs noise isolating headphones
October 25, 2017 3:01 AM Subscribe
I had Samsung Level On Wireless headphones that I really loved. I bought them in order to be able to concentrate when there's noise around me, and they worked very well for that. But, they broke down after 13 months and I hesitate to buy a new pair because of that, so I'm looking for other options. Unfortunately, it seems that all the good noise isolating headphones cost double the prize of the Level On (even if I don't need wireless). So, I wonder if I should buy earbuds, like the Shure SE215.
I read a lot of reviews of inexpensive noise cancelling headphones, and the conclusion seems to be that there are only a few good models, and that many noise cancelling headphones have disappointing noise cancelling. This wirecutter review showed that the Level On was only surpassed by much more expensive models. I definitely don't want less noise cancelling than what my Level On had, but I also don't want to pay 300 euro's (I'm not in the US, where better models may be less expensive).
Then I read that the Shure SE215 have 37db noise isolation! That sounds great. But I have never worn earbuds for a long period of time and I don't know if it will be comfortable enough, if the sound quality is comparable, and I don't know anything about the pro's and cons of earbuds vs headphones in general. Noise isolation/cancelling is my top priority, but I want decent sound quality as well. I mostly listen to electronic music but also to rock/pop music. Any advice/experience would be appreciated.
I read a lot of reviews of inexpensive noise cancelling headphones, and the conclusion seems to be that there are only a few good models, and that many noise cancelling headphones have disappointing noise cancelling. This wirecutter review showed that the Level On was only surpassed by much more expensive models. I definitely don't want less noise cancelling than what my Level On had, but I also don't want to pay 300 euro's (I'm not in the US, where better models may be less expensive).
Then I read that the Shure SE215 have 37db noise isolation! That sounds great. But I have never worn earbuds for a long period of time and I don't know if it will be comfortable enough, if the sound quality is comparable, and I don't know anything about the pro's and cons of earbuds vs headphones in general. Noise isolation/cancelling is my top priority, but I want decent sound quality as well. I mostly listen to electronic music but also to rock/pop music. Any advice/experience would be appreciated.
Haven't tried the Shure SE215, but five years ago I bought a pair of Klipsch earbuds (discontinued) and they are still going strong for me!
- It does an excellent job of quieting the world around me due to the excellent fit of the silicone tips. In fact I lived beside a construction area for a year and they saved my sanity.
- Many different tips included to customize fit, and the oval shape is fantastic. Snug without uncomfortable pressure.
- Sound quality is great (but, I'm not an audio pro). I just notice that I often have the volume way up without the earbuds in order to hear the details in the audio/video I'm listening to, then I switch to the earbuds and I have to turn it down. Meaning, all the detail I was missing before, is in my face (in my ears?) now without relying on volume to deliver it to me.
- I find earbuds a lot more comfortable than headphones. I have a small head and headphones don't fit very well, and I find the pressure on my temples give me a headache.
- This wasn't a problem in my first three years of using the earbuds, but now it is: I find the barrel a bit too fat and it is irritating my ear where it touches. Strange, because I used to wear them for hours and no issues. Anyway, you may wish to consider the slimmer design if that could be a concern for you, too.
- Did I mention I've had it for five years? When I bought them they were the most expensive earbuds I've owned at $70 for the pair, but now they're probably the cheapest considering how long they've lasted. :)
This is kinda gross but with earbuds there could of course be earwax issues, whereas that's not a problem with over-the-ear headphones. The tips scan be removed for a thorough clean, though.
posted by tinydancer at 4:11 AM on October 25, 2017
- It does an excellent job of quieting the world around me due to the excellent fit of the silicone tips. In fact I lived beside a construction area for a year and they saved my sanity.
- Many different tips included to customize fit, and the oval shape is fantastic. Snug without uncomfortable pressure.
- Sound quality is great (but, I'm not an audio pro). I just notice that I often have the volume way up without the earbuds in order to hear the details in the audio/video I'm listening to, then I switch to the earbuds and I have to turn it down. Meaning, all the detail I was missing before, is in my face (in my ears?) now without relying on volume to deliver it to me.
- I find earbuds a lot more comfortable than headphones. I have a small head and headphones don't fit very well, and I find the pressure on my temples give me a headache.
- This wasn't a problem in my first three years of using the earbuds, but now it is: I find the barrel a bit too fat and it is irritating my ear where it touches. Strange, because I used to wear them for hours and no issues. Anyway, you may wish to consider the slimmer design if that could be a concern for you, too.
- Did I mention I've had it for five years? When I bought them they were the most expensive earbuds I've owned at $70 for the pair, but now they're probably the cheapest considering how long they've lasted. :)
This is kinda gross but with earbuds there could of course be earwax issues, whereas that's not a problem with over-the-ear headphones. The tips scan be removed for a thorough clean, though.
posted by tinydancer at 4:11 AM on October 25, 2017
If you want to completely block the world, you can pair earbuds with noise reducing earmuffs (why they are called that I don't know) meant for construction/autoracing/etc, they're about $30.
posted by TheAdamist at 4:22 AM on October 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by TheAdamist at 4:22 AM on October 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
With an item that cost that much, I'd first be tempted to ask Samsung to repair them. They broke a month outside of the twelve month warranty but you should expect that a decent consumer product should last longer than a year. If you're in the UK, check your rights under the Sale of Goods Act. You may have to pay to return them to Samsung but I would be requesting them to undertake the repair.
posted by giraffeneckbattle at 5:13 AM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by giraffeneckbattle at 5:13 AM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm a fan of IEMs/canalphones for noise isolation. They block a lot of noise without the need for batteries.
They need to fit tightly in your ear canal and be comfortable. This is the difficult part. It seems to depend more on the tips, so if you want you can probably cheap out on the IEMs themselves and then experiment with a lot of different tips. From what I've seen the tips that provide the best isolation are either triple-flanged or foam. The expensive option here is to get them custom molded to fit your ear.
posted by floppyroofing at 6:04 AM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
They need to fit tightly in your ear canal and be comfortable. This is the difficult part. It seems to depend more on the tips, so if you want you can probably cheap out on the IEMs themselves and then experiment with a lot of different tips. From what I've seen the tips that provide the best isolation are either triple-flanged or foam. The expensive option here is to get them custom molded to fit your ear.
posted by floppyroofing at 6:04 AM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
I need noise cancelling and I can't bring myself to drop $200, so I bought the Cowin E-7 active noise cancelling headphones from Amazon - $70 bucks. It's prime, so you can always ship back.
I don't know much about noise cancelling or sound quality, but it completely makes the factory noises next door go away when I wear them.
posted by bbqturtle at 6:05 AM on October 25, 2017
I don't know much about noise cancelling or sound quality, but it completely makes the factory noises next door go away when I wear them.
posted by bbqturtle at 6:05 AM on October 25, 2017
Comply foam tips for whatever IEMs you choose will sort you out for sound isolation. Insert as you would earplugs.
posted by asperity at 6:16 AM on October 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by asperity at 6:16 AM on October 25, 2017 [3 favorites]
By the way, one minor problem I have with the 215's is that they're louder for a given volume setting, compared to other earphones I've used.
This can be a problem as with my phone I often need to turn down to the lowest setting, and at that setting there's audible hiss. I've been meaning to experiment with adding a passive attenuator/volume control to see if that helps.
posted by floppyroofing at 6:30 AM on October 25, 2017
This can be a problem as with my phone I often need to turn down to the lowest setting, and at that setting there's audible hiss. I've been meaning to experiment with adding a passive attenuator/volume control to see if that helps.
posted by floppyroofing at 6:30 AM on October 25, 2017
Let me second the rec that you look at IEMs, not earbuds. In-ear monitors fit into your ear canal and block WAY MORE EXTERNAL SOUND that noise-cancelling headphones. Plus, they don't need batteries, and fit in your pocket.
(Remember, noise-cancelling tech is really only effective vs. droning noises -- voices and other variable sounds don't get muffled so well. When your headphones are ALSO ear plugs, though, you block pretty much everything.)
Good ones are a little spendy, but they also tend to last. I have Etymotics that cost me about $150 in 2009 (the current hf5 model is probably closest; they're $139.95 at Ety, so probably cheaper from another vendor), and when I put them in, not only do I not care about airplane noise, I don't care about the screaming toddler two rows up. They're GREAT.
Now, the gotcha here is that some folks can't tolerate the sensation of having something in their ear canal, or have a hard time finding tips that fit right. This is a thing, but it's worth giving them a try because they work so very, very well (and sound so very, very good).
posted by uberchet at 6:56 AM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
(Remember, noise-cancelling tech is really only effective vs. droning noises -- voices and other variable sounds don't get muffled so well. When your headphones are ALSO ear plugs, though, you block pretty much everything.)
Good ones are a little spendy, but they also tend to last. I have Etymotics that cost me about $150 in 2009 (the current hf5 model is probably closest; they're $139.95 at Ety, so probably cheaper from another vendor), and when I put them in, not only do I not care about airplane noise, I don't care about the screaming toddler two rows up. They're GREAT.
Now, the gotcha here is that some folks can't tolerate the sensation of having something in their ear canal, or have a hard time finding tips that fit right. This is a thing, but it's worth giving them a try because they work so very, very well (and sound so very, very good).
posted by uberchet at 6:56 AM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
I wanted some headphones for mowing the lawn, to listen to music not simply to lessen mower noise. I tried some over-the-ear Sony noise-cancelling headphones I had gotten for airplane travel, and there was very little noise cancellation and they were otherwise unsatisfactory. (These were not high-end Sony, though.) Researching on metafillter, I believe it was, I found some ear-bud phones that seal the ear very well and sound nice too. I can listen to music with my loud law mower pretty well in the background now. I like them so much that, after losing a pair, I recently bought a second one. The ones I like, for this purpose only, are ZERO AUDIO-ear stereo headphone carbo Tenore ZH-DX200-CT
posted by swlabr at 12:31 PM on October 25, 2017
posted by swlabr at 12:31 PM on October 25, 2017
Comply foam tips for whatever IEMs you choose will sort you out for sound isolation. Insert as you would earplugs.
posted by asperity at 6:16 AM on October 25 [2 favorites −]
Seconding Comply foam tips. Not an audiophile, but for me they provide nice sound, and as a cubicle-dweller, I can attest that they most definitely block out nearby conversation and other external ambient noise.
posted by littlecatfeet at 8:07 PM on October 25, 2017
posted by asperity at 6:16 AM on October 25 [2 favorites −]
Seconding Comply foam tips. Not an audiophile, but for me they provide nice sound, and as a cubicle-dweller, I can attest that they most definitely block out nearby conversation and other external ambient noise.
posted by littlecatfeet at 8:07 PM on October 25, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
I recently got custom-molded sleeves made, and that has both improved isolation AND removed any discomfort. I can wear them all day and on the lowest volume setting one row behind a crying baby on an airplane, I can drift happily off to sleep.
All this said, I've never owned a pair of noise-canceling headphones so I can't compare them.
posted by deadbilly at 3:58 AM on October 25, 2017 [1 favorite]