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[StaedlerMars]

Well, I need a new pair of headphones. And I want noise cancelling ones (does it actually work?). What are your suggestions?

I don't have a big budget, but I am willing to shell out a bit more money if they will last me longer than a couple of months and are a comfortable fit.

Also, as far as speakers go, what should I be looking for? (I listen to all types of music, watch movies with them, etc.) What are your recommendations?

[Phaedra]

First of all, are the headphones going to be used outside (eg. on the bus, whilst walking, etc.) or solely for the purposes of listening in your own home?

I'm a big fan of these Audio-Technicas which I own, but are far too big to use in public unless you're going for the comic DJ look. (The earpiece is roughly 5" in diameter)

I've heard great things about Etymotic if you want something more portable. Canalphones are a good choice, supposedly, as they are meant to cut outside noise a lot more effectively than earbuds, and also won't be so prone to falling out. Personally, I find the idea of having a piece of plastic jammed in my ear a bit squicky, but that's just me.

This is just generally a good website to browse; it breaks the 'phones down into categories and a lot of them have reviews/comments from the staff.

I'm not sure about where to start with a home setup, but all the audiophiles I know tell me the good stuff runs in the thousands.

[imapiratearg]

I have a set of JBL speakers.  I like them a lot.  Their website tells me they don't sell the front speakers I have anymore, but the two rear speakers and the subwoofer all together cost about a grand, if I remember.

[Pyrofyr]

I came in here with no intentions of purchasing headphones as I like mine, but those Etymotic ones look awesome.

Which is sad, because I honestly HATE buds.

Those ATs look hot as well, and aren't buds, but they are a bit large. :[

[pwhodges]

I use the Etymotic ER-4P, and they're great.  The ER-6 is less comfortable, and harder to put in securely.

[evilCarl]

I've been researching headphones for myself, recently, and I've never heard anything good about noise cancellation. All noise canceling headphones (other than the obscenely expensive pairs) work within a specific range of frequency, so any noises that are higher or lower than that range don't get canceled out at all, making it essentially useless. Plus, a lot of them require batteries, so you're paying extra money for something that doesn't really do anything. sorry for the mini-rant, my dad instilled in me a hate for anything over-hyped that doesn't deliver.

Anyway, if you want relatively inexpensive headphones with great sound quality, check out the PX 100 I own the PX 200 (they're amazing!), but it has a seal that's too small to be effective. The 100 is the same thing, but it's open and ten dollars cheaper.

I don't know if that's what you're looking for, but if you want to look for yourself, this website seems pretty good Head Room

[StaedlerMars]

The PX 100 is basically what I have constantly been returning to.

In general I'm against in ear headphones, I guess I don't have regularly shaped ears or something like that, but they always end up hurting. Also, aren't they worse for your ears?

The reason I'm looking into noise cancellation is for exactly the above reason. When I'm travelling in New York, I put up with quite the amount of traffic noise and in the subway, it's even worse, which means that I have to increase the volume of whatever I'm listening to before I can actually hear it, which of course means that I'm slowly destroying my ears.

The limited frequency thing doesn't seem to be a problem to me, since I don't want to cancel out all sounds, but rather just the background rumble.

As far as speakers goes, yeah, they do seem to be on the more expensive side, which probably means that project is going to have to be put on hold.

[est]

I pretty much have a raging ear-boner for anything Sennheiser.  I had a pair of HD 457s for the longest time and really loved them for a cheap set of headphones.  Now I have a pair of HD 280 pros because I saw Jeph talking about them very positively, read up a little on them and thought "hey, they are DJ headphones, they must be pretty good!" (also: they were on sale at the time, so I got a really good deal on them)  Problem is that they are pretty good, but they are a bit too good for my ears.  I like bass-focused headphones, and these are not that kind of headphone.  As far as I can tell from reading these are for people with decent sound gear (ie: not me) who want to hear everything over a decent range (again, not me).  I am thinking about getting another pair of more home-oriented headphones eventually, but these work well enough for the times that I used them, so it is ok!

[bicostp]

If you don't mind them, a pair of decent in-ear earphones combined with a $20 pair of construction hearing protectors works excellent. In my experience, combining well-fitting earphones with hearing protectors blocks outside noise far more effectively than electronics can.l

I grabbed a pair of Sony MDR-V150s on sale a few months ago and they sound great through the entire frequency spectrum. The only things that aren't so good are the excessive cable length (about 6'), lack of inline volume controls, and occasional cord noise.

[IronOxide]

For your buck, Sennheiser has something in everyone's price range that is generally pretty stellar.

Also, noise-canceling headphones: some people love them, some people hate them. It's up for you to try them out and see how you like them.

[avidae]

i have a pair of v-moda headphones.   if you're upgrading from standard-issue earbuds, they'll blow you out of the water.  not noise-cancelling, but, they're better than earplugs for blocking out ambient noise.  i wouldn't upgrade to the active-noise cancelling phones unless you're doing a lot of airtravel or something.  I can drive with the windows down and not even detect the the blast of wind.  the cord is thick but not excessively heavy (see: shure).  the real kicker for me is that i don't have to turn the volume too high on my walkman---compared to the previous earbuds I've had, these things really pump up the sound.  so, saves me on battery life over other headphones.  got 'em from costco.  price went down to $59, i noticed.  

[Pyrofyr]

The PX 100 is basically what I have constantly been returning to.

In general I'm against in ear headphones, I guess I don't have regularly shaped ears or something like that, but they always end up hurting. Also, aren't they worse for your ears?

The reason I'm looking into noise cancellation is for exactly the above reason. When I'm travelling in New York, I put up with quite the amount of traffic noise and in the subway, it's even worse, which means that I have to increase the volume of whatever I'm listening to before I can actually hear it, which of course means that I'm slowly destroying my ears.

The limited frequency thing doesn't seem to be a problem to me, since I don't want to cancel out all sounds, but rather just the background rumble.

As far as speakers goes, yeah, they do seem to be on the more expensive side, which probably means that project is going to have to be put on hold.

Research shows that anything over 100db for over 100 hours in your ear does 'noticeable' damage to your ear's hearing abilities overtime. It however was also said that it being in your ear as opposed to outside (bud vs phones) makes a noticeable difference as well.

[David_Dovey]

Fuck noise cancelling headphones, it's a useless gimmick. Get yourself a decent pair of enclosed headphones and they should do all the noise cancellation you could hope for just by virtue of being well-made.

I have the Sennheiser hd280 pro headphones that est mentioned earlier in the thread, which I use for both recreational listening as well as sound engineering stuff and they're absolutely wonderful. As he said they have a more balanced frequency output, so if you want more bass-oriented phones then you may want to look elsewhere, but if you're like me and prefer to hear a more clear and even sound from your headphones, I can't possibly recommend these enough. Sennheiser in general are pretty tits, really.

It might also be worth checking out AKG headphones as well. I think they may be a little on the pricey side, but they're very good, and fuckin' pretty to boot.

As for hearing loss, these are the numbers for "safe listening time" that I have, the amount of time one can listen, on average, without damaging the ears.

< 85dB= 16 hrs
90dB= 8 hrs
92dB= 6 hrs
95dB= 4 hrs
97 dB= 3 hrs
100dB= 2 hrs
102dB= 1.5hrs
105dB= 1hr
110dB=0.5hrs
> 120dB= DON'T

For reference, conversational speech is roughly 60dB, a chainsaw is about 100dB, and 130-140dB is the human threshold of pain.

[Zadorzky]

Hmm, I might get laughed at here, but I've been doing pretty well with my Skullcandies in-ear buds.  They were only ten bucks, and for the value are surprisingly good.  I haven't tried the big versions such the "Skullcrusher" (name makes me facepalm...) but I've heard they're good.  My only real qualms about the whole skullcandy thing is that they tend to be overly trendy, but I'm okay with looking like a trendwhore to some degree so long as the sound quality is good.

[BlahBlah]

I have a pair of Grado SR-60s which are amazing headphones. They don't do noise canceling or anything like that, but the sound quality is superb.

[casull]

David has the right take on noise-canceling cans as far as I'm concerned. My personal approach is just to wear my grados everywhere and drown out the noise I don't want to hear. If I really want to get a noise-canceling effect, I blast my grados through my etymotic earplugs. That has the added upshot of being able to inflict your music on everyone around you.

If you want isolation though, check out some etymotic canalphones (be careful about buying without trying, in-ear is not for everyone) or some closed cans like the 280 pro.

For reviews of upscale headphones, check out http://www.headphonereviews.org/.

If you really want to get in-depth, hit the forums on http://www.head-fi.org/.

[wesleyv]

I used to have these http://www.mp3.com/akg-k27-i-headphones/hardware/67/summary.html

They had great audio but I always put my mp3 player in my pocket and I guess from the friction those damn headphone wires keep failing on me.
I really need to get some of those headphones where you can disconnect the wires.

[pat101]

Hmm, I might get laughed at here, but I've been doing pretty well with my Skullcandies in-ear buds.  They were only ten bucks, and for the value are surprisingly good.  I haven't tried the big versions such the "Skullcrusher" (name makes me facepalm...) but I've heard they're good.  My only real qualms about the whole skullcandy thing is that they tend to be overly trendy, but I'm okay with looking like a trendwhore to some degree so long as the sound quality is good.

I bought these (skull candy in-ears) as a quick replacement for the outragously crappy ipod buds, and yeah they're pretty decent give the very low price tag.

http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-headphone-type/sealed-noise-canceling-type/sennheiser-hd-280-pro.php

I was looking at these, which also offer some noise-cancelation without using extra batteries or anything like that.

[Viperidae]

IEM's isolate wayyyyy better than noise cancellers. Every time.

Etymotic ER-6's are good but more for monitoring. For the on-the-go the ER-6i's are more suitable as they have boosted bass and mids (the plain ER-6's can be quite tinny).

For cans, someone mentioned the A700s. Techwise the A900s are better but more expensive. Both are good. Made in Japan (orders come straight from Osaka!).

For absolute ball bustingly good monitors, KRK all the way. Just be prepared for the price.

[locafoca]

I once owned a pair of Etymotic ER-4 headphones. I agree entirely with this sentiment, as read on the ER-6 review posted on amazon.com:

"They don't really have the ability to reproduce sound under 45Hz all that well, but all in all, it's an excellent set of headphones for listening to an ipod or such at the gym"

If i had to do it all over again, i'd grab a nice pair of DJ looking headphones that only strive to produce nice sound. I do need to pick up some passive headphones for recording soon, as my old ones just broke, so maybe i'll look for a good pair of Audio Technica's, as I've heard some great things.

As far as speakers go, your ear is your only guide. I think that some of the best speakers avaliable may have been made as much as 40 years ago. I went over to my uncle's house and he had combed craigslist and numerous garage/yard sales to find these BEAUTIFUL sounding pair of tower speakers that were about 38 years old. He picked them up for about $100 each and, when paired with his turntable, sound better than nearly all things i hear walking into your local audio store.

If you have thousands of dollars in disposable income, however, i wouldn't be able to tell you where to start. Hopefully someone will be able to help you more with the speakers.

[Melodic]

I'm a big fan of these Audio-Technicas which I own, but are far too big to use in public unless you're going for the comic DJ look. (The earpiece is roughly 5" in diameter)

You are a pansy-ass audiophile for not using these in public. 7 inches of can't-hear-the-bus-approaching in all its glory.

Except that they're heavier than my goddamn head.

[pwhodges]

See here for details.

[StaedlerMars]

I ended up getting these. They're a bit expensive, but so far, they're really comfortable and have a great sound (they also aren't as heavy as the look). I'm pretty happy. Of course they're not for when I'm running around, but for that I'm keeping the small 9 dollar headphones I had before. The reviews were all ridiculously positive (except for 5 negative ones which were mostly out of the box problems).

So far so good. Next up, saving for a new stereo system.

[Kyros]

These: http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/street-style/sennheiser-pmx-100.php are my workhorse headphones.  They're just freaking perfect in every way, including the fact that wrapped up they fit perfectly and conveniently into the big leg pockets on any pair of cargo pants/shorts.

These: http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/full-size/sennheiser-hd-201.php are what I use when I listen at home.  Incredibly affordable as far as sealed headphones go.  Only complaint is the adjustable size things are kind of wonky so I have to strategically put these on my head if I want them to fit right.

[David_Dovey]

For absolute ball bustingly good monitors, KRK all the way. Just be prepared for the price.

Your italicisation(?) was well placed. KRK make monitors, as opposed to speakers. Obviously I can't really speak for the OP's intentions, but I'm guessing the guy wants speakers which have a bit more of a character in them, a richer bottom end for instance, as opposed to completely flat-response studio monitors. Anyway, the lower-level KRK's are rubbish anyway. Go with Tapco, Fostex or Yamaha unless you're prepared to pay out the ass (if you are, KRK's are really good).

[Harun]

I use speakers for when I'm at home, and some ridiculously ridiculous Etymotics that I got for when I'm out and about.