Headphones For Work

[spamguy]

I'm looking for quality headphones under $100 so I can enjoy some music at work. Right now I have some mystery brand that are over-the-head and cover the ears, but it's pretty flimsy. The main specs I'm looking for:

* good sound
* low sound leakage -- I share my office with another person, and I want to maximise the volume I can play without disturbing him.
* preferably over-the-head and with 'cans' (i.e., cover + surround the ears) -- I'm fed up with canalphones.

I was impressed with the Sennheiser HD 555, but its biggest complaint is massive sound leakage: it is supposedly audible in adjacent rooms.

[dimmer]

Try the AKG 81DJ - probably the best closed headphones for the under $100 price range. Although if they don't need to be portable, that may open up the choice a bit.

[spamguy]

Nope, no portability needed. I'm lodged at my desk for nine hours.

[n2xe]

sennheiser PX-100 for about 50 bucks are pretty hard to beat until you hit the $300 range

[dimmer]

The PX100s leak sound however, so depending on how many people you have around you they may not be ideal in a work situation. Their closed cousins, the PX200s, sound bad.

[thedodgyguy]

It's not that bad. In a quiet office environment you may be best off going for full-size phones which are open but not too open. Give the Sennheiser HD485 a try. It's a nice open phone within your budget.


If you need a closed phone, there's the old standby, the Sennheiser HD280 Pro. I'm not hugely fond of it myself but all things considered it is a decent closed headphone.


Both are 'around-ear' designs for better comfort over a period of a few hours over the 'on-ear' variety, such as Sennheiser's HD25-SP or AKG's K81DJ.

[dimmer]

Its a good point about comfort - the AKG 81DJs were not great for long periods of time. I think the OP should look at nonportable alternatives like the 485s as well - I don't know so much about these bigger headphones as to give an opinion as to what is good!