Hey Audiophiles!

Noise cancelling only helps in a environment with repetitive "white" noise - like on a plane, sitting next to a fan or a waterfall, etc. They cancel that noise, but let non-repetetive noise through - like talking or sudden noises. Otherwise they will degrade the sound a bit.

They will be useless in a "rather quiet place."

I thought noise canceling also kept a lot of the sound in - so as to not disturb others.

Scottes wrote in post #2303241
Noise cancelling only helps in a environment with repetitive "white" noise - like on a plane, sitting next to a fan or a waterfall, etc. They cancel that noise, but let non-repetetive noise through - like talking or sudden noises. Otherwise they will degrade the sound a bit.

They will be useless in a "rather quiet place."

I tend to disagree, O Great Bearded One.

I'm sure that you get the best results with white or pink noise, but they also work pretty well with other types of noise. I wear mine a lot when my wife has the television on, and they are effective. In fact, our chairs are only about four feet apart, and if she speaks to me in a normal tone of voice, I really can't hear her when I'm using the headphones.

No, they're not perfect, but they're better than what I believe you're thinking.

I went ahead and ordered the headphones. B&H has them for even less....$73.15 with free shipping. Even if they aren't "ideal" they almost have to be a helluva lot better than these Sonys.

belmondo wrote in post #2303261
I tend to disagree, O Great Bearded One.

I'm sure that you get the best results with white or pink noise, but they also work pretty well with other types of noise. I wear mine a lot when my wife has the television on, and they are effective. In fact, our chairs are only about four feet apart, and if she speaks to me in a normal tone of voice, I really can't hear her when I'm using the headphones.

No, they're not perfect, but they're better than what I believe you're thinking.

I guess they've made some progress since I last tried them, many years ago. Cool. Do they come with a more effective "wife" mode?

Scottes wrote in post #2303318
I guess they've made some progress since I last tried them, many years ago. Cool. Do they come with a more effective "wife" mode?

Not really. Unlike a wife, you can turn the headphones off, however.

I think they are improved in recent years. (headphones....not wives). I remember trying on a pair some years ago and not being very impressed.

www.headphonereviews.o​rg is an excellent site for this, it has a wizard and all. It's aimed at audiophiles but has some cheaper stuff too.

You'll not get anything great for $50, not near it, but you can get decent for $50. You can spend $10K on headphones if you're crazy. I have Sennheiser 280 Pro headphones which I quite like, but the bass is a bit light (but very low), and the treble's a bit harsh, and after 2-3 years the headbands crack. $100 or so I think. With a good EQ they work well, I use them at home all the time. I use Audio-Technica A900s as my headphones at work, they're great, well ballanced, but quite large and US$200. Lately i've been using Creative EP-630 earbuds at work, i'm quite impressed given their cost - < US$50. If you get 630s try and find the model with asymmetrical cord lengths. Koss has a good reputation for your price range.

belmondo wrote in post #2303334
Not really. Unlike a wife, you can turn the headphones off, however.

I dunno, I think you can turn a wife off, but not in the way you mean

I know it's a bit late, but I've another vote for Sennheiser. I've had my HD600s' for 3-4 years now and I couldn't be happier with them. To top it off, if some part of it gets broken(I'm on my 4th set of cables now) you can order replacement parts. And if you happen to like bass, not to worry as they're able to rattle your head.

Man, I used to be a head-fi freak. If this was head-fi and you didn't name a budget, I'de be hooking you with a pair of Sennheiser hd-595's (probably the best you'll get unamped, or the cheaper 555's as the 580's 600's and 650's are all pretty high impedance), they are deadly comfertable. Also depending on the laptop, a external soundcard / dac could be in place too.

Thought I'd add this for the Sennheiser/Grado crowd, supposedly this guy makes some of the best cables out there(his sites changed since the last time I checked it out and he used to have mag reviews linked). I thought about getting a set but couldn't justify having a $600+/- headphone cable combo for an iPod/lappy.

http://www.moon-audio.com/

Morgandy wrote in post #2299392
I know that your budget is $50, but as long as your ears are in good shape I don't think you can buy anything pleasing for under $200 to $300. Every time I decide I need a new pair of headphones and do the research, I end up spending $300. Right now I use a Sennheiser HD 590 and an HD 600 (one for the computer, one for the CD player).

www.headphone.com may help you sort out headphones by type, price, manufacturer, etc. The site has lots of ways to compare. (I do not have anything to do with the site, so if you buy or don't buy from them, it doesn't matter to me)

If you go to B&H Photo they have Sennheiser HD595's for $176.98, which I think is a very good price for what I feel is a decent set of headphones.

Edit: I use Senn CX300 earbuds at work with my Treo 650. They work great for me.

Bob_A wrote in post #2306170
If you go to B&H Photo they have Sennheiser HD595's for $176.98, which I think is a very good price for what I feel is a decent set of headphones.

Edit: I use Senn CX300 earbuds at work with my Treo 650. They work great for me.

Like I mentioned in my post, the 555's should also be considered. I should had kept my 595's, but I upgraded to the 600's and in return began buying all the stuff like the amps and going way too advanced.

20DNewbie wrote in post #2306162
... I thought about getting a set but couldn't justify having a $600+/- headphone cable combo for an iPod/lappy. ...

It's for the best anyways. All of those insanely high priced "audiophile" cables and interconnects are nothing more than a scam to take your cash out of your wallet, and the people who sell them are no better than the snake oil venders of old.

JaGWiRE wrote in post #2306215
Like I mentioned in my post, the 555's should also be considered. I should had kept my 595's, but I upgraded to the 600's and in return began buying all the stuff like the amps and going way too advanced.

The 600's are beautiful, but I chose the 595's because of bang for the buck, while getting a nice sounding, really comfortable set of headphones that I can listen to for hours.

Bob_A wrote in post #2306247
The 600's are beautiful, but I chose the 595's because of bang for the buck, while getting a nice sounding, really comfortable set of headphones that I can listen to for hours.

They are more comfertable.

I am thinking of selling my 600's, PPA amp, preamp, dvd/sacd/dvd-a/cd player, satellite radio, cd player, etc, and downsizing to just an intergrated amp and pair of 595's.