Need some work headphones

[MarkN20XX]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. Kinda brand new to these forums. 

 

I am looking to get some headphones in about a month or so for my job as a transcriptionist. The job is in an office with about 40 people clacking away on MX Blue based keyboards, so I need some fairly good isolation/cancellation and for them to be closed back as to not annoy my coworkers. Also, comfort is probably the big factor in this decision, so first hand experience in wearing headphones for a long time would help out. Thanks!

 

(this is the format for recommendations on reddit and it seems to work well there, so I used it here)

 

Budget - $100ish USD and willing to buy used

Source - A Dell Optiplex, so not a great source

Requirements for Isolation - I need a good bit of isolation. I will be using these in an office with a lot of background noise.

Will you be using these Headphones in Public? - Yeah, on the bus, in the break room, and at my desk. They have to be closed back as to not annoy my coworkers.

Preferred Type of Headphone - I value comfort over all else, and for long periods of time, I feel like full size, around ear would work great.

Preferred tonal balance - When listening to music, I tend to like something more vocally oriented (not sure what that would be called tonally)

Past headphones - I used to have a personal set of HD 558s. They were fantastic for and comfy. My job provided HD 202s for use, but the way they sit on my ears leaves something to be desired

Preferred Music - Mostly indie rock, but the main focus of these headphones is to listen to transcription audio at my work.

What would you like to improve on from your set-up - Comfort, clarity, and portability. I will be wearing these virtually every day for 6 hours at a time, so they need to be somewhat comfy to use for long periods of time. These also need to fit in a backpack along with a keyboard, so folding would be nice, but not 100% required.

[Marcelo Valerio]

Hi!

I´m also quite new to the forum, so before run to ebay and oder a bose qc25 wait for some other feedback from some other members

 

having in mind that im a big fan from bose

here goes my opnion

 

I strongly advise to order a bose qc25

you can get it used for around 150 us dollars

they have a hard case and slim profile that will fit on any backpack 

so no harm in just throw it in together with your keyboard or wherever you have in your backpack 

lightweight and extremely comfortable to wear it for several hours at a time

the best noise canceling that I have ever seen

I cannot imagine flying without it anymore

the sounds quality is also great, sounds clear and not overload on the base like beats studio

which I also have, a beats studio 2.0 that I have purchased prior to the bose qc25 about two years ago... 

at the time I thought that it was good but very uncomfortable to wear for periods longer than 2 hours

but after buying the Bose I have never used it again 

and it is on the shelve collecting dust 

another good thing about the bose qc25 one battery aaa lasts for around 30h of use

and even without batteries you still can use it

but the sound will be squish 

so ways have a battery running on it and one in stock at the case

 

I hope I have helped 

and let us know which model you have decided to buy later on

 

 

[MarkN20XX]

Someone on reddit recommended I get a pair  of ATH M40x with some aftermarket pads. It would cost less completely new than a fairly beat up pair of CQ25s that you recommended. Going to do more research before I pull the trigger, but this seems like one the best options for the price and comfort.

[Marcelo Valerio]

I don't know this another model that you mentioned 

 

But qc25 you can find it used in a very good shape

My own for instance 

I have it already for a couple of years

And the only thing that I had to do was change the foam petting 

And it still works like if would have bought it last week 

And specially as you are concerned about nose isolation

I think it I'll be hate to find something also better than that

 

Good luck!

[AAJoe]

Well, keep in mind that if you go with Active Noise Canceling headphones (ANC) like the QC 25 or 35 you're not going to hear a LOT of stuff going on around you. That's awesome when its just keyboard noise and employee gossip, but literally you may not be able to clearly hear someone talking to you a few feet away.

 

The alternative is to go with closed back headphones with good noise reduction. I don't personally find the M40 / M50 line comfortable, BUT they do have solid noise reduction with the stock pads (not sure about after market pads).

 

Since you like your HD558s, you could look into the HD598CS, which is the closed back version in a similar design (same design?) as the 558 for comfort. They do NOT have the 598 quality on sound, and I have no info on how well they reduce noise... but comfort > quality when you're wearing them for 8 hours at work imo.

[MarkN20XX]

Yeah, I found from my research that people agree with you on the M line not being very comfy out of the box, but with new pads are what makes it. I'm going to try and find someone who has a pair in my area that would let me test drive them haha. Thanks for letting me know those 598CS existed. I had never heard of them before. Now I have to do even more research now because of you. Thanks a lot