Headphones for Commuting

wintermute

wintermute

Joined
Oct 18, 2007
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I'm looking for some on-ear headphones good for commuting-type situations. Criteria are as follows:

Impedance - 32 ohms (going to be used with an iPod - no amp)
Music - anything from industrial & metal to baroque chamber music
Sound isolation - a decent amount...I want to hear my music in normal crowds but still be able to hear some outside sound
Cost - $100 absolute max, but obviously the lower the better.

Models I'm currently considering - Sennheiser PX-200 II, AKG K81DJ (concerned that they won't fit over my big head), Sennheiser HD 428, Sennheiser HD 448

Any help and/or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
I have a slightly bigger head than average and the K81DJ were fine for me, though I did have to work on the headband a bit to reduce the clamping force. I saw 'were' as I've moved on to IEMs now. Though with the weather going very cold recently I remember how nice it was to have the AKGs function as earmuffs as well.
 
I love my Koss portapros.

http://www.amazon.com/Koss-PortaPro-Headphones-with-Case/dp/tech-data/B00001P4ZH/ref=de_a_smtd

I know they don't meet your impedance requirements, but I use them with my android smartphone, mp3, and occasionally home stereo system and they sound great on all of them.

Lightweight, compact, sturdy, great warranty, comfortable, good sound, and not terribly expensive.

Mine came with a cheapo soft bag to store them in, however a hard sided case is available if more protection is desired.
 
Just don't do anything which will impair your situational awareness in a commuting situation.
 
FWIW, I've been commuting on foot for years now with IEMs that block out everything short of a car honking in my vicinity - what this has mostly served is to make me much more reliant on sight as a primary sense to take in the immediate environment to the extent that I am much more aware of my surroundings than I used to be.
 
SkullCandy's a brand... anyways, the PX200IIs are amazing. I bought them last year. They fold up so small they fit in my pocket. Only problem is, after awhile, when you spin the volume thing, there's a slight buzzing sound. I get over it though, doesn't affect sound when I'm not twirling it. I bought them specifically for their size- and they're still going strong right now.
 
Last week, a young man was walking near a rail road. The train was trying to stop, was blasting it's horn, but he didn't hear it. He's no longer on this Earth.
A couple of years ago, a guy was running on a beach, a plane was coming down on his 6. He was also killed.
It's a tricky business, listening to music and trying to pay attention to your surroundings at the same time. Maybe attach some mirrors to your headphones?
I have some in ear monitors that I use while mowing and weedeating. Mine block out about 26 decibles, and with the mower running, I can't hear anything. I almost walked out in the street once, when I garbage truck was 10 ft from me, I was weedeating, looking down.
I'm just saying, it can be dangerous.
Why do you want tuna cans? I have some Ultrasone headphones and they are great! Yet, the larger drivers will require more power to drive them well. My M-Audio in ear monitors fit snug enough to drown out most noises, not car horns, but won't look so obvious. On a hot day, larger headphones make you sweat, in ear monitors do not.
 
Minibear464 said:
SkullCandy's a brand... anyways, the PX200IIs are amazing. I bought them last year. They fold up so small they fit in my pocket. Only problem is, after awhile, when you spin the volume thing, there's a slight buzzing sound. I get over it though, doesn't affect sound when I'm not twirling it. I bought them specifically for their size- and they're still going strong right now.
Click to expand...

Yes, Skullcandy is their own company, started in 2003, according to Wikipedia.
 
I own a pair of somewhat decent IEMs and they're fine some of the time, but some of the time I don't want something stuck in my ear canal - mainly if I'm sweating, if I'm moving around alot, or if there's stuff going on around me (because they block out sound so effectively). So I'm looking for some sound attenuation, but not too much (yes I know that that is very vague and subjective). I'll be wearing them working outside in my yard, sometimes on the train, and walking around my (safe) neighborhood. Barring Colin Ferguson (murderer, not actor) hopping on the train, I'm not too worried.
 
I wouldn't buy a pair of cheap sennheisers. $100 headphones have their purposes, and I love sennheisers but as far as I'm concerned their entry level headphone is the HD595
 
wintermute said:
I own a pair of somewhat decent IEMs and they're fine some of the time, but some of the time I don't want something stuck in my ear canal - mainly if I'm sweating, if I'm moving around alot, or if there's stuff going on around me (because they block out sound so effectively). So I'm looking for some sound attenuation, but not too much (yes I know that that is very vague and subjective). I'll be wearing them working outside in my yard, sometimes on the train, and walking around my (safe) neighborhood. Barring Colin Ferguson (murderer, not actor) hopping on the train, I'm not too worried.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I'd recommend looking at the Sony MDR-ED21L earbuds. I know they're poo-pooed upon by audiophiles, but IMO they sound just fine. Some say they're lacking in mid-range, but if your player has an equalizer, you can compensate for that. Where they shine is the bass. They have 16mm drivers rather than the 13mm or 11mm you see in other ear buds or in-ear canal ones like other Sonys or Skullcandy. The bass is more powerful, not just louder, and it doesn't have tin-can sound that buds with smaller drivers have. They're lightyears better than any of the same price and better than many more expensive ones I've tried. And they're parsecs better than the buds that come with your iPod or other player. Admittedly I've never tried a $100+ pair of IEMs, so I can't compare to them. For my purposes they're perfect. The extra bass is great when confronted with the external noises of commuting. What might seem like "enough" bass in a quiet room might not be enough to overpower the noise of traffic, bus engines, airplane engines, etc. They're also "open" in design, so unless you've got your music turned up to eleven, you can still hear outside noises like cars honking at you or ambulance sirens. In fact, if you just have them in your ear, but with no music playing, it's almost like there's nothing in your ear.

Best of all, look at the price. For $13 each, buy 2 and get free shipping, and buy a nice bottle of something with the money you saved. And when you snag the cord on something and ruin them, the worst feeling you'll have is that you have to make it the rest of the day without them, and not that you just wasted $100. Of course, fit is always an issue with these types of earphones. They fit me perfectly; I can wear them for hours on end and not even notice them other than the music playing. But when you read reviews, people that they don't fit far outnumber the ones that they do.
 
I'm happy with my Sennheiser HD228 on-ear phones, same for my Westone UM1 IEMs which I have the foam inserts on, instead of the silicon ones which never stay in my ears. The UM1s are the most comfortable IEMs I've EVER worn, comfortable to fall asleep on your side with and not feel uncomfortable.
 
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