Hmm because I’m not really willing to pay a lot of money for medium quality headphones. The MH752 are isolating enough, I’m mostly looking for an upgrade soundwise that I could still use with a lot of ambient noise. If I crank the volume while wearing the KSC75s the ambient noise is tolerable if my gf is not on the phone.
Ehhh stuff like the Sony anc ones r actually pretty dang legit. I heard them and was really impressed. When it comes to the headphones u mentioned tho the sundara r the only ones I’ve heard and those r crazy open. You will hear a mouse walking around your floor lol. So cross that one off. Semi open headphones I only have the Nighthawks and those mostly block out high frequencies pretty well like an ac. But besides that generally pretty much let’s a good amount of sound in tbh
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Sony and Boss stuff are good, would not say medium quality since they kinda have the top end models and best sound quality today.
Plus the features they have give lot + isolation and comfort.
The more cheapers one (the ones company gives) and without features are so called medium quality and chifi anc’s i would not even count.
A old colleague who could be called audiophile and has had Tannoy Prestige Westminster Royal GR Speakers. Selected the Sony’s for his headphones after testing all ANC-headphones, that were available. They aren’t bad at all and would be my choice as well if quality with ANC-would be more needed at home/traffel use.
Of if the company would let me choose my own headphones…
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I have tried the Sony’s, they are OK but I wouldn’t necessarily pick them over my MH752s. I’m not really looking for ANC, I don’t like the pressure it produces in my ears. The noise isolation of regular closed backs is more than enough, but most headphones I find that are an improvement in terms of sound are open. Maybe I’ll just wait to see if we can find an apartment with an extra room and decide on which headphone to buy then.
You’re not going to get much isolation with any of the headphones you mentioned:
I thought the Meze 99s sounded better with some velour pads on them, and then they isolated less, but still isolated (I guess I’d call them semi-open with the velour pads).
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Hmm I have found a shop where I should be able to try out the Meze 99 Neo, maybe I’ll swing by there to test them when I can. They are slightly easier on the wallet than the Sundara’s and HD600.
Did they also sound less dark with velour pads?
Yes.
IMO the velour pads make them a much more balanced headphone. They tame the bass and bring out the mids.
I did not like them with the stock pads, but thought they sounded pretty good with the velours.
I doubt any of these would work for your use case. Maybe if you blast the volume, but anyone else in the room will be able to hear your music.
I have the 6XX and they are almost transparently open. Can’t really use them with others in the room.
I would add one more vote for the XM3s. They don’t sound as good as the 6XX. But. They isolate so well, there is no contest really. They also have builtin EQ, so you can make them sound the way you want. AirPods Pro are also a good choice. I usually alternate between those two at the office.
If you don’t want either of these, you can also consider something like the dt 770 pro. While isolation from outside noise is not as good, it’s still decent, and they don’t seem to leak at normal volume.
Hm yeah I should try the 770pro again. I tried the 80ohm version a couple of months ago but I found it rather dark.
The XM3 are good, but like I said, I don’t prefer their sound over the MH752 I already have and which is isolating enough.
You could probs find a pair of NDH 20 for <350. They really are the kings of noise isolation. I accidentally ignored people trying to talk to many times in dorms and at home haha. Also semi open seems to be more like open headphones than closed cans
Might have missed it…what are you using as your DAC/Amp? If it’s got the power/current, you could try something like a T50/T40 with a pad swap to a Shure 1540/840. The T50, while semi open, are pretty isolating and don’t leak terribly. Are you more concerned with the noise coming in, or going out? Not sure if your GF is already using something to block out the sound. You can also occasionally find the OG Dan Clark Aeon closed in the $350 range. While there’ve been some complaints about compression from the OG Aeons, the closed was the more dynamic, IIRC, and you could get some Aeon 2 pads or the tuning kit later to possibly improve that as well.
just a suggestion, but perhaps consider buying different keyboards then something of the more quieter variety? As far as the headphones you mentioned they all are fairly open enough to hear sound from outside the headphone you would be best off with a closed back. The only headphone I have personally tried, and kept still, that is open back but feels like a closed back were the Aeons though they are expensive.
I’ll look into those, thanks for the suggestion.
@FiCurious I’m currently using an E10K but am considering a liquid spark or an E30 or something like that when needed. I’ll look into those Fostex and the Aeon, I’m not familiar with them. I’m just concerned about sound coming in, my gf uses XM3s when working.
@Falenkor it’s not just the rattling, it’s also the calling and the singing along with terrible music my gf likes to do. She has many gifts, singing and good taste in music are not among them unfortunately…
not gona lie. I laughed pretty hard at this comment. Yeah, in that case I don’t think really any form of open back or semi open is going to save you lmfao. Aeons will but it’s only because the “feels like a closed back despite being open back” is kind of one of their selling points and a niche area. They are typically around $500, don’t buy the original aeons only look at the Retuned versions labeled RT or open X. Other than that quite a few closed backs will work
In the $350 or less margin I can recommend quite a few depending on your sound preferences.
Meze would be nice but they are more warm rather than bright. DT 770 may be right up your alley very bassy and bright with some good isolation a step up from here if you can find one cheap enough is the 1770 or its massdrop variation(which I have seen go down to like $380 or so) which is the 177x GO, changing the pads to a sheepskin works wonders for these too maybe perforated. I really want to say Argons or Dekoni Blue but they aren’t full closed(they do isolate pretty well though) however they take a while to get and unfortunately your amp isn’t powerful enough, Audio Technica M40x is nice but you may find the mh752 to be better in this case(m40x demands a pad swap and is compatible with v-moda boom pro while having a pretty nice V like signature whereas 752 is more along the lines of just a brighter headphone), MMX300 beyerdynamic wide bassy relatively warm with some brightness more like a dt 770 but with a good mic on it,
spark is an amp e30 is a dac and this was actually my first setup into the audiophile world. Fantastic starter setup for someone who loves bright headphones and I highly recommend it.
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Ah yeah the A30 and L30 are the amps. Topping is a brand that is readily available where I live, schiit, monoprice and JDS labs are very expensive to get shipped here.
Thanks for all the suggestions, seems like I’ll have a whole bunch of headphones to research!
lol i kinda suspected there is more than keyboards since that usually is the case in working and maybe not even closed backs aren’t enough. So a full on ANC would be the way to shut the… sounds as to say.
We have few people at office that have “carrying voice” so when they talk, everyone will hear it. Even the mediocre anc’s they wont help. 
Not sure how toppings amps perform with brighter headphones honestly, as I haven’t tried them nor heard much on them. It’s so unfortunate that schiit, monoprice, and jds labs seem to be relatively restricted to a lot of places making them stupid expensive to obtain. I would think amazon’s prime service would help with shipping costs since that makes shipping services free for members of the service.
Yep, don’t forget to chime back in with whatever you decide to check out and your thoughts on it too!
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Will do. I’m leaning a bit to the 99 Neo’s because I’ve fallen in love with the looks and everything about them, but I’d make sure to buy it somewhere I can return it. The T40rp and T50rp also seem very interesting, I think the T40 would be more my kind of signature, but since they are so hard to drive I don’t think my Shanling UP2 would be up for the task, meaning I can’t really use them on the go.
well… The T20 is the fully open back. T40 is fully closed and T50 is the semi open back and considered to sound the best, subjectively of course.
as long as your aware that it’s a very warm headphone and may be more towards dark instead of bright if your ok with that then ya it’s actually really nice…
Not sure, maybe someone here can clarify on that but I will say they are very difficult to drive. Though if you get the T40s at their base form you can contact Modhouse and have them converted into an Argon which are stupidly great. Dunno if you can have them keep them closed back though as I think the regular argons are semi open iirc you should be able to though so they keep their isolation. Dekoni Blues may be more up your alley though if you want a bright signature, you can mod them to be closed back since these headphones are known to just be heavily moddable.
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The new version of the HD280 Pros, maybe. (Old version got zero soundstage and nothing above 10khz – don’t bother).
T50RPs will need pads unless you really like treble
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