Headphones in Corporate Culture?

TheGreatOrangePeel asks: "In an ever increasing sea of white-earbuds in my office, I broke from the mainstream and recently purchased the iAudio X5 to help pass the downtime I experience behind cube walls. I've got a decent set of headphones, but recently I've discovered that being able to hear the rap-tap on the cube frame is sometimes a problem even with the volume cranked way down and considering how my current headphones are about ready for retirement anyway, I thought I would start shopping around for a new set. The problem is that most of mid priced headphones out there are designed to block out real world noise. The Sennheiser PX100 look like they may fit what I'm looking for, but I question the durability of folding headphones and I thought I would see what my peers on Slashdot prefer. What I'm looking for is a set of headphones with (1) good sound in a wide variety of music (2) in the $30-$99 range that (3) will let me hear the warnings of imminent attack at work by co-workers, and the alerts at my monthly LAN parties from allied gamers."

Comments

You guys are missing the damn point.

[rincebrain]

He explicitly said he wanted headphones that did NOT block out all ambient noise.

Radhack

[RomulusNR]

I have a pair of what are probably Radio Shack foam-padded old-school jobs that probably didn't even cost $20. They're sufficiently hearable and they don't block out outside noise.

Jeez, why make it so damn complicated. Who needs to show off their headphones at work?

Re:Radhack

[Total_Wimp]

Jeez, why make it so damn complicated. Who needs to show off their headphones at work?

I'm not too sure he's trying to show off. In fact, I suspect he's actually looking for good sound. My first clue was when he wrote "What I'm looking for is a set of headphones with (1) good sound in a wide variety of music..." My second clue was when he said he was looking for "headphones" which are typically used for personal listening as opposed to "giant speakers," which are often used to compare manhood.

My final clue was his opening sentence "In a ever increasing sea of white-earbuds in my office, I broke from the mainstream and recently purchased the iAudio X5..." This suggested to me that he was not as interested in what his officemates thought as much as he was interested in what he liked. I really don't think this meets the definition of "showing off."

TW

Original Sony Street-style phones?

[EaTiN cOfFeE bEaNs]

They sound decent, are between $20-40, and they let in ambient noise at low levels. You're set!

Re:Noise cancelling headset

[dimension6]

Not to mention, you won't be hearing any "warnings of imminent attack" with those.

my experience

[jerrol]

I got a pair of Beyerdynamic DT231s from www.headphone.com
Great service, great price, I reccomend them.

They've lasted me 3 years of hard use and sound great. I can just make out the phone ringing with them on and music at reasonable levels.

Office chatter is completely gone. I did have to get one of the monitor mirrors...but I tend to tune out everything when in deep hack mode so it is of limited use.

one more requirement you forgot

[egburr]

You forgot the requirement that they direct the noise to your ears only and not disturb everyone around you.

It's amazing how many people think that the cheap earbuds they wear can only be heard by the wearer. Sitting 3-4 feet away, I can often understand every word being sung, at least on those songs where the singer can be understood. With 2 or 3 such people around, I get a headache from the clash of noise.

In an office setting, with open-top cubicles, sound carries an incredible distance. Try not to irritate your co-workers. Try out the headphones you like, adjust the volume to what you like, then get someone else to wear them while you sit a few feet away and listen while doing other relatively quiet tasks like reading a web page, typing a slashdot post, or playing solitaire. If you can still hear the music, maybe these aren't the right headphones for you after all.

buds Vs muffs

[RingDev]

When I got the green light to listen to music at work, my first choice was buds. I'm a application developer, and when we moved offices I went from a somewhat annoying (right next to the door) yet quiet (against 2 exterior walls), to a very loud (next to the network support bull pen) cubical. I used the ear buds for a while, but the ambient noise was still adiable unless I really cranked the music, which was just as distracting. I finally dug out an old set of Sony Switchback headphones. Those things are wonderful. Ambient noise gets cut way down, and they have some pretty decent sound quality. As for the cubical tapping, I figure if it's really important, they'll tap louder.

-Rick

Re:a mirror

[Impeesa]

Better still, if you can manage it, is to arrange your cubicle/office so that your face is towards the entrance, rather than some combination of your back and your screen full of pr0n^H^H^H^H confidential work stuff.

I second the Grados

[John Nowak]

Best headphones under $100, hands down. If you'd don't believe me, STOP ASKING FOR HEADPHONE ADVICE ON SLASHDOT and go listen to a pair.

Re:a mirror

[sylvandb]

I much prefer the strategically-placed CDs (data side out) pinned to my cube wall and aimed the appropriate direction

If you like CDs, you'd love hard disk platters.

Probably getting too late to score anything bigger than a 3", but a 5" platter is a nice size for a cubicle mirror. Someday maybe I'll find an 8"... (I've seen platters larger than 8", but all of them were dull oxide, not the highly polished, bright mirror surface you want for a cubicle mirror.

Oh, and any extra platters make much better wind chimes than CDs ever will.

sdb