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Have you (or someone else on here who owns active noise canceling headphones) ever A/B tested them against a cheap closed-back set of headphones, like the $25 S

Have you (or someone else on here who owns active noise canceling headphones) ever A/B tested them against a cheap closed-back set of headphones, like the $25 Sennheiser HD202? I ask because I've used some HD202s for five years now in the office, and when listening to low/normal levels of music, I literally cannot hear a person standing next to me saying my name loudly; people have to tap my shoulder all the time. Even with no music at all, they remove a lot of sound/noise and I have to take them off to talk to people. I'm now looking to upgrade to the ~$150 AKG K271s, these are closed back recording studio headphones specifically designed to not bleed whatever you are listening to into the microphone you are singing into. I'm told they give a good comfort boost over the HD202s, which are a bit uncomfortable after 3-4 hours, as well as a sound quality boost. The same goes for professional DJ headphones; imagine the need for sound isolation for someone doing live mixing of music at a nightclub. Neither DJs nor studio applications make use of active noise cancelling, which tells me you can get very far without it.

jmiserez 10y ago
The difference is plain as day. I currently use the closed back Beyerdynamic DT770 with an amp for listening to music, but exclusively the Bose QC25 for work and commuting. The main difference between my Beyerdynamic DT770 and the Bose QC25 are: 1. Without any music playing but with active NC on, the QC25 feel like open-back headphones. The feel is airy and like a weight is lifted from your ears in the QC25 vs. muffled/dull/pressured in the DT770. You can sort of hear your the blood in your ears pumping in the closed-back DT770, a bit like what you would hear in a seashell. If you turn off the NC, the QC25 is about the same as the DT770 without sound. If you go back to your HD202s after having used NC for an hour or so, you'll immediately notice the difference. 2. Sound quality is much worse in the QC25, it's not even close. No rich lows, no clear highs, it's just a mess. Still, it's usable. 3. However, the killer feature is that with the QC25 you can listen at extremely low volume (think 1 bar on the iPhone) and still hear the music clearly. On the DT770 you have to play the music louder, and I find that very quiet music is better for focusing.
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  Interesting points, thanks. Are you sure point 3 is not mainly that the QC25 has much lower impedance (I think 32 Ohms) versus the DT770 which is much harder to drive?
  - jmiserez 10y ago
    Yes, of course I mean adjusted for actual volume played through the speakers [1]. In a quiet room (living room) the DT770s are great at low volume as well, but as soon as you add something like the office AC (white noise) the difference in lowest minimal volume where you can still hear all the detail is remarkable. [1] Which for the DT770 is more bars on the iPhone, although I usually use a USB DAC/Amp to drive them.

jmiserez 10y ago

The difference is plain as day. I currently use the closed back Beyerdynamic DT770 with an amp for listening to music, but exclusively the Bose QC25 for work and commuting. The main difference between my Beyerdynamic DT770 and the Bose QC25 are: 1. Without any music playing but with active NC on, the QC25 feel like open-back headphones. The feel is airy and like a weight is lifted from your ears in the QC25 vs. muffled/dull/pressured in the DT770. You can sort of hear your the blood in your ears pumping in the closed-back DT770, a bit like what you would hear in a seashell. If you turn off the NC, the QC25 is about the same as the DT770 without sound. If you go back to your HD202s after having used NC for an hour or so, you'll immediately notice the difference. 2. Sound quality is much worse in the QC25, it's not even close. No rich lows, no clear highs, it's just a mess. Still, it's usable. 3. However, the killer feature is that with the QC25 you can listen at extremely low volume (think 1 bar on the iPhone) and still hear the music clearly. On the DT770 you have to play the music louder, and I find that very quiet music is better for focusing.

semi-extrinsic 10y ago
Interesting points, thanks. Are you sure point 3 is not mainly that the QC25 has much lower impedance (I think 32 Ohms) versus the DT770 which is much harder to drive?
- jmiserez 10y ago
  Yes, of course I mean adjusted for actual volume played through the speakers [1]. In a quiet room (living room) the DT770s are great at low volume as well, but as soon as you add something like the office AC (white noise) the difference in lowest minimal volume where you can still hear all the detail is remarkable. [1] Which for the DT770 is more bars on the iPhone, although I usually use a USB DAC/Amp to drive them.