3 ms·
I swear by the the 3m X5A headphones[1] (which have 4.8, 8.1, and 12.4dB better attenuation at 125Hz, 250Hz, and 500Hz than the Leight Sync headphones in the ar
by meatmanek 8y ago
I swear by the the 3m X5A headphones[1] (which have 4.8, 8.1, and 12.4dB better attenuation at 125Hz, 250Hz, and 500Hz than the Leight Sync headphones in the article, according to their datasheet[2]), plus the Koss KSC75 headphones[3], with the clip removed and shoved inside, per [4].(I've since added a little wedge of foam behind each of the headphones to better keep them in place.)
The better attenuation at low frequencies makes these really good at blocking human voices, which is the thing that I find most distracting in an open office. With even a little bit of music, I can barely tell that people are having a conversation 10 feet from me.
The headphone cables can sometimes break the seal, but I find shifting them usually fixes it. Besides, the noise that sneaks in is high-frequency stuff like key clicks, not distracting voices.
The downsides are: these are extremely large cans (2.5-3" deep), the KSC75s have a pretty short cable, and if you drop your cans or yank the cable, the headphones will tend to pop out.
1. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CPCHBCQ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CPCHBCQ
2. https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/845196O/3m-peltor-x-series-passive-hearing-protection-earmuff-technical-data-sheet.pdf https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/845196O/3m-peltor-x-seri...
3. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006B486K https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006B486K
4. https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/5bwu48/homemade_noise_isolating_headphones_p/ https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/5bwu48/homemade...