My guide to motivating and buying headphones

[foozball3000]

Step 1. - Listen to fools ramble in office
Step 2 - Get annoyed due to the fact that this audible junk is distracting
Step 3 - Go to take2.co.za
Step 4 - Drewl over R1,500 class headphones.
Step 5 - Look at lowest price
Step 6 - Discover that they won't cancel out the audible junk in office
Step 7 - Get annoyed as audible ramblings are still going strong
Step 8 - Think about R1,500 again
Step 9 - Find Zalman noise reduction headphones for R600
Step 10 - Wait for payday

[Bizkit87]

very informative, and motivation.. as per usual

[Kosmik]

One of those days when you wnat to take off your socks and stuff them in mouths

[foozball3000]

One of those days when you wnat to take off your socks and stuff them in mouths

Tempting... but seeing as the boss is one of the culprits, common sense dictates a definite NO

[greggpb]

noise canceling only blocks consistant noise(jet engine hum). not voices...

just so you know

[Aphrael]

best headphones I've bought were a set from Clicks for R50. They have the rubber on the front that fits inside your ear. Just putting them in my ear blocked out a lot of the office noise. Turning on music at a low volume put me in my own little world

[foozball3000]

noise canceling only blocks consistant noise(jet engine hum). not voices...

just so you know

Thanks.

Any headphone that can cover your whole ear, cancels out external mumblings-in-the-office just fine. I had cheap ones before... they worked great. Now I'm pushing for some quality

[EffKay]

Fancy schmancy noise cancelling electronics have limits.

Rather just get a set of full-cup closed headphones from Sennheiser.

The "DJ" series are all designed to cut out all ambient / environmental sounds and given that they're designed for applications in high volume environments, they'll work in a noisy office.

Sennheiser HD212 Pro.

OR

If you don't mind the in-ear style headphones then get a set of Shure sound isolating earphones. Try the Shure SE310

These were designed for people that work in sound stages and concerts and the rubber pieces block off ALL sounds. Excellent audio fidelity too.
These work well in an international flight during take-off and landing despite being seated behind the wing, you hear NOTHING else but your music.

Might be expensive if you think R1500 is too much but they're highly effective.

[Nocturnity]

Thanks.

Any headphone that can cover your whole ear, cancels out external mumblings-in-the-office just fine. I had cheap ones before... they worked great. Now I'm pushing for some quality

Not necessarily. I have Sennheiser HD590 headphones that go over your ears but they don't really cancel any noise. Then again, they weren't made to. Supra Aural or some such term.

[Keeper]

+1 for Sennheiser - very good quality.

[Kilgore_Trout_Redux]

For PC/office use the expensive stuff is overkill. The fact that your PC is causing all sorts of interference and that you are listening to mp3's that have lost a lot quality due to lossy compression means that sound quality is rubbish anyway. Your headphones are only as good as your inputs.

Now, if your input is sourced from something made by B&O - then your R150.00 Musica midnight specials aren't going to cut it.

[hyperian]

Rather just get a set of full-cup closed headphones from Sennheiser.

The "DJ" series are all designed to cut out all ambient / environmental sounds and given that they're designed for applications in high volume environments, they'll work in a noisy office.

Sennheiser HD212 Pro.

I've got the HD202s. Gone through two pairs in about 3 years but I use them every day and carry them around a lot. Pretty much the best R350 I have ever spent

I've got the HD205 dj series too, but the 202s knock the crap out of them, and cost less than half the price

[foozball3000]

For PC/office use the expensive stuff is overkill. The fact that your PC is causing all sorts of interference and that you are listening to mp3's that have lost a lot quality due to lossy compression means that sound quality is rubbish anyway. Your headphones are only as good as your inputs.

Now, if your input is sourced from something made by B&O - then your R150.00 Musica midnight specials aren't going to cut it.

Solid point...
I had a Musica midnight special, it's good... but I thought if I find a set that's a little better, I might get a lot more out of my scabby mp3s

[Keeper]

those sennheisers just have amazing bass and sound quality

@BrendanD - it's 2009, most mp3's have variable compression or something like 192kb/s or more - this is not the olden days where 64k/96k/128k is used

mp3 sound quality is fine

[Grimspoon]

I recently bought a pair of Philips headphones for R280 for my electric drum kit, and I am seriously impressed with the sound quality outta these puppies considering the price.