I need headphones/earbuds. Good ones!

Casual Eddy

So I live and work in Manhattan in NYC. I encounter a ton of noise on my daily commute - screeching subways, honking, trucks passing by, etc. As a result, the ability to cancel noise is absolutely critical, partly so I can listen to my podcasts and music, and partly so I can prevent hearing damage by blocking city noise and keeping the volume level on my phone low. I am using apple earbuds and they are functionally useless about 50% of the time due to background noise.

Previously I had these for about a year: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XPG2QI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and I liked them. they were great at reducing noise (I rarely went above 3-4 notches of volume on my phone) and had good sound quality, but producing a proper seal was a bit fussy, and they did make a lot of cord noise. One of the cords began to fray as well. That's another thing, my new headphones will ideally be durable, since I will be using them just about every day, for several hours a day.

Currently I am leaning towards earbuds rather than headphones for portability and being less conspicuous, but I unfortunately misplaced my last pair of earbuds so there's that to consider. So mostly I want something hopefully durable, that will produce a superior seal against noise, and have decent sound quality. This is a luxury purchase, but since it's something I use daily and will ideally preserve my hearing I am willing to spend a decent amount of money, balanced by the fact that I'm a clumsy oaf and may lose them again.

Rayze

What's your budget? I got my husband these for his birthday and he raves about them even though he's using them for an android phone (he thought he was going to get an iphone sooner rather than later but it didn't work out)

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/quietcomfort_20/index.jsp

Casual Eddy

300 may be a little too much given that I lost my last pair within a year. Let's say 100-200. And the ability to cancel noise is more important than super good sound quality.

curly haired boy

these have pretty ridiculous passive noise blocking and they're famous for sounding WAY more expensive than they actually are

http://www.amazon.com/JVC-HAFX30B-Headphone-Marshmallow-Black/dp/B005FDOG6G

zepherin

This is a pretty good sight for you
http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide

Donovan Puppyfucker

Casual Eddy wrote: »

So I live and work in Manhattan in NYC. I encounter a ton of noise on my daily commute - screeching subways, honking, trucks passing by, etc. As a result, the ability to cancel noise is absolutely critical, partly so I can listen to my podcasts and music, and partly so I can prevent hearing damage by blocking city noise and keeping the volume level on my phone low. I am using apple earbuds and they are functionally useless about 50% of the time due to background noise.

Previously I had these for about a year: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XPG2QI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and I liked them. they were great at reducing noise (I rarely went above 3-4 notches of volume on my phone) and had good sound quality, but producing a proper seal was a bit fussy, and they did make a lot of cord noise. One of the cords began to fray as well. That's another thing, my new headphones will ideally be durable, since I will be using them just about every day, for several hours a day.

Currently I am leaning towards earbuds rather than headphones for portability and being less conspicuous, but I unfortunately misplaced my last pair of earbuds so there's that to consider. So mostly I want something hopefully durable, that will produce a superior seal against noise, and have decent sound quality. This is a luxury purchase, but since it's something I use daily and will ideally preserve my hearing I am willing to spend a decent amount of money, balanced by the fact that I'm a clumsy oaf and may lose them again.

If you'd said you wanted cans I'd be all over this like a rash, but you want buds and I don't actually have much experience with noise cancelling earbuds. There is however a thread in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern where all of us headphone nerds gather and discuss things like this: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/142270/audiophilia-headphones-amps-daps-and-empty-wallets

If you repost in there you should get some pretty sweet advice.

EDIT: After a few minutes of research, these might be just what you need. The effectiveness of their noise cancelling is apparently a bit more sensitive to fit than some in-ears, so if one of the four supplied sets of tips doesn't fit perfectly, you can always just buy some Shure olive tips (the very best in the business) for a few bucks and throw them on.

EDIT again: These units from AudioTechnica are also highly regarded.