Best headphones for audio books

Cafe Society
1

I like to walk while listening to audio books on my kindle. I’ve been browsing amazon and I need some help sorting through all the headphones.

I wear hearing aids, so I want headphones that cup over my ears. Earbuds don’t work too well, as I already have stuff stuffed in my ears-- I do use them but constantly have to push them back in. I do have a bluetooth device that connects my hearing aids to my kindle and this works ok if I’m in the quiet house, but when walking outside, the ambient street noise drowns out the book.

Why not take the hearing aids out when I walk? Because, oddly, even though the earbuds are in my ears and not near the hearing aid’s mike, I can hear better with the hearing aids in. Presumably, headphones that cup over my ears will also cover the mikes, so that might make for exceptionally good hearing. A lot of the headphones I’ve been reading about brag that they can transmit heavy bass. Don’t want heavy bass. Also, they don’t need to be Bluetooth, as I don’t mind plugging in a wire. But it’s okay if they are Bluetooth.

Not in the mood to spend $200+ for Bose headphones, but I’ll go up to $50-ish. Any suggestions?

2

Free ones.

3

You can get athletic-oriented bluetooth headphones that have little plastic bits which anchor against your ears. They may help in that regard, but you might want to spend the money just to try. I like these, and they’re only twenty bucks.

4

Do you have a cell phone? You may as well get a set that works as a mic and speaker for it.

5

:confused:

I don’t want something that goes in my ears, as I wear hearing aids and they’re already in my ears. It’s crowded in there. I’m looking for something that COVERS my whole ear.

I have a Bluetooth device that connects my hearing aids to my cell phone. It has a mike. It’s fabulous. It’s the same device that I referred to in my OP:

Doesn’t work with audio books when walking because of too much outside noise.

I’m looking for headphones that cover my ears, connect to my kindle with a wire or Bluetooth, and I’m willing to spend up to $50-ish.

6

<Tap, tap… is this thing on?>

Does anyone else here listen to audiobooks?

I went to Best Buy, Office Depot and Wal-Mart this afternoon (because they were all near each other). There weren’t many headphones outside of packages so I could try them on, but the few I did try were really tight, besides being well over $150. There are a few more places in town I can look. I can’t imagine that anyone would spend $25-$100 on headphones that they had never tried on or listened to, unless they were replacing a pair they were already familiar with.

I may have to go by amazon reviews and then just be ready to send them back if they’re not comfortable.

7

You might want to check out Headphones | Wirecutter. They have some pretty thorough reviews of headphones.

8

Thanks ever so!

9

I am also looking to replace my over-ear headphones, so I have this page bookmarked:
http://www.businessinsider.com/over-ear-headphones-buying-guide-2015-8

Note that there are two super cheap options there, Monoprice and Superlux. I feel a lot more comfortable taking a chance on a pair of unknown headphones when they’re only $30 or $40.

I’d be interested to hear what you end up going with.

10

I listen to audiobooks a lot. For quiet walks I use a set of earbuds. They are of unknown provenance as I have plenty around and several MP3 players. The external headphones I use are Sony MDR-NC40 Noise Cancelling Stereo Foldable Headphones. They fit in a nice little carry case and were refurbished when I got them for about $50 from ebay. More than adequate for the price and handy on plane trips.

11

Yay, the audiobookies are here! :slight_smile:

Totally agree. I’d like to be able to try them on and try them with my kindle.

Right now I have these three bookmarked at amazon:
Sony MDRZX110NC Noise Cancelling Headphones for $52.99

Sennheiser HD 201 Lightweight Over Ear Headphones for $23.80

Audio-Technica ATH-M40x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones coming in at a pretty high (to me) $97.94 The cousin of these (at $154.99) gets high marks in that *excellent *Business Insider article you linked to.

That article is really fun down at the “Money is no object” end of it. :eek:

The Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm gets high marks in your article and wins the Oscar in the (also excellent) Wirecutter review linked to in an earlier post in this thread. These apparently work almost as well as noise-cancelling headphones. Amazon reviewers’ biggest complaint is that the earpads fall apart in a few months (not sure how heavy the use has to be for that to happen). They might also be too big and bulky to wear on walks around the neighborhood.

Before I got hearing aids, I preferred earbuds, too. Oddly (as I said in the OP), I can hear the book better with my hearing aids in AND earbuds stuffed in on top even though the earbuds aren’t anywhere near the hearing aid’s microphones. <shrug>

Sonys get good reviews all around.

12

I thought I’d throw out a possible alternative to over-the-ear headphones. You might consider bone conduction eadphones. They bypass your ears completely and send sound waves directly to the cochlea via the cheekbones.

I have no idea how effective they would be for you or how good the sound quality is but I find the technology fascinating and wanted to make you aware of it in case you weren’t.

Personally, I like to listen to podcasts when I go for walks but I just generally us a pair of sennheiser on-ear phones. They definitely wouldn’t be an option for someone wearing hearing aids.

13

Why not…tell me more about them.

14

These are what I use: Sennheiser PXC 250 II

I find they produce very good sound for lightweight, portable headphones. Since they fold up, they’re easy to stick in a bag or pocket which is very convenient when I’m out and about.

However, they sit directly on the ears and not around them so they might be uncomfortable if you’re wearing hearing aids. If you’re not worried about that, I would highly recommend them.

15

Those look good. They’re a little more than I wanted to spend. The hearing aids go way down inside my ears, so something sitting on top would be okay. I mostly wanted something to cup/cover my ears just so they would fit better and stay put.

Anyhoo, this impulse shopper went to the PX and bought the Sony MDRZX110NC Noise Cancelling Headphones. They also fold up but don’t come with a carrying case. They were $52.99 on Amazon Prime, and I paid $44 (with no tax). Some of the so-called “studio” headphones looked really big. On the street, people might assume I was channeling Princess Leia. I’ll give them a test [del]run[/del] walk tomorrow.

Thanks to all who participated! Pick up your gift bags at the door and don’t forget to get your parking validated. :slight_smile:

16

Be sure to let us know how they work out for you. <$50 is right around my limit (since I’m a cheapskate). I most interested in how comfortable they are.

17

Will do.

18

I took the Sony MDRZX110NC for an hour-long walk this morning. They’re quite comfortable-- my head/ears didn’t feel squished or anything. Frankly, I think they’ll be good for keeping my ears warm when the weather gets colder.

As for the sound, I gotta say, the spoken word was not as sharp and clear as my cheap earbuds. The speech was fully comprehensible, but just a teeny-weeny bit “muddy.” It was like the sound I hear when I’m wearing my earbuds but without my hearing aids. As I’ve mentioned… with my earbuds, the sound is quite good while my hearing aids are in, even though the hearing aid mikes are outside, draped over the back of my ears.

On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being muffled/muddy/listening under water, and 10 being crystal clarity, sharpness of every word… my earbuds are a 9 and the Sonys are a 7.6. I haven’t tried listening to music with them.

I tried the Sonys with and without the noise-canceling feature and the sound was muddier and slightly muffled with the noise-canceling ON.

In conclusion, they’re okay. Someone with good hearing would probably do fine. My $6,000 hearing aids produce crystal clear, sharp-as-a-tack sound, sound (IMHO) that is better than normal hearing. And I can pair my hearing aids with my kindls and get that great sound AT HOME… but out on the street, there’s too much ambient noise to make it work.

Maybe I need to wear the headphones just to block ambient sound and listen to my kindle with the hearing aids… Hmmm… may try that.

19

Update- I walked for an hour this morning listening to an audiobook. I figured out that if I put them on slightly forward, the sound is clearer. I mean, the sound is clear enough to be understood, it’s just that I’ve gotten spoiled by the super-crystal-clarity of my kick-ass hearing aids. These headphones are good, and I’ll keep using them.

There was a brisk breeze this morning and they definitely kept my ears warm!

20

Hey TL,

I have recently had some experience with headphones and the one recommendation I can make to you is that wireless headphones are just very much better than wired headphones.

Why? When I was tethered to something by a wire, it seemed like I was always tripping over the wire or getting caught up in it and pulling whatever was on the other end off a table or something and it would fall to the floor.

I was just very very lucky I never damaged my phone. I know people who have dropped their phone and shattered the screen and they were just crying the blues for a long time.

BTW, I know you are not using a smart phone but a Kindle and I am assuming that many of the reasons for going wireless still apply to the Kindle. But I’ve never used one. So, take what I say with a grain of salt?

Anyway, the one thing you need with wireless headphones is Bluetooth. I don’t know if your Kindle supports Bluetooth. But I can tell you that if I ever buy some headphones again, it would easily be worth paying $100 more for wireless. They are truly worth that much or more over wired - at least in my opinion they are.

I have tried two pairs of Sony headphones and I like them very much. I have found that Sony puts a lot of good thought and testing into their products. For example:

I’ve been trying for a very long time now to find the right speaker for my smart phone. I started off by getting the Sony 20 watt speaker for $100 and it was good. Except it was only 20 watts and that just isn’t enough.

But what I want to tell you is that I have tried several other speakers including Bose and Soundboom and they really suck. Why? Such a simple thing.

When you are using a smart phone to listen to music (or your Kindle I guess), if you pause the playback for more than say 15 minutes, you then have to get up (assuming you were lying down) and walk over to the speaker and turn it on. There is no “remote control” to turn it back on.

I find that so stupid and so maddening. Sony is the only speaker I’ve ever found that doesn’t force me to stand up and walk over to the speaker to turn it back on. Such a simple thing. But it makes such a big difference to me.

It may sound silly to you. but that small little convenience (or irritation if using some other speakers) is worth a great deal to me. Every time I have to stand up and walk over to the speaker, I just grumble at the lack of thought and lack of testing of these other companies.

So, my point is that I have found my convenience is worth a heck of a lot and I am happy to pay a lot more money if it means I am not inconvenienced several times every day.

IMHO, wireless is really worth the extra money and if you don’t have time to research a product, I would just go for Sony because they clearly value their customers’ convenience. Just my opinion.

All my best wishes to you TL.