Advice/Suggestions on headphones or earbuds while listening to voices in the same room
Scenario: I am frequently playing video games with my partner, and we have our PCs side-by-side. I am looking for a comfortable set of headphones or earbuds that will also make it easy to hear each other so we can talk while gaming.
Main priorities:
- Openness / Ability to hear physical surroundings
- Comfort for long wear duration (I wear glasses, which rules out most over-the-ear)
- Budget
Nice to haves:
- Audio quality decent enough for gaming (doesn't have to be 3D positional or anything)
- Audio quality acceptable for listening to music while playing some games (but nowhere near audiophile level, not expecting much bass from something light)
- Wireless (but not against a wired option - can be USB or 3.5mm since this will be used exclusively with my PC)
I've really only ruled out one thing: I'm not interested in bone induction headphones. I tried out a pair of JLab JBuds Frames that sit on your glasses, and while they aren't bone induction, the pressure against that area of my head, combined with nothing in my ears, would give me a headache after an hour or two. I suspect I'd have a similar issue with bone induction.
In a world that seems to prioritize noise cancelling, my search for other options has been inconclusive. There's a lot of negative reviews about comfort in options like the Cleer ARC series and Baseus clip-on styles. I found some of the suggestions in a previous thread on bone induction headphones to be interesting, but nothing seems to meet all of my criteria perfectly.
Open-back headphones might be what you're looking for: they're headphones that aren't sealed on the back of the cup that goes around your ear.
There are some acoustic benefits to this, but, more relevant to your question, it means that you can hear your surroundings much more easily with them on. But the street goes both ways, since your audio will also leak out a bit into the room.
I'm a fellow glasses wearer, and basically have the Sennheiser HD 58X on my head all day. I like them a lot, and enjoy them for games and music. They were way cheaper when I bought them new ($160 - $20 coupon) though.
Open back IEMs are also a thing (e.g KZ Ling Long for $20) but I have no experience with them to know how much ambient sound they let in. The market for very-cheap, good sounding in-ears has exploded in the last decade so I wouldn't be adverse to just buying a couple and trying them.
On-ear phones might also be a decent fit. They're headphones that rest on your ear (vs over and around your ear), which means that they can't form a seal and let you hear more of your surroundings.
I don't have personal experience with them, but the most popular on-ears I know of are the Koss Porta Pros (~$30-40 for the wired versions)
It'd be really helpful if you put a number on your budget :). One person's cheap could be "$50" and another's could be "$200".
The KZ Ling Long is something I've never heard of and exactly why I wanted to ask this question to a wider audience. They look great for my use case, and at that price I can deal with them being wired.
Funny enough, I think I still have a pair of Koss PortaPros I bought like 10 years ago hiding in a closet somewhere. Maybe I'll try to find them and re-try them for this use case.
And honestly, for me, "budget" is a scale. Ideally, this would be a low to mid price item I'll put on my Christmas wish list, and I'd feel guilty if someone spent over $100 should it only be used for this. However, if they splurged on something more, I'd expect it to stretch through some additional use cases, but I'm not too concerned with that currently.
The Grado GW100x seems almost perfect for your use case. They're on ear, semi-open-back, fully wireless headphones with a customizable ear cushion allowing for you to adjust how they sit on your ears. I use a budget-friendly pair of Koss KHP40 headphones with a wireless adapter as they're lightweight, on-ear, and durable, but they do also make an integrated wireless version that uses plastic in the headband, a choice that I personally don't agree with as I've had a wired version of that unit break on me in that place. Koss has an amazing warranty service, so even if something like that happens, they've got you covered! Let me know if there's any more information I can get for you, as I put a lot of time and money into my headphone collection before I found some affordable quality options I default to nowadays.
A possible choice that would sit nowhere near your glasses and leave your ears completely open is the JLab Flex. My girlfriend loves these and they are her first choice among our many listening options.
For myself, I think my ears may be too big or something as they are just too quiet, but I will admit they are very comfortable and easy to wear.
Maybe worth a try to see if they work for you. The stakes are pretty low.
I'm curious if the sound is audible to others in the room when you/they are using them? These are intriguing because of the clip on nature. One of my primary beefs with my current earbuds are them falling out.
Since I'm polling you anyway, how are they for phone calls? Mine suck, which is the other beef I have with them.
My current ones support the Tile protocol, so you can search for them if you lose them (it's about their only virtue). The catch is the case can't be located this way, so I'll often have to hunt for it. I try to make the rule, "if earbuds are in the ears, case goes in the pocket" but I don't always follow it.
I don't have that exact brand/model, but mine are pretty similar. They can apparently be heard by other people who are standing really close to me as very very quiet, indistinct noise but only when I have them on max volume (which is actually painfully loud for me when wearing them, so I never have them that high).
Thanks for the recommendation. I quite like Anker products, so I think I will give these a go. I was looking to go "up a level" from the $30 range of my current pair. At this price point, they are significantly cheaper than the top reccs from Wirecutter or Rting, so a happy medium for me.
YVW, and yeah I felt similar. I couldn't justify spending $300+ on the Bose or Shokz open-ear ones, especially when I didn't even know if I would like wearing that style of earbud to begin with. But when I found out Anker (brand I also like/trust) had their own earbuds of similar design for less than half that price, and the reviews of them still seemed decent, I decided to get them instead.
Mine are a bit more expensive (although they're currently on sale for $70, down from $130), and a slightly different design but still similar in being "open ear" earbuds. I have a pair of wrap-around-the-top-of-your-ear Anker soundcore AeroFit 2's and I absolutely love them. I got them because I wanted to listen to music while out and about, but still needed to be able to hear other people's voices and any vehicles around me for safety reasons, especially since I often wear them to my nephew's races where karts are constantly zooming around even in the pit.
However, I would definitely recommend giving a cheaper versions a try first, like those JLab Flex's, since the wrap-around and clip-on style earbuds feel really weird to use at first, and take some getting used to. And so I suspect they won't be for everyone because of that weirdness.
Logging a review for the Anker Sound core Aerofit 2's for future readers. A week after buying them on @cfabbro's recommendation, I find them amazing. They are super comfortable to wear, so much so that I sometimes forget I have them on. They stay put really well even with a lot of bending and leaning (I disassembled and reassembled a bunch of furniture last weekend while listening to them). The sound quality is great, and I get surprised by the bass in things I've only listened to with my old earbuds. They sound pretty good on calls - no issues with people hearing me like the last pair. The case is really nicely designed and they stay positioned well on the charging points. All in all, very happy with the purchase.
Awesome. Glad to hear you like them. :) And LOL, yeah I often forget I am wearing them too. :P
p.s. Be sure to download the soundcore app for your phone if you haven't already. It has a really well implemented equalizer, you can customize the touch controls there, and even set the earbuds to "dual connections" mode so you can have them paired to your phone and computer at the same time.
Those look unlike any earbud I've ever seen! I almost want to buy them just to see how they feel to wear...
I've posted about open back headphones before, here's an update to my last comment on them.
I used to wear my (over ear) headphones with one side off my ear to still hear my surroundings and talk to my partner. But then I got this pair of audio-technica open back headphones bc my friend didn't like them. I like them, but it is a rather different listening experience! I can hear my surroundings rather clearly depending on the volume of my media. They are also lighter than other pairs I've had, but that's part of the selling point of this particular pair. It does impact the feeling, like the sound space feels more open and bass isn't as enclosed to your ear so doesn't feel as deep. Conversely, being open, the audio is leaked so folks around you will hear more versus closed at the same volume.
So while I do think this style could be the solution for y'all, ultimately I recommend against audio technica anything now. The audio quality is mediocre, I expect better for the price and brand reputation. My pair have this issue where the volume knob has a poor connection so if it sits at the wrong spot nothing comes through the right headphone, I've been pretty gentle with them too. There's also these stupid wires where the adjustable part spreads, they're positioned such that they poke directly against the head if not taped them back. They are wired and you can swap the cables out (includes one with single 3.5mm that has mic+stereo and another split for mic separate), but the plug into the headset is proprietary, kinda defeating the point of being able to replace it.
Thanks for the update, especially with the hardware knob issue. It's frustrating when things like that happen and I wouldn't be very happy if it happened to me.
I'm not sure it they're the best fit but I have the Shokz Openfit Air and really like them. They aren't bone induction, basically just a directional speaker, so you can hear what's going on around you well, and I've been pretty happy with the sound quality. They clip over the ear so I'm not sure how well they'd work with glasses but at the very least might be worth checking out.
These are now at the top of my list. Found some glasses-wearer reviewers who seem to like it quite a bit.
I'm not sure what your budget is, but I'd recommend the Philips Fidelio X2 open back headphones. (NOT the X3 version) Amazon has them on sale right now for $124.19. They are over-the-ear headphones, but with their suspension headband and soft velour pads, I always found them comfortable while wearing glasses. A suspension headband puts less pressure on the sides of your head and sits more over the top of the skull. This set will have excellent sound for the money, and a good deal of bass for an open back, which is a little unusual.
If you don't want to chance an over-the-ear headphone, or that is too expensive, then I'll second the Koss Porta Pros that have already been mentioned. They also have decent bass, but will be a little muddier than the Philips set. The cord is 4ft, so be sure that is enough room for you. Easy to get an extension cord if not.
They are pricey (much more than I remember, but that was like 9 years ago), but I absolutely love my AKG K612 PRO.
I also have glasses, these things feel like they barely touching the sides of my giant head. They are extremely light, and I can comfortably wear them for 7+ hours on end (WFH confirmed this).
I've had this pair for 9 years. The cable had ripped off twice, but was easily fixed with a soldering iron. It's still the original, very long and flexible cable and has outlasted every other flexible cable that moves a lot. I'm probably going to put a 3.5mm adapter if it happens again (young childen love to absentmindedly yank cables....).
I can hear people whispering to me when quiet, and they can usually just talk at a normal voice to catch my attention unless I'm testing the limits of my eardrums.
A solid review here. Their response curve is incredibly flat, which gives you the most-accurate sound. It won't sound as nice for some use cases out of the box because of that (most music headphones default to bass-heavy), but that's what your equalizer is for.
Seconding this rec - I've used two very-similar models including my current K712s. I have a different AKG model with closed backs that I use while working from home because I prefer the isolation in that scenario, but when I'm gaming or casually hanging out online, the K712s let through enough background that I can respond to conversation, listen for my dog, or hear someone knocking at the door.
You might be interested in trying out some open-back over-ears? I figure that would take care of the hearing component, and surely there are some custom pads that accommodate for glasses.