[biluinaim]

for the first time, i have decided to invest into some good headphones. the main thing that i want/need is a noise canceling feature; however, i would like the headphones to do the noise canceling regardless of whether i am also playing music at the same time. it is not quite clear to me how this would work - i know that obviously passive noise canceling would work, but does that mean that any active noise canceling headphones do negligible canceling when not connected to a source? 
 
right now i'm looking at two models: sony MDR-NC200D and sennheiser HD 558. 
 
it seems to me that the sennheiser pair would work even if not connected to music, because they're circumaural so i'd expect some blockage there. however, the sony model seems more geared towards noise canceling. 
 
they're both about the same price, but i don't want to make a mistake and get a pair that is *not* able to block noise while i'm not playing music/while they're not connected to anything. that's my main priority - but of course, general sound quality can't be ignored...
 
can anybody help me? if you can recommend any other model in the same price-range that would do the job, it'd be certainly appreciated.
 
thanks!

 

[Fuzziekiwi]

The HD558 is an open headphone; it won't block any noise. You'll want a closed headphone if you want isolation. Try the recommendations thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/529144/recommendations-thread-i-e-dont-start-a-new-thread-ask-for-advice-here-please-read-op

 

[biluinaim]

thanks! sorry i opened a new thread - i will post in the rec thread as well.