Headphones for commuting?

I take the train and then the subway to work. My headphones stay in a laptop bag I take with me. I prefer over-the-ear. Earbuds hurt my ears.

I'm not looking for sound quality because nothing sounds good on the subway so it honestly doesn't matter.

Maybe collapsible headphones? To fit in my bag better.

Anyone have recommendations on brand/model or style?

Just hold one of these on your shoulder and share the love:

Even better, have a friend following a few paces behind you holding it in front of him.

Just a suggestion, but you may also want to pose this question over on Tested. Seems like something they'd and some of their audience would have a pretty good grasp on.

@BoogieWithStu said:

Anyone have recommendations on brand/model or style?

Sennheiser. Most people will agree with me.

I use Bose QC15 over ear headphones. They are awesome.

Earbuds hurt my ears too, but in-ear plugs don't. I've been using €30,- Sennheisers (Street C2 or something like that) for years now. They block out most of the environmental sounds, and the quality (which does matter, even on the subway, since they block so much noise) is really good, especially given the price.

It'll take a little getting used too, but in-ears are great. I can highly recommend these.

I'd recommend good noise isolating earbuds.

Klipsch S2s are wonderful and inexpensive. Comfortable too.

Stay away from Bose, you are paying a premium for a name. And in my opinion boosted bass isn't worth that premium....

If you are looking into Bose stay away from the QC series because aside from the noise cancellation there really isn't much difference in sound from their noise isolation series (ie the one's in Australia at least that are $200 cheaper). Personally I've upgraded from those to the B&W P5's which the Tested guys have tested and found pretty awesome as well as the fact that they're the headphones on the bombcast a few weeks ago where everyone was making fun of Brad for buying. The only thing is they're pretty expensive... but worth it considering they're the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn, sound great and durable enough to just throw in your bag without a scratch (which is pretty much what I do whenever I reach my lectures).

I think for your situation though Sennheiser headphones are pretty much perfect for you. The HD 25-1 II are the best sounding/best price headphones they've got before you go into audiophile territory. The only thing is they get kinda tiring to wear after a few hours but they do sound better than the P5's. If you want good collapsible headphones the best our there in my opinion are the Sennheiser PX-100's and you literally can just throw them around and they wont break. They're pretty cheap as well and they sound pretty freaking amazing for the price you're paying. The good thing about Sennheiser though is that you can easily find them in stores and test them out so you might want to do that if you don't want to take my word for it.

There are some good sites like head-fi.org which has a community dedicated to this kinda stuff so you should check it out. The reviews section is also pretty good so if I were you I wouldn't hesitate to check it out :P

Koss Portapro

@oatz said:

Koss Portapro

I second these! They're very cheap and easy to replace, and they also have very good sound quality for the price.