Looking cheap corded headphones for office work

[davidcafor]

Hi!

As the remote working continues and it seems to be with us for a long time I'm planning to buy a headset or headphones for the daily office routine. Over ear, corded and with good sound quality.
Main use will be listening to music/podcasts and isolate myself from office noise. Mic for Zoom calls will be a must.

I know there's a lot of high quality headsets like Sony x3-4 ... Bose or Airpods Max... but my price range would be around € 100. I suppose for that amount of money I could get a good pair of headphones so what would you recomend?

 

[MevetS]

I have an earlier version of these: https://gradolabs.com/headphones/prestige-series/item/2-sr60e

I've had them for over 15 years and are quite happy with them. The one issue is that there is no Mic attached. I use my laptop (work laptop) or web cam (personal Mac) mic when needed.

Around US$80, although they seem to be out of stock at the places I checked. The next step up, SR80e, areUS$100. These appear to be in stock

Good luck in your search.

 

[BrianBaughn]

You didn't say what Mac you have. Laptops beyond a certain year don't have a microphone input so you'd be looking for a compatible USB-connected set. That might be the way to go even on a Mac with a mic input.

I have a USB, over-ear, gaming set that work well and actually sound pretty good. Not as good as my $200 Beyerdynamics…but good. The ones I got are discontinued but these are the new version:

SADES SA902 7.1 USB Surround Sound PC Headsets Over-Ear Gaming Headphones with Microphone LED Light

SADES SA902 7.1 USB Surround Sound PC Headsets Over-Ear Gaming Headphones with Microphone LED Light

www.amazon.com

 

[davidcafor]

I will use with a Mac Mini... so I prefer 3.5jack instead of usb. I thought about buying a gaming headset but all of them looks very "gaming" with colors, extreme designs, etc... I'm looking for something more formal.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I will use with a Mac Mini... so I prefer 3.5jack instead of usb. I thought about buying a gaming headset but all of them looks very "gaming" with colors, extreme designs, etc... I'm looking for something more formal.

I was going to say that I don't think I'd want to be on a zoom call with those!

JBL makes some more professional-looking sets at various prices.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

I have an earlier version of these: https://gradolabs.com/headphones/prestige-series/item/2-sr60e

I've had them for over 15 years and are quite happy with them. The one issue is that there is no Mic attached. I use my laptop (work laptop) or web cam (personal Mac) mic when needed.

Around US$80, although they seem to be out of stock at the places I checked. The next step up, SR80e, areUS$100. These appear to be in stock

Good luck in your search.

The Grado SR series headphones are an open-air design meaning some of the audio can be heard by others nearby. While that might be fine in a private setting, it may be less desirable in an office setting.

Like MevetS, I have an old version of the Grado SR-60s (the non "e" version).

The Grado SR-60 and SR-80 cans are designed primarily for listening to music. As an open-air design, the Grados will also provide less passive noise reduction than a closed-air design. For the OP's intended usage case, the Grados do not appear to be the ideal choice to tick all his boxes.

I also have a pair of wired Bose QuietComfort QC25 headphones. They tick off all of the OP's requirements -- including microphone -- except for price.

If you want something less bulky for Zoom calls, you could always use the old wired Apple EarPods (the ones that Apple included with iPhones and iPod touches for years and years). I probably have 5-6 sets in various drawers and cabinets so the cost would be zero dollars.

For gaming, I just picked up a pair of Razer Blackshark V2 headphones (with a 7.1 USB DAC) at the discounted price of US$80 from Best Buy. As a pair of gaming headphones, this model features some noise cancellation features for the microphone (which is removable).

I had the Blackshark cans on a couple of wishlists for a few months and when Best Buy knocked down them 20% I quickly pulled the trigger.

A lot of the streamers wear gaming headphones so the appearance is less odd to Millennials (which is not my generation).

 

[tyc0746]

I bought a 'gaming' pair, as the comfortable 'business' ones were over-priced for what they offered. The company gives us some cheap Plantronics ones, but they become uncomfortable after an hour of use.

I ended up with the Sennheiser GSP302 as they're all black, will no lighting, so don't look that 'gamey' (you can simply move the mic up & down to mute/unmute), and are very comfortable...even on 4-hour budget calls.

They have connectors for combined or separate audio/mic inputs (includes an adapter).

If you can find them on offer (best ever price I've seen them for is about £100 during one of Amazon's special offers in November), then the Bose QuietComfort 25 are great, as they also include noise cancelling. So are really helpful in a busy office. You have to be careful which version you buy though, as one set is made for Apple/iOS the other is made for Android. To ensure it works in a normal PC/Mac headphone socket you have to buy the Android version (apple iOS devices have the mic pin in a different place to everyone else...because Apple).