Budget noise isolating headphones with a noise canceling microphone.

I'm looking for some headphones (on/over ear) that will isolate noises and have noise canceling on the microphone (I realize noise canceling on the earphones is expensive and thus are out of budget)

Primary use will be with my laptop, to be used while studying and to enter my notes via Dragon Naturally Speaking.
I've been given a $55 (cad) to spend, i can top that up on my own, I've been looking at headphones in the $70 to $80 range. Wired is fine. Bluetooth and USB wireless is acceptable but it is not a feature I'm looking for.

I already have a pair of logitech h600 wireless, they work great for speech but they suck at drowning out other noise when I'm studying because they have foam earpads

Would prefer USB connection (I already have decent headphones for my phone)

Some of the ones I've looked at at bestbuy.ca and amazon.ca

• Razer Kracken USB - $80
• Plantronics Rig 500HD - $80
• Logitech h540 - $70 (looks cheap compared to the others, but also has the leather cups that help isolate sound)

I couldn't find anything by Sennheiser and Bose in my price range that met the requirements (noise canceling mic, noise isolating headphones, usb/bt connection).

I saw a lot of other brands in that price range but never heard of them so I'm leery about buying something that could be expensive to me junk, are there any others I should be looking at?

 

Don't buy a "gaming headset".

My #1 rule for audio gear... buy your audio gear from companies that make audio gear; not from companies that specialize in putting RGB lights on mice & keyboards.

Your top priorities seem to be noise isolation and convenience. For that, you should look into IEM (In-Ear Monitors) style of headphones. They do passive (vs. active) noise isolation, which is essentially using foam or rubber eartips to physically block out sound.

Some people might come in here trying to flex their audiophile muscles, and talk about things like clarity, soundstage, sound signature, etc. I'd honestly ignore all of that, because it doesn't apply to you. Right now, on a scale of 1-10, you're just asking how to get from a 2 --> 9. All of that type of audiophile discussion talks about how to go from a 9.0 --> 9.3. And as you'd expect, once you get to that level, you're talking major $$$.

For your purposes, I'd recommend the Xiaomi Piston. Basically, they wanted to make a pair of entry-level high-end headphones for the Asia market. But people don't spend $100 USD on headphones in Asia. It just doesn't happen. So they made a pair of nice headphones, and just priced it at $25 instead. Because that's what the market will bear for entry-level high-end headphones.



The Xiaomi Pistons are one of the best-known little "tricks" among headphone geeks. These $25 headphones rival $100 headphones in audio quality. Be sure to buy them around ~$20-$30. If you see anything way cheaper than that (e.g. $10), then don't buy those.

They come with rubber eartips, which do a decent job at noise isolation. But if you need more than that, get some Comply foam eartips. Using IEM-style headphones with foam eartips is the best noise isolation you can find on the market.

 

FYI, if you want to see some "reviews" of Xiaomi Piston headphones, check this out. If you aren't familiar, head-fi.org is pretty much the internet forum you go to if you're a giant headphone geek like me.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/xiaomi-mi-hybrid-pro-hd.22085/reviews

 

@kent1146
Any ideas for under 45$ in-ear ones(or under 2700-2800 inr you can refer amazon.in )?
Want for on-the-go use
already got an ATH M-30X for home uses

 

Xiaomi Piston series. It's in my post.

And again, spend $20-$30 USD on these. If you are spending under $20 USD, you're buying a counterfeit.

 

The Xiaomi Hybrid is really good. I use it as my daily IEM.

 

I bought Beyerdynamic Byron wired

 

I wasn't able to find them in India(xiaomi) till now (I've found it now)
I can still cancel my order to buy xiaomi pistons

 

What do you guys think of something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WD1DQY2/?tag=water103-20

Is a wireless system always worse?

 

@kent1146 thanks for the response, not a fan of in ear buds, have some already.
I've re-evaluated the brands, dropping Razer from the list, considering some Koss SB45 as a lower budget item, though I notice the s

I hear what you're saying about not getting a headset from a company that specializes in mice/keyboards/joysticks, which is why I'm still considering the plantronics.

 

There are playback limitations with bluetooth (and even usb 2.4ghz wireless).