Mkay, so I have a legit question that I haven’t seen people talk about much or consider. But alot of people spend 2-3k on a closed back headphone for the purpose of having a closed back (isolating noise from outside). I don’t live in a noisy household whatsoever but as time passed I’ve definetly paid more attention and realized the general noise floor that exists in my house from electronics being on, the air conditioner which is always on due to where we live, people watching tv on the other room, etc etc. So my question is, instead of searching for good close back headphones would there be a way to soundproof one section very well to lower or get rid of the noise where it would make sense?
https://www.alibaba.com/pla/Soundproof-Piano-Booth-Acoustic-Insulation-Room_1600067039863.html?mark=google_shopping&biz=pla&searchText=Commercial+Furniture&product_id=1600067039863&seo=1
For example I had found this and multiple other booths, I’m not knowledgeable enough to know if these mostly focus on keeping sound in vs out but I have to assume they would be decent at both. It may seem crazy, but idk it seems logical if you want to maximize your listening and feel that outside noise has been a factor that keeps on kind of messing with your sessions. I’m not saying that it’s noisy to where I can’t enjoy my sessions, but what i’m saying is that instead of upgrading this or that I think I can squeeze out much more juice from stuff like minimizing the noise floor in the room and other temperature related things such as when nickmimi replaced his fan for one that’s less noisy etc etc. Don’t know if anyone has other ideas on how to kill the sound of a room specifically to have headphone sessions be quieter.
I’m not sure how practical booths are for most closed back replacements.
A lot of the people I see looking at closed backs are trying to keep the noise in not out, or minimally can’t control where the environment they listen In is, I use mine when I’m in the same room as my wife, and a lot of people use them in shared spaces and don’t want to disturb the people around them, or at least can’t just relocate.
Having said that my audiologists office has a phone booth sized room for hearing tests that’s as dead and quiet as any room I’ve heard outside actual anechoic chambers, and as far as I can tell from sitting in it, it’s just double glazed glass and a lot of foam.
That’s fair, yeah I know that alot of people would always say that what matters to them is that the headphone dosen’t leak much sound. Although in my case I would just kind of use an IEM for that. The reason i’m wondering on how possible it would be is because It would be neat to have a perfectly quiet space to use open back in and maximize it.
yeah see, ill have to look into stuff like that. Or maybe just a way to quiet down the room noise but I would like to eventually, ideally be able to fully remove all the outside noise some way. It’s not for speakers so I actually don’t mind the idea of killing the sound in the room anyways as well.
disclaimer: This is just info I’ve gathered out of personal interest of acoustics and noise. No personal experience, and I could be wrong…
I’m thinking it may depend on what frequency (rate) and amplitude (level) the noise is around you. From what I’ve gathered, treatment and noise are similar but dealt with entirely differently. So I don’t think it’s ideal to use the methodology of one for the other, as one deals with airborne (treatment) and the other vibrational (noise). So from what I’ve seen online the most effective way to attenuate as much noise is to measure, design, then build. Measure by doing a noise study for 1 to 2 weeks via app to gather data about the mins and max of the surrounding noise around you. Design with the appropriate materials in mind. Then build using the barrier method. And as you’d expect dealing with noise is probably expensive. Hopefully there was something useful in there. lol
Only reason I need closed back is for late night listening so I don’t disturb my wife. So I’m the problem as far as she’s concerned. lol
That said, acoustic treatment panels work both ways and I noticed that when I put up my 7 panels in a 9.5 X 11.5 foot room it helped to keep the ambient level city noise out.
My computer is in the same room that others watch/fall asleep watching tv in. They do it pretty loud to the point my mic will cancel out my voice instead of the tv in the back. For example on the same tv i have a volume of 8-10, theyre at 40-50.
I havent had closed backs on the pc in a long time but i have been thinking if there are acoustic curtains that would make a big enough dent in the sound travel across the room.
Thank you very much my dudes, I hadn’t given it much consideration but based on what you guys have said it does seem like getting some acoustic materials in the room specifically designed to absorb some sound etc would help lower the general noise level in the room. And that’s a big start, I think that will be my next project (as soon as I buy an IEM that is, that’s been something i’ve been keeping as my next goal), I really liked your idea @hifiDJ about getting an app to measure the sound etc and see what works with that. I know that a forum member had contacted one of those companies to talk about what could be done to lower the noise level in their room etc, I think that might be a good idea too, reaching out to some experts about exactly how to do it. While the original intent was possibly buying a sound booth (lol) I think that modifying the room with acoustic treatment if done correctly (measuring etc etc) I should be able to get the desired result I want. Again, thankfully the whole thing isn’t that I’m trying to avoid sound leaking to not annoy someone but instead i’m trying to maximize my system by focusing on the experience.
Along with the thread about things that you have learned getting into hifi, one of the other things i’ve learned (besides mood, listening at AM or PM and it being better because of noise etc) is that where I live (in the desert) due to the temperature sometimes i’ve had meh sessions because my body felt physically uncomfortable and my cushy seat didn’t help lol. So i’m also going to probably make that room less hot one way or another, removing cushions etc idk. We will see Feel like i’ve hit another stride in my audio journey in terms of knowing what I like, what I need and not to mention that my spending has gotten super under control for what I would personally consider to be rational in spending with audio.
Also I have quite a few of electronics in that room besides the audio stuff, think i’ll work as well to minimize that.
Just to clarify, I wasn’t implying to use treatment for noise. The treatment will probably attenuate some frequencies to a certain degree but I don’t think it will be very effective at actually stopping noise (ie. garbage trucks, ambulances, cars passing by). I suppose if you dedicate yourself to listening at night and your environment isn’t so noisy, then it wouldn’t be much of a problem. But ideally, you’d likely want to separate treating a room from treating for noise since both have separate requirements.
I have some broadband absorbers in my room and, no, they do not stop any noise from coming in. Some mid to high frequencies may be attenuated but they honestly don’t do anything for noise from what I’m hearing (for reference they are gik panels… the deepest ones they have).
Since my room is small, I usually leave the ac running for a while then once the room is cooler, I just turn it off when I listen to music, and you’ll have a cool room that way.
yeah see, ill have to look into stuff like that. Or maybe just a way to quiet down the room noise but I would like to eventually, ideally be able to fully remove all the outside noise some way. It’s not for speakers so I actually don’t mind the idea of killing the sound in the room anyways as well.
Feel like i’ve hit another stride in my audio journey in terms of knowing what I like, what I need and not to mention that my spending has gotten super under control for what I would personally consider to be rational in spending with audio.