Closed back headphone isolation

[6speed]

I have been using open back Sennheisers forever, and am now wondering if it's possible to switch to something like the Aeon RT and have someone next to me not hear any music bleeding through. How much isolation do closed back headphones really offer?

 

[maverickronin]

I have been using open back Sennheisers forever, and am now wondering if it's possible to switch to something like the Aeon RT and have someone next to me not hear any music bleeding through. How much isolation do closed back headphones really offer?

It varies greatly from headphone to headphone. The Aeon series have excellent isolation and very little leakage. On the other end of the spectrum, the Denon/Fostex/Massdrop/E-Mu woodies look closed but have less isolation and more leakage than some open headphones.

You check this compilation of Tyll's old graphs for the Aeons in particular.

Rtings also make separate isolation and leakage measurements.

 

[6speed]

Thanks for the info. I would have expected closed-back headphones without active noise cancellation to have their isolation and leakage graphs track each other, but that's not the case, and the discrepancy seems to vary between models. The Aeons seem to have average isolation <1kHz and exceptional isolation >1kHz, so it stands to reason their leakage should be low for an over the ear design.