If you want headphones for noisy environments, I’d highly encourage people to consider in-canal models. They block sound the same way good foam or silicone earplugs do. You can buy in-canal Shures or Etymotics for $100 with outstanding audio isolation and high fidelity. You can also listen at much lower and safer volumes, as the sealed design reduces ambient noise in the 15-25dB range, depending on model and fit. Thus, you can turn the volume way down and protect the precious hair cells on your cochlea.

I think The Gadgeteer site loses much credibility with reviews like this. A headphone review with a comment such as, “One of my personal pet peeves is when other people can hear my music when I have my headphones on… Unfortunately, I have yet to find headphones that avoid this problem. Although it sounds great at higher volumes, I would not recommend turning these headphone all the way up in a quite setting like a library.” My God, you’ll be deaf soon! Someone who’d write this is not qualified to review headphones. You should never turn headphones — particularly what are known as closed models like these — beyond their almost minimum volume setting. If you need to, you should not be listening to headphones in your current environment.