I've used a set of Bose Quiet Comfort II headphones for about 7 or 8 years now when mowing on my ZTR diesel Grasshopper mowers. I liked them so well that, after blowing a couple hundred bucks on other cheaper brands, I bought my wife a set as well several years ago. They have at least as many hours of use on them as my Grasshopper mowers because they are pretty well standard equipment for us when we mow. The one time I mowed without them when I bought my first Grasshopper I noticed that my ears were ringing a bit after I mowed for about 6 hours. I've heard several times that if your ears ring afterwords, it's too loud.
None of the cheaper setups worked well or were as comfortable. That makes the Bose QC2 headphones not really that expensive when they work well and last so long. My older Grasshopper has something like 1600 or 1800 hours on it and the headphones have been in use just about that entire time besides other normal use. After trying so many others, including "WorkTunes", I wouldn't consider anything else now.