Noise Cancelling Headphones - Hype or any good?

fatnbald

Hi

Has any of you people out there any experience of noise cancelling headphones, particularly with regard to their use on planes.

I have to do long plane journeys for my job and was wondering if these do what they claim on the box?

Interested in the BOSE Quietcomfort range and the Panasonic versions I have seen around but any other recommendations and your experiences would be much appreciated.

AJ

Sheel

Bought THESE for my husband and he used them on our last long haul holiday and said they were excellent

wolfman

I personally avoid Bose products. They often look very nice, but performance in relation to price often isn't great.

Isolation plugs do work to a certain extent. They sit deep with in your ear, although because of this will magnify things such as chewing. It's probably worth trying a pair yourself to see if you like that style of headphone.

With regards to isolation plugs, the Sony MDR-EX71SLB (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MDR-EX71SLB-Fontopia-Headphones-Black/dp/B00008XYJL/sr=8-1/qid=1167355176/ref=pd_ka_1/202-9212968-9438248?ie=UTF8&s=electronics) are generally quite good. I owned a white pair a while back and did suffer the wire peeling problem as mentioned in some reviews on Amazon. At which point I swore never to buy another Sony pair again as they only lasted me 7 months (of intense use though). Unfortunately I was bought another set for a present. These have actually been ok, and the wire coating is different from before (in a better sense). As far as sound quality is concerned, for £20 they are very good. I'll have to wait and see how they hold up regarding build quality. Also one annoying factor. The headphone cable is too short in length (reaches my chest), yet using the included extension it becomes far too long in length.

I personally like the Sennheiser CX300's that are £25 on Amazon.

And if you want to spend a little more the Shure E2C's are very good at around £45.


You may also want to consider a larger style of headphone. A circumaural style (one that cups over the ear rather than sits on it). If so I'd highly recommend the Grado SR 60's. You should be able to pick a pair up for around £70, but they're worth ever penny. Has been a favourite for audiophiles (and magazines) for years. Probably the best choice with regards to sound quality, and comfort to a certain extent (wearing isolation plugs can getting annoying after a while). They're obviously larger though, which may or may not suit you.

OverlandLandy

I bought some from Maplin when they were 1/2 price.....I was a bit sceptical.....now I use them whenever I travel. Now its Oh So Quiet....:shhh:

h4x3r

get Sennheiser CX300 ull love erm i love them 2

Avoriaz

A friend of mine has a set and says good things about them but I have no personal experience.

Have you tried ordinary earplugs?

You could try in ear phones and play music all the time. That would drown out most background noise.

I have a pair of the in ear Shure E2C's mentioned above and they do mask most eternal noise even when not playing music. They do take some getting used to as they sit quite deep in the ear canal.

I also have a pair of the Grado SR 60s mentioned by wolfman. They are fantastic headphones for music but I don’t often wear them outside as they are quite bulky and heavy. I use Sennheiser PX 100 or the Shure E2Cs when away from home.

thefirs

OverlandLandy wrote:

I bought some from Maplin when they were 1/2 price.....I was a bit sceptical.....now I use them whenever I travel. Now its Oh So Quiet....:shhh:

I too bought these for £15, and Maplin seem to regularly drop them to this level.

I am a regular traveller through the Channel Tunnel and they are ideal for the length of journey involved in conditions of moderate constant noise. The frequency response will not of course match the performance of the higher-end models and there is a little background noise (you wouldn't detect it in conditions of other ambient noise) introduced by the necessarily budget electronics of this set.

For that price, a real bargain.

wolfman

Avoriaz wrote:

I also have a pair of the Grado SR 60s mentioned by wolfman. They are fantastic headphones for music but I don’t often wear them outside as they are quite bulky and heavy. I use Sennheiser PX 100 or the Shure E2Cs when away from home.

Yeah, I only really mentioned them for on the plane they possibly could be feasible. Not so much for on the move though.

Ah, I've got a pair of PX100's too. Excellent value and sound quality for a good price. Not really noise cancelling (supra-aural design so they sit on the ear rather than around it), but still worth considering. Just turn up the volume, although they do cause quite a bit of noise polution so you may annoy others (and you can't listen to embarrassing music without others knowing). Preferable to the more expensive PX200/250's too.

What kind of budget were you thinking of?

chartreuse_2

I've used the Shure EC2s and Bose QC 1, 2 and 3. Only bought the EC2s and QC3s.

The EC2s were the cheapest, but the QC3s are lovely. They cut out ambient noise (eg the background drone on an aeroplane) but allow you to hear announcements, questions from flight attendants (Chicken or beef?) etc.

IMHO the QC3s are a great improvement on earlier models as they're small enough to allow you to snooze without jabbing you in the side of the neck.

You might consider buying them in the USA if you're over there though, as they're £275 in the UK but I paid $379 inc sales tax in WA, which came to £197 at the time on my cc.

fatnbald

Thanks for the responses.

I find most things that go in the ear uncomfortable for long term use so the ear plug, bud phones are not my thing.

I have tried a friends pair of the new Bose QC 3 and they were pretty amazing, although that was in his lounge and not in any sort of noisy environment so not really a test of the noise cancelling.
The ability to have crystal clear sound at low volume levels was very impressive, the £275 or so price tag is not so impressive. Although they were light and extremely comfortable for the short period I tried them.

I was interested in you comments on how the cheaper alternatives compared thanks for the imput.

OverlandLandy

The ones I have are 'Pro-luxe NC-4'.

The good thing about them was that they fold down and easily fit in your pocket or laptop bag.

Maplin dont appear to stock them now - But Radioworld do:

http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/catalog/bnewb-fujikon-proluxe-noise-cancelling-stereo-headpho-p-3807.html?osCsid=9bd1e32394b8bac842b72bef9aac37ea


I have used mine for around 2 years now and always take them with me when flying. It is one gadget that i do actually use