Noise Cancelling Earphones

prowla

As an alternative, you can buy the Etymotic in-ear ones; they are more ear plugs with sound than active noise cancelling ones, but they really do sound excellent!

gjchester

Another vote for Bose. Not cheap, but very good and comfortable, I've worn mine for a 8 hour flight without any discomfort. I've also got some Aiwa ones, they are OK but the Bose beat them hands down, but then the Bose were 10x the price of the Aiwa's...

googler

The money-saving approach is to use any decent pair of in-ear earphones - the type that fit into the ear canal - and place over them a pair of industrial or DIY ear defenders, such as you would get from B&Q or tool supply stores such as Screwfix.

This allows you to spend the money where it really matters - on getting good quality earphones.

Further money saving from this solution not requiring batteries (the noise-cancelling phones will)

rustyboy21

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I assumed the OP meant headphones as they said "over ear".

I've been using a pair that I got from 7dayshop for the last couple of years. They cost £20 at the time and they work well enough. The price has now doubled though.

7dayshop AERO 7 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones

The same 'phones are still available for around £20 from other sources under the Brand name "Panther". I bought another pair for my wife a month or so ago because she was so impressed with mine.

I have Bose ones that I have had for 5 years and they are absolutely brilliant, even just switching them on without any music playing whilst on board, takes away all the drum of the engines.


I bought a pair of these too the other month and they seem fine too, but the only issue I had with them, where that they felt a little tight on the head after a while ( pressure)


OP if you want to try small them try the 7 day shop ones, then if you find them ok, Bose is the way to go.

paddyrg

Just to set expectations, though, the headphones will reduce, not eliminate certain classes of noise. Quite good at attenuating long low drones, so planes and trains is where they're useful, as you can put your volume down on the entertainment/tablet/laptop and fell a bit less fraught when you arrive. The most effective sets have good passive as well as active attenuation - big over ear cups with tight clamping pressure - but they may be less comfortable for domestic/casual use. The sets used by pilots tend to be like this, though - you get to hear the radio with it turned up less, so respond more quietly and evenly, relieving stresses.

I've used top end professional sennheiser ones and cheaper 7dayshop ones, the Sennheisers are certainly better but heavy and power hungry, and the 7dayshop ones are actually very good for the money. Bose etc., after a certain point you're chasing pretty marginal improvements at dramatically increasing costs.

irishjohn

Thanks everyone
I do mean the over ear headphones as I find the ordinary in earplugs quite uncomfortable and maybe its the shape of my inner ear but they seem to pop out easily and frequently.

I did try the Bose ones last month at the airport and was impressed both by the noise reduction (not elimination) and the comfort but there was a hesitation about spending quite so much.

I have decided to try a budget option first and gone for these
http://www.whathifi.com/goldring/ns-1000-noise-cancelling/review

I found them on Amazon and Richer Sounds for £70. I also decided on reading reviews that for use with my tablet I may also benefit from a headphone amplifier so I spent another £20 on this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005HJWWW8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

As I am no audiophile all I am hoping for is to achieve an acceptable level of sound with minimal background humming while enduring long flights about 4 or 5 times a year. If this does not meet my needs then I will spoil myself with Bose!!

Thanks again to you all - great feedback for me

Cardew

Flying frequently to the USA, I bought a pair of over ear head phones that were quite effective and were recommended in an USA comparison test.

A couple of years after I bought them American Airlines started issuing Bose head sets to First/Business class passengers* on long haul international flights so I had a chance to 'back to back' compare with Bose with my headphones - and Bose were in a different class.

* As this is a Money Saving forum I should point out that I always upgraded as a 'elite' frequent flyer using air-miles. I can't think of any thing that is worse value for money than a paid for first class ticket - £thousands for a few hours.

Moneymaker

A £10 pair of "EARPH01 earphones" works for me. They fit comfortably inside my ears and work as well as the best pair of earplugs. Obviously not for the OP but recommended for money savers!

John_Gray

Cardew wrote: »

A couple of years after I bought them American Airlines started issuing Bose head sets to First/Business class passengers* on long haul international flights so I had a chance to 'back to back' compare with Bose with my headphones - and Bose were in a different class.

Meaning that the Bose headphones were considerably worse, or (more probably) considerably better?

What was the relative cost?

Cardew

Yes, Bose were much better.


Mine are an earlier version of these:


http://www.earplugstore.com/plane-quiet-platinum2.html


I seem to recall that mine were then about $100