Noise Cancelling Headphones

[Alanslegal]

I'm a QC15 owner here. Bought for US$299 whilst stateside last year .... and no taxes too (well in Anchorage, AK).

 

[pshepvic]

I'm a QC15 owner here. Bought for US$299 whilst stateside last year .... and no taxes too (well in Anchorage, AK).

Same here. Also no tax in Oregon and Maine.

They are awesome but I agree you can't sleep with them on. I just use a decent set of ear plugs for sleeping though.

 

[TonyHancock]

Just as a related addition to this thread, I had a problem with my Bose QC3 headphones on my return flight from the UK recently. I lost sound in the left ear piece.

The headphones are 18 months old. After a phone call to Bose I returned the set for repair. They were replaced free of charge and dispatched the same day they were received at the Bose service centre. Exceptional customer service.

 

[eosphoros]

Shure user here using the SE535's. Sound quality is first class, as is the small size and the noise blocking capabilities. Would not recommend anything else. A bit on the expensive side though.

 

[rechoboam]

Denon have good canceling but also superb sound quality for classical or jazz. AAA battery too. Much better sound than BOSE.

 

[Alanslegal]

Been a QC15 owner for 12 months now and they are great .... however the style is boring and too business-like. Anyway sooooo I am thinking of moving on and getting a getting a pair of Beats by Dr Dre and Monster ... some examples: Beats by Dr. Dre

Thinking of the Pro model, so has anyone used? own a pair of these?

 

[Robert K]

Been a QC15 owner for 12 months now and they are great .... however the style is boring and too business-like. Anyway sooooo I am thinking of moving on and getting a getting a pair of Beats by Dr Dre and Monster ... some examples: Beats by Dr. Dre

Thinking of the Pro model, so has anyone used? own a pair of these?

got a pair of dr dre's for christmas. i've used them 1 once. They look a little wanky. Great for WPs.:mrgreen:

And depends on what kind of music you listen to. Dr Dres are very heavy on the bass. not great for audiobooks or classical music.

Will most likely disappoint if you are moving from a QC15.

http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones/...7_7-34210289.html?tag=mncol;lst;1#reviewPage1

 

[Justchecking]

I have the ultimate ears noise isolating buds, 200, for $40 they are value for money. They come with 5 sets of silicone buds for perfect fit and are great at blocking external noise. I used them on the train the other day, listening to a voice recording and could not hear the 6yr olds acting like feral cats in the seat next to me at all. It was bliss. For the budget conscious these are a great buy. I am not bothered by engine drones so decided that noise canceling wasn't what I was looking for. All I really wanted was to block external chatter of other people so I can enjoy music etc. for that you need a physical sound barrier, which is where good fitting earbuds come into their own. The sound quality on these earbuds is excellent for the price. The only drawback is the somewhat short cord length, but the next model up has a longer cord for $20 more.

 

[Flashback]

Have aset of Audio Technica: ATH-ANC7b on order from Headphonic paid $199 delivered, see how they go.

I've had a pair of ATH-ANC7 for 2 or 3 years now. You won't be disappointed

I had a pair and after about 18 months they would intermittently work. New batteries, etc. Sometimes they would power on the NC function, sometimes they wouldn't. If I left them for a few months then tried again, they'd work, but shortly thereafter fail again.

They're now sitting in the bin as no suppliers would offer suggestions on a place to repair.

 

[rocketaus]

Have a set of Audio Technica: ATH-ANC7b on order from (link removed) paid $199 delivered, see how they go.

MY NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES OF CHOICE! I carry these as well as a set of Shure in-ear noise isolation headphones. For most of the time I use the Audio Technica to listen to movies and music, but the in ear models are great for a change and especially if trying to sleep.

I have owned and tried a number of different headphones over the years. I use to work in the audio visual industry and therefore was given many different ones to test and review. Sound (like TV picture) are all relative i.e. you can only compare to what you are use to and how well your ears/eyes have been trained. Many people think the free headphones provided sound good. A friend of mine recently purchased a really cheap and nasty flat screen TV and pronounced to me that the picture and sound was "AMAZING" and it was compared to his 20 year old CRT mono TV ;-)

• The sound of the Sennheiser's are great, but I found the large over ear models uncomfortable on long haul flights.
• I've never tried a set of Shure's that I didn't think were comfortable and all sounded good.
• The Dr. Dre's I tried sounded good, but were a bit bulky and heavy (also might be a bit loud for some)
• The Bose over ear have good sound and noise cancelling, but a bit overpriced for my liking. The QC15 were the last ones I tested and was very impressed.
• The Audio Technica ATH-ANC7b are great bang for your buck! They sound good, the noise cancelling works very well and are comfortable on long flights. The only negative is that they leak a little sound when turned up high, but no one sitting next to me has complained

What I can say is that noise cancelling headphones make a flight significantly more comfortable and I would even go as far as saying that I arrive less fatigued when using them.

 

[SenZubEanS]

Sennheiser CX-300 mkII treat me pretty well. I am a big fan of Sennheiser audio products.

 

[TonyHancock]

I've just purchased a pair of Etymotic hf3 earphones to try out on my shorter trips. The range of ear buds is pretty good, and there is an option to have custom made ear buds.

 

[p9c]

Currently using the ultimate ears 220vi (passive noise isolating)
which doubles as a spare mobile headset when I need.

Not top of the range but does a good isolating job and the sound is great.

Bose QC headphones are bulky and less comfortable when sleeping than good in ear earphones. However, the Bose QC15's are outstandingly excellent for listening to music or watching a movie (whether in flight or on one's own mp4 player). I've tried various Shures, Sonys and Sennheisers but to my taste, none match the Bose experience.

 

[mannej]

I have a set of LPE-880NNC, and I must say that they are pretty useless

 

[Matt P]

I do wish someone could bring out some good bluetooth headphones (with built in mic) that were noise blocking. The Jaybird headphones are woeful and the Backbeat's are only marginally better

have you tried the Nokia BH-905's? You can pick them up rather cheap these days.

I've got sennheiser pxc-250's. The battery pack on the cord is a bit of a pain in the cough at times, but theyre nice headphones

 

[martynking]

My choice was the Sennheiser PXC450 from memory.

I have tended to use my CX300-II instead (in ear no noise cancelling).

The NC set are a bit bulky but fold down into a carry case.

Takes 1xAAA battery in each earcup for the electronics.

Worked well but like I said became a bit big to pack & unpack on short SYD-MEL or SYD-BNE hops.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I love my QC15's, most effective.

 

[Deathifier]

After some trips without my own headphones and then quite a lot of research (including some older posts here) I settled on Klipsch ProMedia Gaming In-ear phones.

They worked great on the two QF A380 flights I've had since purchasing them, although it did lead to the discovery that cabin announcements come through at 4-5x the volume you have set, much to the annoyance of my eardrums...

Price wise they roam around just under the AUD$100 mark, the audio quality is good (esp. if you can get a nice seal, and they come with a few earbud options), they plug straight in to mobiles with a 3.5mm jack, have quite a good mic and come with a splitter cable so you can plug them in to your PC/Laptop and use them for VOIP.

The only thing it is missing is an in-line volume control, although so far I haven't found that to be a problem.

It's replaced three other headsets I used to use and they worked so well on the flight that with some quiet music coming through I could barely hear the engine noise let alone the people talking nearby (or trying to serve food).

Specific models aside I find the in-ear types are much more comfy for sleeping with and in "earplug mode" with no audio coming through they do a fine job of making the world quieter without any power requirements.

- Deathifier

 

[futurism]

They worked great on the two QF A380 flights I've had since purchasing them, although it did lead to the discovery that cabin announcements come through at 4-5x the volume you have set, much to the annoyance of my eardrums...

Indeed, I think I have suffered permanent hearing damage from this before
I could barely hear the movie, and there was turbulence on and off throughout it with many announcements

its a matter of detecting the picture pausing in the movie and immediately ripping them out of your ears
but then you get the flight attendants who press the mic button then think about what they are going to say, then they release the button to think about it some more

 

[Flashback]

I bought a pair of Ultimate Ears the other day to see how they perform and I just can't get them to stay in my ears, or if they do, to be well positioned so that I get the proper sound/bass etc.

Does anyone have recommendations in how I work out which size cup on them I should use and how they should be positioned? e.g. do you try to ram them into your ear or should they just lightly be sitting there, etc!?