Which ones should I buy and why?

Those ones in the ad that’s just popped up over there! >

😯

A mate’s got some ‘Beats’ ones that sound really good, dunno if they’re noise cancelling though.

And please don’t wear NC earphones on a busy towpath where it’s likely you’ll encounter cyclists, cos you won’t be able to hear their bells, and have to be pushed into the canal when you don’t flipping move out of the way after the person has bin patiently tinging for the last three minutes YEAH DON’T GIVE IT ALL THAT BUNNY NEXT TIME YOU’RE GOING IN YOU IDIOT!

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And breathe….

Bose.

The big quiet comfort over the head model. Simply wonderful and worth every penny.

Bose are undoubtably the best but are expensive for what they are. Some of the Sennheisers are quite effective and cheaper which makes it less painful if you tend to leave things on planes when landing in some far-flung place at a ridiculous time in the morning with no sleep; I currently have some PXC250s which work well and I won’t cry too much when I lose them.

Bose = flabby Uhmerikun bass sound if you like that sort of thing IME.

I have a lovely pair of sennheiser closed back DJ types.

I recently got some Philips/Specked “robust” in-ear models which are lasting well (normal ones lasted me 6 months before dying). Get some thick buds and you’ll be in silence before the Mrs can say “WTF is that mud on the carpet?”

I picked up a canny set from Jamo a while back, new on eBay for £20. Not the last word in hi fidelity but it’s always nice switching them on and hearing all the ambient noise disappear.

Are you sure it’s mud, Al?

I’ve got some Audio-technica ATH-ANC7b and they are really nice. I use them most days in the office and every time I fly 🙂

Thanks, all. Some food for thought. Already have in ear noise-isolation ones, but am after some active noise cancellers, like the Bose, Seinheiser (spl?) ones. Those Audio Technica look a nice cheap alternative, though.

Sound quality? Well, it’s not like I’m after hifi buff levels of sound, just something that makes a flight a lot quieter and lets me listen/watch in peace.

so i own

Shure in-ear headphones
Bose NC-15
Sennheiser 250 II

i’ve even used them all on the same flight, so good grounds for comparison..

The bose are by far and away the best. By a country mile. The Shures and the sennheisers are pretty similar, but the bose are almost completely silent. I haven’t tried the sennheiser around-the-ear phones, I’d expect them to be as good as the Bose, but the 250s are too small to effectively block the noise.

People complain about the audio quality, but frankly, they sound ‘good’. I’m not saying they sound accurate (I have Grado 80s at home for listening to music), but they have a nice sound, very warm and lots of impact. They sound better than anything else on a plane as they block all other noise out.

so, get the bose. I paid £230 at dixons duty free in the airport. The one disadvantage is the music won’t work if the battery dies, so make sure you take a spare

What you need on a ‘plane, flashy, are some green ones, so’s you can pretend to be pilot!

What? It’s only a bit of fun oh why does everyone have to be so mean and nasty?

😥

(Runs off sobbing)

I don’t like ‘active’ noise cancelling headphones. They always sound odd to me and they need a power supply. Having said that they sound odd, the Bose ones on the plane are OK. I much prefer sound blocking earphones. Sometimes called “In Ear Monitors”. Shure, Etymotic, Westone, Ultimate Ears and JH Audio + others make them at varying price points. I don’t travel anywhere without my old UE10Pros.

Depends on the usage. If you’re using them in an environment with high-frequency noise (bakerloo line for example) then active ones start to fall down.

Ear-canal types like shure and ultimate ears give good enough isolation (~30dB with foam tips) and I find them comfortable enough to wear for a long haul flight.

I have the Bose, I bought my mum the Sennheiser

The Sennheisers work without a battery, the Bose do not.

The music quality is better through the Sennheisers, the noise cancellation is better on the Bose, which means in noisy environments you hear the music better.

The Bose are a lot more comfy

If buying a new pair I would buy the Bose again and not the Sennheiser. The Bose sound cancellation is the best I have heard

The best bet is just to go and try some out, one persons headphones may sound great to them but crap to an others.

Not convinced by active noise cancelling, it just seems overly complicated a solution to a problem that’s easily sorted by passive means, like good quality, well-fitted canalphones, like UE SuperFi 3 Studio, or TripleFi 10, or Shure SE215’s, with triple-flange eartips, or even better, full custom eartips. I’ve been wearing mine as hearing protection in a noisy environment for several years, background noise of around 82dB, which is much louder than a plane is going to be. UE and Shure give -26dB attenuation, which is as good as CE rated earplugs. No extra power sources to have to worry about, or looking like a complete t1t wandering around with a pair of ‘cans’ on your head like a wannabe Ibeza club DJ.
My UE SuperFi 3 Studio’s cost around £35, and that’s with replaceable cables. My SE215’s were $99, + $45 for the additional remote control lead, and $9 for three sets of triple flange eartips, from earphonesolutions.com. They are quite exceptional, and very comfortable, and their low profile means you can sleep wearing them. That’s not an option with the UE’s, believe me.

three sets of triple flange eartips

SOLD! 🙂

Great advice here, folks. Thanks, really appreciated.

There was a similar thread to this a couple of weeks ago and following advice on here I got some Goldring NS1000 from Play.com for under 70 quid (which is a bargain considering they retail for $300 in the US and Canada!)

Granted, I’m not an audiophile but they sound superb to me!

and their low profile means you can sleep wearing them

This is a big practical point in favour of in-ear ones for me. With the expanding foam tips they’re almost as effective (with or without music) as ‘proper’ ear plugs and you can nod off whilst wearing them without them getting in the way or getting knocked off.

The other practical point is that they take up so little space. To me it’s a major objective to minimise the bulk and weight of stuff I’m carrying on business trips – all the active-cancelling types are pretty bulky.

the in-ear type were a very clear winner when the gadget show did their test of noise-cancelling phones…

i’m not entirely sure how you can measure how much noise they’re blocking unless you have a mic in your ear?

anyway, for me the bose work better than the shures, but I have old-ish shures so maybe that’s why. I can’t personally sleep on my side with either..

Well, after much resting, and thanks to the patirncr of the chap at Dixons in T5, I’ve just plumped for some Denon AH-NC800.

Half the price of the Boses, fold flatter, sound very good and block out just as much ambient noise as far as I could tell.

The money saved is going on some Etymotics, once I can find some in black.

Bought The Bose for my mrs as she’s flying to the states every other week just now and she doesn’t like in ear phones.
Personally don’t like active ones, prefer passive in ear, if any of you have them treat yourself to the comply foam tips makes a massive difference in comfort, sound quality and isolation really good value upgrade.
At the moment I’ve got Phonaks but tbh I’m trying to find an excuse to get myself another set of Shures, had the i4 (not sure if they’re called that here got mine in Chicago) but after 4 years of near constant use they finally fell apart and my cack handed soldering and epoxy skills couldn’t fix them. Might go all the way for 535s this time with the custom silicon ear moulds seem to be the best overall but bloody pricy…

Oh if anyone is going to get a pair of the Bose QCs don’t buy them in America, they are a lot cheaper there but that’s because you get a lot less stuff, most of the accessories you get in rest of world package especially the spare battery you don’t get in US bundle…