I’ve got a long haul trip coming up so am considering a new pair of ‘phones. Are the noise-cancelling variety worth having or just a gimmick? Can you use the NC on its own (i.e. without also playing an audio source) to give you silence? Other than sound quality, what else should I look out for?

I got some Bose QC 15’s, wore them for a 10hr flight to India & forgot I had them on, Very comfy but not totally NC. (still good though)

Coincidently, I tried a pair for the first time a few days ago. They seemed to cancel out the low frequencies by playing an audible hiss type noise. I didn’t try them on a plane, they were for my partner flying to SA at the weekend, but I can see how they could be useful for the low-end noises in a vehicle or airplane.

A bit weird if you suffer with tinitus…

Rarely flying? Not worth it.

Regular flyer? BUY SOME!

Rarely flying? Not worth it.

Waffling wife? BUY SOME!

Fixed that for ya!

Fly American in Business class and they supply them

You have to give them back before leaving the plane

Otherwise, no. Not something I would spend my hard earned on

My father in law ripped the piss out of me for spending £300 on some Bose QC3 headphones

I insisted he try them on his next 4hr flight to Turkey, on his return he bought some straight away

As above if you fly a fair bit they’re great

I bought some Panasonic ones a year or so ago. Thankfully I don’t have to fly too often, but when I do they are great. They work well out filtering out the airplane hum, wouldn’t fly without them.

I’m going to post the same thing I always do on these threads. Noise cancelling phones are great but they are big bulky things and they inevitably don’t sound as good as a non-NC headphone for the same money. I’ve got custom moulded inner ear phones which cut out the noise very effectively. Mind you, CFH would probably object to the fact they would also very effectively block out the stewardness offering him another drink.

EDIT: this thread is slightly a sore point today. I’ve had an attack of earwax so decided not to wear the expensive IEMs and then failed to pick up the big NC phones before running out the door this morning. Am now sat in Philly with a thumping headache 🙁

I had some Parrot Zik headphones, note the past tense.

Heavy on the head and made your ears sweat, and at over £200, didn’t sound that good either.
Now got Shure 425 ear pièce headphones.they cut out noise rather than cancel it, and sound lish.

There’s two types of noise cancelling – active and passive. Only the active type is worth any time if you ask me. I’ve both Bose QC3s and the QC20i headphone and they truly are excellent in any form of white noise environment. The QC3s have better sound quality and good noise cancelling, the 20i headphones have outstanding noise cancelling but the audio quality is not as good as the exceptional QC3s. Horses for courses.

Yes you can use them as just noise cancellers.

Would I recommend them? Hell yes!

Noise cancelling phones are great but they are big bulky things

Oh really?!

I stand corrected, but the ones they’re talking about above are all big and bulky.

And I still reckon that if you’re going for IEMs then you’re best to spend your money getting them custom molded and not worry about NC. I spent far more than i planned but the sound quality is fantastic and they really do cut out all the background.

IEMs with good earpieces are probably a better bet – the triple flange or the foam comply types are very effective.

Active noise cancelling are only any good on constant noise, so transients like babies crying, etc, aren’t handled so well.

An ear blocking IEM will be good with everything, plus the sound quality is going to be better.

For the cost of the big over the ear Bose’s you could get some Shure 535s which are seriously good headphones.

Plus the IEMs are wearable if you are trying to sleep and have your ear on a pillow.

I note that Bose now do some noise cancelling IEMs which might be worth a look. They get good reviews on their site but that doesn’t mean much as one says

“Once again Bose gets it right.”

whereas in reality Bose rarely get it right…

As TurnerGuy says, IEM’s with triple-flanged eartips are as good as powered expensive noise-cancelling ‘phones. I regularly suggest the Mee Electronics M6P Sports ‘phones, you can get them for around $35, they come with a wide variety of eartips, including triple-flange, and they are very low profile, sitting right inside the ear so sleeping with your head on a pillow causes no discomfort. Their noise reduction is the same as industry-standard ear protection, around 26dB.
And sound-quality-wise, they really are very good.
http://www.meelec.com/MEElectronics_M6P_Stylish_Earphones_p/earphone-m6p-mee.htm
If you want to spend a bit more, then Shure SE215’s with triple-flange eartips are extremely good for the money.

I fly transatlantic about 20 return trips a year and noise cancelling headphones (I have some that I paid £20 for as seconds since they have some very quiet hiss with no noise – not a problem at 30,000ft)and eye mask are essential when flying back from the US.

Cheers all, some definite food for thought…

I borrowed some active ones made by creative labs a few years ago and slept on the red eye coming back from the US for the first time. They were only about 60 quid if memory serves. They just cut the engine and wind noise.

I’ve noticed the helicopter pilots at work have started wearing them instead of their hearing protection headsets. If they can stop you going deaf when you spend that many hours in a Sikorsky then they must be good.

For real comfort, proper custom eartips are the way to go, BUT, they will add £112 to the cost. However, if you get a pair of Shure SE215’s which are really very, very good for the money, around £75 on Amazon, or other sources, they’ll last you for years, because they have replaceable cables, which nothing else does at that price.
Should you break a cable, they’re around £40 to replace, although the standard non-remote one is very thick and solid, designed to go over the top of the ear to stop them being dragged out if you catch the cable.
I’ve got Etymotics with custom tips, and they are excellent for cutting down background noise.

Just buy a pair of 20 quid Sony’s problem solved.

Two additional points:

* Noise cancelling headphones are effective at filtering the constant background drone of the plane, but aren’t at all effective at filtering the irritating passengers going on and on in the row(s) behind you.

* If/when you fall asleep, big bulky noise cancelling headphones are more likely to fall off, or wake you up if you roll over.

On both counts good quality in-ear ones are a much better solution. Given that they’re also much smaller and lighter to carry I’m never really sure why anyone bothers with noise cancelling ones – seem a bit over-engineered to me.

I’ve noticed the helicopter pilots at work have started wearing them instead of their hearing protection headsets.

that might be because, as pointed out, they are good at cancelling out constant noise, like aircraft engines, but not so good with transient noises, like talking.

Hence they may allow conversation better than a normal hearing protection headset, which will attenuate everything.

Just buy a pair of 20 quid Sony’s problem solved.

This.

Unless you’re a regular long distance flyer it’s not worth shelling out a huge amount.

I had a pair of Sennheisers but they broke and I replaced them with some cheap Sony ones. The Sony’s weren’t quite as good but as I fly long haul twice a year now compared to when I used to do it weekly they do the job. Even when not connected to an iPod they filter out enough of the plane noise to make things more comfortable