Am I imagining something that doesn’t exist ?
When they are described as “noise reducing” does that mean they can be worn with nothing playing, but they will cancel out ambient noise by some electronic means…?
If so can anyone recommend me some…?

Such a thing does exist…however the one I’m thinking of is for military radios so it’s unlikely that you’ll get one for your ipod. Or even that it’ll work properly if you do get one. 😉

you want noise canceling rather than noise reducing

they have a little magic box of tricks which cut the background crap out

like these

Personally I prefeer the passive kind, some of which work better than active, I currently use Etymotic HF2 with custom mould, the world just goes away when you wear them. Amazing.

I’m with ericemel, but with etymotic er4ps. Truly amazing sound, volume low on long flights (I do a lot of travelling), and can keep them in for as long as you like. 8)

Noise cancelling over ear jobs are OK, but for me they always get real painful after more than 2 hours, and I have it in my head that I can feel the ‘extra’ noise being forced at my ears with them and it freaks me out. 😳

Dtymotics are expensive, but if you use them a lot, bloody well worth stand knock anything else into a cocked hat.

Kev

I’ve got a pair of Panasonic ones (can’t remember the model number), I tend to use them mostly when I’m travelling by plane. They definitely make a difference in reducing the engine noise.

There’s a review here although maybe a little dated now

We bought the JVC NC250 for my mum a while ago, she really liked them, but for her it was more about listening to stuff and cancelling out the background noise. She struggles with background noise because she’s deaf in one ear.

Noise cancelling is just another thing to have to carry batteries for. Proper in-ear canalphones, preferably with custom or multi-flanged eartips are much better. Something like Ultimate Ears SuperFi 3 Studio ‘phones with replacable cables, so you can use them with an iPhone or Blackberry if you want. Fit them with something like these:
http://www.sensorcom.com/product.asp?PT_ID=348&P_ID=963
and you’ll get most of the benefits of custom eartips at a fraction of the cost; £5.99 against £89. The SuperFi 3 Studio’s are around £49, the only phones with replacable cables under around £200 I’ve been able to find so far. I’ve had various phones with cables breaking, so I appreciate that particular feature.