[Closed] Noise cancelling headphones - which ones?

Bose all the way - I got some QC2's many years ago after trying them on a flight to the US. Friends (who've tried mine) and then bought cheaper have mostly now just bought Bose. Yes, they are expensive - but very very good.

for infrequent use i'd be very happy with a pair from creative labs, having used them, though i confess i haven't spunked out on bose ones, nor have i tried them.

I've got some Klipsch Image S4 ones that seem to do the trick (around £60 IIRC). They come with three different sizes of earbud and choosing the right one greatly effects the noice reduction effectiveness.

Very good sound too: I had some Sennheiser ones before that and these blow them away.

[url= http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/8240767/Goldring-NS1000-Active-Noise-Reduction-Headphones/Product.html ]Play.com doing Goldrings for £50[/url]
Comfortable, cut out most noise and sound decent. Cable unplugs from phones so they can be used purely for noise isolation when not listening to music. They fold flat too into a sturdy case (which takes an Ipod) and have a twin airline jack attachment. Only -ve is audible hiss from active noise cancelling between tracks or when listening in a quiet environment but they can be used passively to eliminate this.

My brother has the £300 Bose ones and was much disgruntled that Goldrings were almost as good for a 6th of the price.

For £300 you could have some hooker's thighs clamped around your ears to cancel out the noise

downshep - many thanks, look like they get excellent reviews (and those reviews often at a £150 price point), so have ordered some - thanks

TBH, active noise cancelling 'phones are a waste of time unless you get really expensive ones. A good pair of canalphones will block a lot of background sound; I use them when operating noisy machinery. I prefer Ultimate Ears 'phones because of the sound quality, but I've had issues with several pairs of SuperFi 4 and 5's with the wires fracturing in the plugs on three pairs. A pair of MetroFi 220vi's recently broke and I persuaded the Apple Store in Bristol to exchange them but they only had the Klipsch Image S4 phones which block a huge amount of noise if you use the dual flange eartips supplied, but I'm not so keen on the sound quality, they sound a bit 'hollow'in the vocals. Denon do some superb canalphones, and if you get some dual flange eartips from sensorcom.com they are very effective at blocking background noise. Denons start around £50 for quality 'phones. I now have a pair of Ultimate Ears SuperFi 3 Studio Pro's which I got off the 'bay brand new for £40 including postage. They have replacable cables which is great, and means I can use an alternative iPhone cable with remote and mic.
The trick with canalphones is to moisten the silicon bud before putting it into your ear to help the phone slide in and seal, and you pull the earlobe up and out to open up the canal as well which gives a better fit.

Klipsch Image S4 +1

(I) Use these with a Cowon i9 player and together they are superb.
The Cowon player completely leaves Apple standing in a pool of rank water.
For the price, they are very difficult to top and my old man was a sound recordist for the beeb for 30 years so i'm well trained!