Please do the thinking for me 😆

Any recommendations? I’m after some over the ear rather than in-ear headphones. Budget – trying not to spend more than 100 quid (I’m no audiophile!)

What extra functionality do “iPhone compatible” headphones actually offer? Just wondering whether there’s something I can use with my HTC Desrire…

etymotic er-6i

oops just read the over ear bit, you’re not going to be very popular 😀

Sennheiser PXC 250-II

As I am flying across the Atlantic pretty much every week I shelled out for some BOSE Headphones which are amazing but not within the price range you are looking at.

I bought some Sony MDR-NC7 for Mrs LHS and they are really good – she really rates them. We got them from an airport vending machine for $45 I think so great value too. No idea on Ipod compatibility functionality but I know they work with the Ipod, Iphone and Ipad.

I don’t think you’re going to get anything that’s going to be any good for that money. I know you said you want over the ear, but for that budget you’ll get much better results getting some decent in-ear headphones. Add Comply Ear Foams and they’ll cut out pretty much all external noise.

iPhone/Pod compatible isn’t an issue, usually that just adds in line controls, which you don’t really need

etymotic er-6i

Ugh – I had some – had to equalise them massively to make them sound neutral – very good noise rejection though. Maybe it was the triple flange sleeves. Got Shure SE530s now = bliss.

The supple silicone sleeves that come with Shures are much softer in the ear and make their IEM headphones very comfortable.

In ear headphones are better as noise cancelling phones rely on constant noise to cancel out, so they are not so good with transient noises like screaming babies.

Wouldn’t buy anything Bose – maybe their headphones are good but anything else of theirs I have heard is overhyped junk.

iPhone/Pod compatible isn’t an issue

only for sensitivity it is, which is why there is an Etymotic ER6 and ER6i, the i version is to match the output of the iphone better.

i have some of the sennheiser 250 IIs, they worked ok on the plane, but the head band is pretty flimsey and a hinge snapped after a short while (2 months). They were £50 at tesco, I wouldn’t pay any more for them.. Try and get something with closed back, they’re more effective at blocking out the noise

…but on a flight, you’re probably not going to notice that – can always get a dock connection amplifier if it’s an issue

As turner guy says go for in ear if you can. I’ve had very good results from Shure’s SE110 and 215’s before.

i borrowed some from a mate made by creative labs a few years ago. they were about 50 quid IIRC, and made engine noise pretty much disappear, but made it really easy to hear the stewardess etc.
the idea that you can’t get anything worth having for less than a ton is not a valid one IMHO.
if you don’t want to hear anything at all just use ear plugs.

I meant, closed back are more effective at blocking out the airplane noise. None of the headphones are completely effective, but the open ones let in (in my experiance) more noise than the closed back ones (which is kinda obvious, if you think about it).

Nokia BH-905i – ace headphones, over the ear, can be run bluetooth or wired. The controls on the cans to skip tracks etc will work with your HTC too. The noise cancelling is ace, you flick a switch and it’s like the airplane turns off.

Above your budget, but you might find the older 905s for that money.

As above

Out of price bracket, but also bought Bose cans, super comfortable and eliminate the plane noise totally

I have some panasonic rp-hc55 in ear ones

weren’t very pricy (40 quid maybe) – cheapest I could find (at Heathrow I think, few yr ago)

Good for planes as the cancelling is very marked
they also have a little volume slider so you can shove yr player out of the way somewhere (no skip etc though)

Bad I doubt they’re very hiFi (nor are my ears) and you can’t just use them without the cancelling – there’s a bettery neded in the “controller” module and it hs to be on for any sound to be produced (lasts AGES though)
This in-line controller is a bit cumbersome (size & wt of a marker pen) and really needs to be clipped onto yr shirt for comfort

Borrowed the sonys that are on amazon for 35 quid atm

Worked fine fir me – right next to the engine on a klm city hopper

Fold up small and the control module / battery is in the back of the can

Far superior to using my 20 quid big ass sony ones that are a pain to carry – and in ears really hurt my ears after a while – tried loads of them !

Simple, hd25-sp closed back headphones. Don’t let noise in, an don’t let noise out so you can turn up the volume and not annoy people. Awesome sound quality, comfy and fairly compact. get the non-sp version if youve got the cash or find a deal – better headband, lasts a lifetime.

For long haul, I just use the ones they provide in the comfy seats…..! 8)

I have a pair of JVC in ear headphones, just normal ones, that do a really good job of isolating outside noise when using tablet,or MP3 player on board though. Wanted to buy some of those Etymotic ones, but there weren’t any in stock when I last flew. Will have a look en route for my next flight.

I’m gonna +1 myself because I’m so right

get them here:HD-25sp’s on Amazon

except those aren’t noise cancelling, and won’t work anything near as well at blocking out sound as active, closed back headphones do.

indeed, they’re not noise cancelling. My contention is that these passive closed headphones do a mighty good job of noise cancelling, without the fuss.

I’m wearing them now in my office and regularly peeve people because I don’t hear them banging on the door. I’ve tried noise cancelling phones before and they just sounded awful, plus it doesn’t stop you from disturbing other passengers.

I picked up a pair of Sony MDR-NC22’s when they were on offer for £20 in Tesco a year or so ago.
They’re superb.
I use them at work when I’m trying to concentrate, the way they cut out the keyboard clatter and background noise is amazing.
I’ve used them on planes and trains too, probably one of the best £20 I’ve spent…

I’ve got some Goldring NS1000 (got via a mate). They work fine, are comfy and should be within your budget. £70 – bose copies. The BOSE ones are amazing but so are the prices. As a frequent long haul flyer – the NS1000 let me get to sleep and that’s basically job done.

For my curiosity, how do noise cancelling headphones work then? Do they play anti-noise to you? And if so, why don’t all noisy things have anti-noise generators?

aah, from the wikipedia entry…
They work well for sounds that are continuous, such as the hum of a refrigerator or the sound in an airplane cabin, but are less effective against speech or other rapidly changing audio signals.

I was hoping they would be good at filtering out annoying noises like other people but it looks like they struggle a bit with things that change a lot. I wonder if that’s because there’s a delay between hearing a noise and generating an anti-noise….

why don’t all noisy things have anti-noise generators?

Because the noise and anti-noise can only be made to add up to 0 in one place. So with headphones it’s easy, make that place your ear. If you just want to put an anti noise box next to a noisy box, it need’s to know where everyone’s ears are in order to generate just the right flavour of anti noise. Basically…

They have a demo of this (if memory serves me), in Southampton Uni acoustics department. They made the zero noise occur at all the seat headrests by using a whole lotta speakers

yeah, that makes sense

in ear phones work better at noise cancellation than active noise-cancelling over ear phones – as demonstrated by the gadget show.

And any active noise cancelling phone is going to be compromised in terms of audio quality verses non-cancelling phones.

noise cancellation only really works for continuous sounds – it pretty much plays back the sound in reverse phase to cancel it out.

There is a delay in the processing of the sound so the cancellation will not be perfect, and transient sounds are not handled because by the time the phone is playing back the sound in reverse phase it doesn’t appear in the source any more, so you are modifying the sound in unwanted ways.

essentially a car exhaust is an anti-noise generator. The backbox will have pipes of different length to try and smooth the pulses of air coming from the engine. The result is there is a low-volume drone rather than a high-volume rasp..

this is all mighty interesting, but, can anyone see why I prefer nice simple closed back headphones now?

I must admit, I haven’t tried any decent quality noise cancellers, so you lot may know better than me, but I do know I like my HD-25’s.

TurnerGuy talks the truth.

in ear phones work better at noise cancellation than active noise-cancelling over ear phones – as demonstrated by the gadget show.

And any active noise cancelling phone is going to be compromised in terms of audio quality verses non-cancelling phones.

noise cancellation only really works for continuous sounds – it pretty much plays back the sound in reverse phase to cancel it out.

Depends on the type of noise. I’ve got good in-ear phones (for blocking out noise – shure 110s), average noise cancelling over-ear phones (sennheiser 250 IIs), good open headphones (grado sr80s) and I’ve had flights with bose over ear cancelling headphones. The shures are best for blocking out conversations, but they pale even compared to the sennheisers at blocking out plane noise (i’ve used them back to back on the same flight). The Boses are better still. Both introduce artifacts, but when you’re listening on a plane the listening environment is so compremised I’d much rather have those artifacts than the background noise. Without the noise cancelling on, I’d say the bose sets are about the same quality as my grados (albeit at 3x the price).

what geoff said…

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=over+ear+noise+cancelling+headphones&hl=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1138&bih=555&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=7464250876257443336&sa=X&ei=LEFvTpfTHIOBOvrW3IQJ&ved=0CKABEPMCMAU4Cg

the bose sets are about the same quality as my grados

they must be about the only good sounding thing that Bose make!

I think the tips used make a difference on the IEMs – I use the silicon tips on my Shures as they are comfy but they do not block out the sound as well as the triple flanges on the etymotics I had – I used the etymotics successfully to block out the snoring from a hut of 18 sleeping civil engineers, which is probably somewhat similar to an airplane !

Beware of buying Shures IEMs from ebay ‘cos they look cheap – I have seen/heard several ‘copies’ from ebay and they sound awful.

I bought some Bose noise cancelling thingummies a few years ago as I used to fly transatlantic quite often. Haven’t done much recently and they’ve been sat in the draw for ages, if you’re interested mail me with a sensible offer and I might sell them – someone might as well get some use out of them!

I think they’re these ones but can check later. They’re in very good nick.

Bought a pair of these
from Play.com last year for £50 so that Superfi deal seems good.

They are great on planes and trains and far more effective / comfortable than in ear buds on a long flight. Sound quality in a quiet environment is respectable but there is a little white noise in the background. Sonically they are not as good as something like Creative Aurvanas for similar dosh but are fantastic value for noise reduction ‘phones.

I tried my Goldrings back to back with my Brother’s £300 Bose noise cancelling ‘phones with music from the same source. The Bose pair are slightly better but not 6x the price better.

I have some Audio Technica ATH-ES7 which are excellent for travelling, quite small, pack flat, sound very good (not as good as my RS2’s but not much is), and are reasonably good at sealing out noise.

I always put this out there on these threads.
Buy Shure in ears as high up the range as u can afford. (play.com usually have good discounts)
The block out 99% of sound through a snug in ear fit rather than electronic nonsence and they sound brilliant. They are the dogs gonads for commuting/traveling/ignoring people you dont like because you cant hear them. Just for god sake dont wear them road riding!

I had some cheap Phillips over the ear (with headband behind the head)which were not bad at noise canceling but broke. Replaced with similar price JVC which are comfy and well made but noise cancelling is not very good. So another +1 for Goldring NS1000 – best of the type for the money. I have never found the in-ear type comfortable, so closed back with active cancelling is best option and makes a big difference on a plane. Worth it if you fly a lot.