I have a pair of the cheap £20 Sony noise cancelling cans and they are good for long flights. You can still hear the engines and and other things, but it is a greatly reduced volume. You don’t realise how effective they are until you remove them and hear the roar of the plane. I also had problems connecting to airplane headphone jack, it would either buzz or be in mono with no buzzing.

I blame this thread for me splurging on the Sony MDR-1000X cans. 😆

For what it’s worth I just bought a pair of QC35s from the Bose outlet at York.

Bose do a 30 trial period, so if you’re a git, buy ’em close up to your flight and return them afterwards. I do not condone such behaviour.

I got a pair of factory returns, with full Bose warranty for £265. Not such if that’s spectacular, but they’re local to me and it doesn’t seem too bad considering.

PS – I got the impression that a lot of the factory returns were actually 30 day trial returns.

I’ve bought a pair of Sony noise cancelling headphones

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0152WZRG2/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_dp_1

they need software running on a Sony phone to work but then don;t have batteries. they’ve not arrived yet so can’t comment on effectiveness but sem like a reasonable compromise on price for a single use.

they need software running on a Sony phone to work

So they won’t work on the IFE? 😕 Or on any other devices? 😕

they’re all I need cfh – I’ll be listening to audiobooks most of the time and if I watch a film I can use the airline noise cancelling ones if the Sony’s passive noise reduction isnt; enough.

Whatever works for you, I suppose. Just seems rather restrictive to me.

I just googled them out of interest – apparently the signal processor (which is needed to opposite-ise the noise and block it) grunt work is done on the phone, not on the headphone itself.

its kinda clever, kinda dumb. I wouldn’t trust Sony to support it more than 1 generation into the future, so as long as you expect the lifespan of them to be <3 years you’re probably ok

Just back from the US and used QC35s.

Outstanding and wouldn’t fly without them and the IFE with the cord connected really improved the movie viewing experience.

However, the 3.5mm male plug juts out of the set arm and I bust it off when standing. Bose’s cables are 3.5mm on end and 2.5mm the other – could I get a replacement in the US, could I heck 🙄

Try them first though. I had a pair of QC35’s and whilst they worked incredibly well I found two things:

1/ I actually preferred the sought background noise I could here with my normal on ear type headphones – I found the complete absence of white type background noise oddly disconcerting and;

2/ The slight pressure they cause on the ear gave me earache – enough to make them deeply uncomfortable to wear for any period of time (note though my ears are very sensitive to pressure changes etc).

Bose do a 30 day no quibble money back guarantee though.

The Sony equivalent (MDR1000X from memory) are meant to be very good also.

Bose QC25, or whatever the in-ear model is. Yes, they are expensive, but they are the best investment I made for flights.

QC20 is the in ear model. I bought them after years with cheaper alternatives. They are utterly awesome for travel.

I went in ear mostly because I wear glasses and so find over ear not to be so good or comfortable for long periods.

I wouldn’t trust Sony to support it more than 1 generation into the future

I agree although they’ve been offerign this software since the Z2 and I’m 5 generations ahead of that with my phone so hopefully it’s got legs.

Try some. I don’t own any but tried some over ear on the Bose stand in a noisy shop (FNAC). They work.

I’ve a set of the Sony MDR1000x which are the equivalent of the Bose QC35. The noise cancelling is astonishingly good, especially with the on-board noise cancelling customisation etc. However there are a lot of reports of them cracking near the hinge. Mine Haven’t, but I haven’t had them long.