No posts for ages, then two at once…

I’m wanting a set of noise cancelling headphones. Looked at the in-ear bud type and put off by the battery pack on the cord. But then the massive over-ear ones will make me look like a tube (not being serious 😉 )

Any recommendations? Don’t want to spend more than £100 I guess, preferably much less!

Cheers!

Mate – you look like a tube anyway. 😉

oh ho ho ho ho! cheeky fecker….

what do you want them for ?

they only really work for constant noises – ie on a train/bus/plane

they dont work in an office to stop people talking to you unfortunantly- loud dnb does though .

FWIW i have some JVC fold up over ear units – they are excellent for the money … about 60 quid

Is this for long haul flights? Over ear every time, you might look like a tool but they’re comfy.

Aren’well-sealed in-ear types as good?

i cant wear ear buds for any length of time tholugh al big ears – small canals , my over ear ones are much comfier 😀

They’re for travel, plane specifically.

I can’t work with music anyway, so no use in an office regardless!

Have used both cheap and expensive options. Anything under £50 like those from Debon suffer from poor build quality and fail fairly quickly if the have to take a few knocks in a kit bag, they also suffered from feedback at times. Have a look at some of the gunshop sites, lots of choice. With big cans on you can look a bit silly but on a cold and windy day they keep your ears warm and hat on as well giving your lugs the protection they need.

edit, just seen the post above, the type I mention are not designed for constant noise, just for anything that is suddenly above 85dBa.

get IEMs and don’t both with noise cancelling as you don’t need it.

i disagree turnerguy – was able to turn down the volume significantly on my noise cancellers when flying

although only relevent if you fly alot.

Looked at the in-ear bud type and put off by the battery pack on the cord.

What do you mean?

I currently like these RHA MA350 £30 – SoundMagic E10’s – £35 are also good.

The E10s have a warmer sound to them – I find them a bit murky. I prefer the MA350 they sound sharper, however you may find them a bit clinical sounding. Both are better than the Sennheiser CX300II’s they replaced.

I have the JVC – over ear ones, great for the Turbo Trainer and flying. Also a bit of a bargin compared to some of the other options. They also come with an adapter jack to fit some of the odd connectors found on some planes.

most planes in my experiance – but im usually at the back 😉

i disagree turnerguy

depends how much you value sound quality – there are no decent IEMs with noise cancellation as far as I am aware.

Changing the ear pieces can help.

The triple flange ones tend to cut a lot of noise, as can some of the foam ones.

I have managed to sleep using etymotic IEMs and no music in a hut with 20 snoring civil-engineers, and I have sensitive hearing.

I have a set of these for long flights, can’t fault them

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0031RG832

they dont work in an office to stop people talking to you unfortunantly- loud dnb does though .

I’ve got some Sennheiser Noiseguard PXC250s that I bought in New York about 4 years ago, they were great on the flight back.

They now live in my desk at work and I put them on when it is particularly noisy because they do really knock down the background noise of people gibber jabbering all the fxui=ing time when I trying to work.

They battery thing is massive though, I suspect there are more modern smaller versions out there by now.

I have the Denon ones. Very impressed with noise cancelling and sound quality. Worth a punt.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/denon-ah-nc800_Headphones_review

Splash the cash and get some Bose QC15’s. Worth every single penny if you fly a lot. And you really can’t hear someone sat next to you chatting as well!

Edit: Now found then and they are the Sennheiser PXC 300. Work well on planes. Boxed with adapters for planes and the bigger jack.
50 pounds if you wish

forget it they look pristine but are actually shagged

Splash the cash and get some Bose QC15’s.

For only £10 more you could get some seriously decent IEMs:

Shure SE535s

In terms of noise cancellation – recall the gadget show test where they were in a noisy hall and firing tennis balls at the guy wearing the phones and a blindfold to see at what point he could no longer hear the ball-avoidance instructions coming through his headphones because the noise outside was too high – the normal IEMs beat the noise cancelling phones like the Bose.

Shure SE315’s here. Use Comply Ear Foams with them and they are a) very, very comfy and b) block out pretty much all external noise. When you put them in on a plane, you can really tell that the noise goes as the foam expands in your ear canal. Bliss!

250 notes is exactly what I *don’t* want to spend, although I’m sure at that price they’re amazing.

Will check out the JVC ones, ta.

Sony MDR-NC60 for me, been used a lot on long haul flying. Work really well, comfortable, and good battery life.

If you don’t want to spend silly money, then the performance isn’t going to be stellar, but that said most of the cheaper ones (£60-100) are still really good.

If it’s for long haul then it’s comfort that’s going to be to overriding factor. I’ve got some sony ones like ps44^^. Very nice and not too pricey.

Shure SE215s are about £77 and 315s are about £130.

Only mentioned the 535s as they are about the same price as the Bose QC15s that were mentioned, and it would be remiss of me to miss an opportunity to point out that, for every Bose product, you can get something from another manufacturer for the same money which has some actual quality…

Shure SE215’s with triple-flange eartips. They block lots of background noise, and they will fit even small ear canals, they are the only sort that I can wear that let the ‘phones seal properly, all other buds just don’t fit, and I’ve tried all sizes. Your best bet is to get the SE215’s, which really are fantastic ‘phones, and then splash some cash, maybe ask for Christmas money towards them, and get some proper custom-fit silicon eartips for them, you’ll then have proper in-ear monitors that will fit you perfectly. Not cheap, around £112 now, but really worth doing, especially with the Shure’s, which sound marvellous.

Oh, and Kit, there is one feature that the Shure SE215’s have that no others have until you get north of £100, and which makes them the most desirable, and that is replaceable cables. A new set are about half the price of a new pair of ‘phones, and you can also get cables with a remote for use with an iPhone or Touch.