Noise Cancelling Headphones

[chimaera]

Ok i have a Sanyo pair which cost me about £40, they do a good job especially as i fly a lot, they're indispensable.

My question is, i see a lot of people with the nice £100+ Bose ones, are they much better than standard ones, i'd imagine that they have superior sound, but do they have better noise blocking tech? or is it just standard to them all.

http://www.bose.co.uk/noise_reduction/qc2_headphones/

 

[IceAx]

Those sound great, i look at them every time i go into the
Bose shop and try to justify spending that much money
on a set of cans. (eps. when i have 2 nice pairs already)

Andy

 

[Smiley Man]

they only sound great until you listen to some other £280 cans

sennheiser hd650 / grado sr325i both sound a lot better, no noise tech though

BOSE - Buy Other Sound Equipment

 

[IceAx]

Yes but £280 is quite a big jump from £90

Andy

 

[chimaera]

Its the noice cancelling bit i'm especially interested in, buying a £300 pair of sennheiser's is pointless on a plane when you're stuck next to the engine roar for 10 hours.

They're a lot cheaper in the states so i can get them for under £200, i'm just interested in whether it makes a considerable difference to my mid range pair.

 

[HighlandeR]

Thats the only thing ive heard others say about noise canceling canns they arent gonna sound anyware on the same level as your mid entry cans even, like the Senn HD-555-595s which can be had for about 70-99 quid. In fact some regard them as highend canns due to the level of quality they bring out.

Im interested in noise canceling cans or some decent closed canns too id take a butchers at Senn HD-25s and 250s range, again bear in mind closed back/noise canceling cans wont exactly be high quality listening but if u dont wanna disturb people around u or listen to anything else...

 

[csmager]

I'd agree with Buy Other Sound Equipment. From what I've heard, those headphones were originally designed for military use... but they were so crap, they wouldn't take them.

There are far better noise cancelling headphones for far cheaper, by all accounts.

 

[Smiley Man]

Yes but £280 is quite a big jump from £90

Andy

the noise cancelling bose phones arent £90,you must be thinking of the standard triports

 

[9designs2]

Why not look at something like a Etymotic ER-6i or Shure E2c , they are passive noise cancelling, meaning they seal in the ear and block the sound. You need much less volume saving your hearing from damage, and blocking external noise. I have the Sure, and can't hear anything, including the annoying Ryanair announcements Plus they sound very good. Start around £70 and then go up in the range.

 

[csmager]

Not a bad idea - I've got the ER-6i's, and I can do the mowing on a pretty noisy tractor mower, go on a plane or whatever, and I can't hear anything but my iPod. Although on the train it means you do miss the announcement that tells you exactly why you've been stuck in the same place for 20 minutes....

 

[Hesky82]

Earphones such as the re-6's are pretty effective at blocking out external noises just as 9d2 said, but some times you can find in-ear phones a little uncomfortable, and they have an amazing ability of amplifying you swallowing and chewing noises, maybe I have small ear lugs but the re's annoy me after a while. I prefer my active noise cancelling AKG K28NC cans, more comfortable and actually have good sound quality when compared to the equiventlet priced Bose. Not tried the bose for long though, only demo’ed them, like I said i didnt think much of them and their total lack of bottom end.
like Smiley Man said, for all out sq get the senn hd650's and to get rid of there open back characteristics duck tape 2 thick pillows to your head to cancel out noise. of course you would look stupid but the 650s are worth it! I swear buy mine, of course to get the best out of then you would have to carry a dedicated class A amp around with you again a small price to pay!

 

[rG-tom]

now it's gonna sound like i reccomend these everytime a headphone thread pops up, but consider the beyer dynamic DT770 range The standard version have 18dba of isolation, which is good but not amazing, and the DT770-M have 35dba if passive isolation, which is quite a lot Designed for isolation whilst drumming really, with anything playing i really doubt you'd hear anything on a consumer plane over them. Even with my 18dba version i cant hear my desk drumming with moderate volumes lol.

Problem is they are pretty thirsty cans and need driving well....definitely would have to look at a headphone amp to go with them for use with a portable. Oh and they are bloody big too, so you might feel a bit self concious about them?

They are pretty damn good quality as far as closed headphones come as well, not as musical as some open headphones but that's the price you pay for closed A headfi rewire will bring out the mids, but that costs as much as the headphones again. Even as stock they are fantastic headphones though

Tom.

 

[SpliffVortex]

Question who would you consider close too the german "Sennheiser'" headphones with out the german price . i do 100 % with headphones on . just got a creative sound lab X-Fi card and need a decent set of headphones "totally enclose not open " . Not noise cancelling but pure stereo ones.

 

[thepharcyde]

I am going to stand up for Bose here, only because I can comment, because I have the noise canx ones Mk1, same as the above for mentioned. I have used them on flight and can say that they are very very good. The drone completely goes. I have not compared these to other brands etc, but they totally fit my bill. I did not pay full wack, but got some 2nd hand off eBay, which were like brand spanking new. The bass notes are awesome, and it totally blocks out background noise very well. I am up in Leagrave near luton, if you want to give them a try, I was astounded when I first tried them.

 

[Hesky82]

Question who would you consider close too the german "Sennheiser'" headphones with out the german price . i do 100 % with headphones on . just got a creative sound lab X-Fi card and need a decent set of headphones "totally enclose not open " . Not noise cancelling but pure stereo ones.

check out beyerdynamic headphones as tom recommends, their midrange headphones are great value and have great sound for their price. The DTX700 or DTX900, both have a 3.5mm stereo phone plug, and have great sensitivity so it will plug in and sound great running off your x-fi sound card. even their top DT990's are a bargain considering how amazing they sound.

 

[SpliffVortex]

Thanx i well check them out. i use a Aiwa reciver to push the headphones until i find a older Yamaha ,Kenwood, or a decent price Onkio . I just saw them and are fair price and they look very well made the specs looks good .

 

[Hesky82]

you mean onkyo right? if your looking for a better sounding budget ht receiver marantz are the most musical.

 

[Sleepyd]

Shure e3c?

Hey,

I've listened to the Bose's and they're like other bose equpiment - big on bass and treble. TO my ears, the shure e3c's are far more neutral and they fit extremely well in my ears - thus negating the need to cancel the noise - as it never reaches me from travelling on the underground.

Try them out - you might like them. Nice and light & sound good.

I also use Sennheiser HD565's for home use - they're very natural sounding - I can listen for those for hours and hours.

 

[jhmaeng]

Clearly, many people are not reading the bit where he says "especially as i fly a lot, they're indispensable".

Why are some people recommending headphones like the HD-650 and Grados which are clearly not suitable for usage on a plane? Pretty much any open or semi-open back headphones, alongside many of the closed back models, do not block engine noise sufficiently in order to enjoy music inflight in a balanced manner with a reasonable volume level.

Once people get over the knee-jerk reaction of "BOSE = bad", they might come to appreciate that although the QuietComfort II is not the best in terms of sound quality vs. price, they serve a particular function which is not served by most other headphones. Active Noise Cancelling works, and it works particularly well on the Bose QC2. On a flight, active noise cancelling is a huge advantage because you get rid of the tiresome engine noise whilst still being able to hear other things going on around you (such as announcements, flight attendants asking you questions, speaking to your travelling partner, etc).

PS. I've heard of many people who were unable to get used to IEMs which means they can't take advantage of Shures or Etys. Some people simply cannot use them due to comfort issues.

 

[Hesky82]

Once people get over the knee-jerk reaction of "BOSE = bad", they might come to appreciate that although the QuietComfort II is not the best in terms of sound quality vs. price, they serve a particular function which is not served by most other headphones. Active Noise Cancelling works, and it works particularly well on the Bose QC2. On a flight, active noise cancelling is a huge advantage because you get rid of the tiresome engine noise whilst still being able to hear other things going on around you (such as announcements, flight attendants asking you questions, speaking to your travelling partner, etc).

If you forget the fact AKG, Sennheiser, Sony and even Panasonic produce fantasic active noise cancelling headphones then yeah you could say the Bose are worth considering. heck even Panasonic produce better sounding cans than Bose and there a fraction of the price.