Noise Cancelling Head Phones

[The_Burg]

Any recommendations? Looking for over the ear style as i find in the ear irritate my ears.
Would sooner be under £50 if possible. Preferably some that can be tried before buying.
For use on commute and plane.

[Phil.]

Used these for years on long haul flights. They sit on the ear rather than over. I find them comfortable over long periods.

Sennheiser

[The_Burg]

Anyone??

[cjs]

Phil. said:

Used these for years on long haul flights. They sit on the ear rather than over. I find them comfortable over long periods.

Sennheiser

I also have these, not the best out there but they are small, light & comfortable and do cancel out a lot of the ambient noise, I only really use them on aircraft though. They come in a nice compact case.

You'll not get anything good for £50.

[danrc]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

BUMP !

OK, remove the Budget - what is the PH recommendation?

Planes seem to be full of either Bose, or Beats by Dre.

Are they the best ?

Bose > Beats Dr Dre

[danrc]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

Trump all others?

I'm no expert, just going off personal experience with what i have and what my friends use.

a guy at work uses dre headphones. the sound is lazy and uninspiring in my opinion. the bose my other friend had (have since broken) sounded very nice if not a little boomy. he now has a pair of audiotechnica headphones and they are the best of the bunch.

i'm not sure of model numbers but the bose and audiotechnica headphones cost around 100 pounds.

[fat80b]

I work in this industry and have used most of these headphones (both at work and when travelling). In general, companies with an audio heritage care more about the sound and performance and pay a little more for the components making for a better audio experience.

Bose are pretty good and their Ambient noise reduction(ANR) is considered the best (if you measure the frequency response). Most of the ANR in these types of products comes from the design of the enclosures and the ear pads but the electronics inside also makes a difference.

Personally, I use these
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&amp...

As others have said, Sennheisers are pretty good and these ones are wireless as well as wired so if you have an iPod / tablet etc that supports Bluetooth audio streaming then you get to use them wirelessly with the ambient noise cancellation running at the same time.

For me, these are great on a plane as they can be used wired with the in flight systems very comfortably.
They last about 8 hours in Bluetooth + ANR mode and well over 10 hours in wired + ANR mode. If the battery runs out, then they still work in wired mode without the ANR running.

The Beats stuff is rubbish - the speaker drivers are about the cheapest money can buy and the sound quality is awful..... style over substance all the way. Google for people complaining about the speakers and you will find loads of complaints.
They also have no shielding to the outside world so everyone sitting next to you has the "tsk tsk" noise of your music annoying them all the time. They are only one step up from knobcasting out loud from your phone on a bus.....

Bob

[mcflurry]

FWIW I tried out some of the Dr Dre headphones in a HMV store.
They're good, but not 5 times better than my current Sennheisers IMHO.

[CDP]

I've got a Sony pair that were about £75 from John Lewis about three or four years ago. I'm quite pleased with them but obviously pay more and you get better.

[TheEnd]

fat80b said:

The Beats stuff is rubbish - the speaker drivers are about the cheapest money can buy and the sound quality is awful.....

I've heard that before from another sound engineer type guy. It's what I wouldn't have expected though, the branding is what is selling, not the quality.

[cjs]

I've tried quite a few of the active noise cancelling headphones and by far the best at cancelling noise are the Bose. Their only downside, other than cost, is they are bulky compared to others like the Sennheiser.

[6th Gear]

Bose Quiet Comfort 15. Best noise cancelling headphones out there.

They will set you back 280 quid however.

[Adrian W]

My son just bought these in Green

http://beatsbydre.com/products/Products.aspx?pid=B...

I thought they sounded pretty good, and quite close to the pair of Koss Pro4AA's I've had for about 20 years, untill he told me how much they cost, a complete ripp off for a product with a prime cost of about £20 on the shelf.

This is madness

[beedj]

Close to your original budget ... these will take some beating at this level of discount:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-2397-goldring-ns1000-no...

Not the best looking, but almost certainly best performing within this budget

[jodypress]

beedj said:

Close to your original budget ... these will take some beating at this level of discount:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-2397-goldring-ns1000-no...

Not the best looking, but almost certainly best performing within this budget

I bought a pair of these after my Bose Qc3's electronics in the left ear became faulty after two years of careful use. Goldring's have good sound (better after burning in for sure) but I found them to be a tad uncomfortable. I now use them at work connected to my PC. I've since bought another pair of used QC3'a as they are that good at ANR when travelling and damn comfy too.

[zorba_the_greek]

I have owned my BOSE quiet (2) for 5 years now and they are fantastic in every way! Bought them in the US when the Dollar to the pound was 2 to 1. Paid US$ 300

- very comfortable. Have worn them for entire long haul flights 10-12 hours no probs at all.
- Battery life is excellent! only takes 1 x AAA battery and lasts for ages.
- the case they come in is tough.
- Comes with all the extra bit and bobs i.e plugs so you can use the head phones on airplanes or in large amps.
- Bass and overall quality of sound is excellent.
- They can be used on planes to cancel out engine noise and you can very easily fall asleep with them on comfortably without playing any music through them. This is because you can disconnect the wire from the actual earphone so they become almost like ear warmers and does not trail a lead.