Headphones: Your opinion needed..besides bose

[rpinphx1]

The Bose @ $300 + are not cost effective. I don't fly enough to justify it.

What headphones do you use/like? Model #?

 

Just trying to listen to music/movies and not hear the engine drone.

 

Thanks.

[scottbee]

The Bose @ $300 + are not cost effective. I don't fly enough to justify it.

What headphones do you use/like? Model #?

 

Just trying to listen to music/movies and not hear the engine drone.

 

Thanks.

 

I have a cheap set of Maxell noise canceling headphones I quite like, and at under $30 the price was right. Not sure they're still available, but I bought my wife some $40 sonys which seem to work OK

[SBAnt]

DW and I both have a pair of Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 ear buds. They come with several sizes of silicone buds (I can't remember the word I'm looking for here) as well as foam buds. When I travel I only use the foam buds. We both got them when they periodically go on sale at Amazon, so they were ~100 each. The key to using them or any other in-ear monitors is to make sure you get them deep enough in and have a good seal. I find the active noise canceling to be distracting while the IEMs block almost all outside noise and sound better. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, because ~100 is still a good amount of coin, try some of the lower models in the Ultimate Ears or Shure lineups. They have almost as precise sound while being a lot more affordable. My headphones for the gym, for instance, are UE SuperFi 5s, which were much less expensive but still sound very nice. If they break, I'll be sad, but UE is pretty good about backing their products in my experience, as is Shure, and that alone makes them worth more than cheap headphones.

[FlyerTalker]

Sony makes some decent NR headphones, albeit at lower prices and performance than the Bose.

 

At some point going down the price scale for all models/brands, the NR becomes almost undetectable. Better electronics and better acoustic design yields better results. So, you have to decide just how good a set you need for your price/performance parameters.

 

Remember that over the ear (with a full cup that you ear is in) designs usually perform better than on the ear (foam pad is resting between the speaker and your ear) models.

 

One more thought -- you can use these for times other than airplane trips. Even sitting at home, they can improve your listening experience (you won't hear the hum of your refrigerator, etc.)

[donaldsc]

The Bose @ $300 + are not cost effective. I don't fly enough to justify it.

What headphones do you use/like? Model #?

 

Just trying to listen to music/movies and not hear the engine drone.

 

Thanks.

 

If you think that your ears can handle earbuds, there are a whole bunch of good but not great earbuds that cost $75 - $100. I have a set of Klitpsh (sp?) S4s that cost me about $75 that I like although they are not as good as my $400 Shure earbuds.

 

If you do buy a set of earbuds, make sure that you can return them as some people can not wear any in-ear headphones and different ones fit differently. For example, my S4s do not give as tight a seal in my ears as the Shures so I get better noise blockage with the Shures than the S4s. I also own a set of Bose headphones that I paid more than $300 for but I never use them because they do not work as well as the earbuds and they are also very large and bulky. I can drop my IPOD Nano and the earbuds in my pocket. I can't do this with the Bose.

 

Another thing, you need to understand the difference between noise cancelling and noise blockage. Noise cancelling only eliminate constant low frequency sound and not higher frequency or variable sounds. This means that the Bose will eliminate the drone of the engine but not the crying of the baby behind you.

 

Earbuds go deep into your ear and form a tight seal in your ear canal. This means that they block all sounds as long as you can get a good seal.

 

Hope this helps.

 

DON

[cindep]

Another vote for the Sony NR model. I bought mine to reduce the noise at work and they do fine for the money. Now I travel with them and really like them. The model I have collapse for travel which is nice.

[kenish]

A related comment: I once worked on a project where we partnered with a company that was a pioneer in active noise-cancelling technology. One condition of their technology license was that our product had to have a way to turn off the feature. Turns out about 1% of people become nauseous using noise-cancelling headsets. And, as mentioned it's very effective at low frequencies (engine rumble) but no more effective above 1kHz (octave above Middle C) than passive earplugs. Great to have, but not a silver bullet.

 

Also if you're a side-sleeper the earcups get in the way (personal experience) . I removed the headsets and still managed to sleep.

[Fattony]

But are all systems equally compatible with airline systems? In plain English, do they all fit on all planes?

[FlyerTalker]

The headphones themselves are wired with the standard mini-plug that you would find on an iPod (or similar). Unless you get a very cheap pair, they usually include an adapter to use with a two-plus system.

[terracool]

I don't like ear buds at all, so I use headphones. I love love love my Sennheiser PX200's. They fold up to a fairly compact size - maybe 3x5x1 - in a case. They sound really great - far better than you'd expect by looking at how compact they are. I would never want to haul around full size headphones. I fly all the time and see these full-size headphones in large hardcases and can't imagine packing it. My headphones fit in a wallet-sized pocket in my carry on bag. Open it up, flip flip flip and boom. Instand headphones.

 

Search Sennheiser PX200 on Amazon. There may be a cnet review kicking around somewhere too. I paid about $45 for mine years ago, but I think they've gone up since then. There may also be an upated version - the PX200 II?

 

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