Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Noise Cancelling Headphones... Recommendations?

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Posted by Tal Marks (Member # 175) on 01-01-2004, 11:37 PM:

Hello All. Happy Holidays.

I was wondering if anyone has had some experience with noise cancelling headphones they can share. I currently own a pair of Sony MDR-NC20's and they're causing me grief on the NYC subways. No problems flying, but I hear nothing but clicking and sounds I can only describe as changes in air pressure (like driving down the highway with all the windows closed except for one wide open).

I had a pleasant experience with a pair of Bose headphones on an international flight, but who knows how they'll act on the ground.

Any suggestions and experiences would be great... thanks!

Posted by Don Bruechert (Member # 1538) on 01-01-2004, 11:52 PM:

I have a pair of Aiwa HP-CN6 headphones, and really like them. I have mostly used them on planes, but also used them on a cruise ship and on a bus once.

The only thing I really noticed about them is that they try to negatively imitate any noises surrounding them to cancel them out, and sometimes depending on which way I had my head turned I would pick up some noices, and I notice that in quiet passages of music or between tracks I can hear the white noise the headphones are producing.

Overall though I would rate them very highly, and they only cost around $50. I have a friend that has a $300 pair of Bose ones and they are the cats ass... if you have $300 to blow, look into those...

Posted by Emma Tomiak (Member # 1862) on 01-03-2004, 03:11 AM:

Like Don said: Bose are the best I've found. Really comfortable, too.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-03-2004, 03:47 AM:

Bose gets my vote too.

If you're planning on shopping used or old stock (eBay?) then you should note that their older model used an external adapter box for power/volume. The new ones have everything integrated.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-03-2004, 04:31 AM:

I have a pair of Bose and have used them on several trips on planes and they worked great since I bought a pair over a year ago. I first tried the Sony and although they were about a hundred dollars cheaper, I have found that they were not very effective in curbing unwanted noise. The Bose on the other hand was excellent and I decided to get it instead. Although I own a car and do drive to my photographic assignments when I am working, I now prefer to commute into the city on Honolulu's excellent transportation system and the Bose headsets work just as well on a bus as on a 747 or 777 jet.

-Claude

Posted by Tal Marks (Member # 175) on 01-03-2004, 07:21 AM:

Hi.

Thanks guys. I had a feeling Bose would come out on top. The time I used them on a plane they had the adapter box sitting on my lap and I thought, "Wow, these are hardcore & sound amazing!".

I was using the Sony headset while riding on the subway the other day, the train made this horrible shriek going around a curve and afterwards the mic on the right ear started freaking out whenever there was a loud sound.

Thanks for your input, I might return something from the Holidays to pick up a pair of Bose.

_-Tal-_

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-03-2004, 07:55 AM:

In fact Bose developed and marketed the first aviation noise canceling headphones quite a few years ago. They wre 800.00 a set at the time A friend had them in his plane and they worked great. The home headphone is merely a spinoff of that technology. David Clark also makes noise canceling phones for aviation as well.
Mark

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 01-03-2004, 08:34 PM:

All this praise being tossed at Bose is making me [puke]

Go to www.head-fi.org and do a search under "noise cancelling" in the headphone forum.

Danny

Posted by Tal Marks (Member # 175) on 02-22-2004, 04:56 PM:

Hi everyone. Just an update to let you know I went down to the Apple store in SoHo and bought the Bose Quiet Comfort 2 Headset. It was a good chance to test drive it before I decided to make a purchase. So far they've been quite exceptional. I was surprised by how much noise the earcups blocked out with the unit turned off. The two major problems I experienced with the SONY NC20 headphones...

1: wind blowing against the pickups causing extra noise and

2: wind pressure changes in subway cars cancelling out the noise cancelling function

were eliminated.

They're mighty comfortable, too. My only issue is not being able to use them as passive headphones, meaning, the power must be on for them to be used with an audio device.

-t