SW17LS

No doubt...I love mine. Sony's noise cancellation ones also supposed to be good.

Johnhav430

Touché, good point. This guy at work has B&W P9's, asked if I want to try? eeeeeeew we don't share those things as a matter of hygeine! I kinda think it's status, yet at the same time, I have Maui Jim sunglasses, right? Everyone likes what they like.

Serious question because you fellas use these headphones while traveling, you don't mind the size or being so detached in public? Just saying in public I would prefer earbuds to be less conspicuous, but at home, sure.

bagwell

Testing the Sony XM3's as I type. Seems to be VERY similar ANC, with better sound quality.

SW17LS

Maui Jim makes some of the best quality sunglasses you can buy. I have Maui Jims for that reason, not for "status". Same with the Bose headphones, I own them for their quality and functionality not status.*

Earbuds don't provide anywhere close to the noise isolation or sound quality of big over the ear headphones. Its also a plane, and many people are wearing over the ear headphones, so theres no issue with being conspicuous. As for being detached, again its a plane or train or whatever, that's the point. Would I wear them at the gym? No. Would I walk down the street wearing them? No.
*

JDR76

No amount of noise cancellation can make a Q400 quiet.

riredale

Bose headphones have long been a gold standard for noise cancellation. They have also had a premium price. I've read that recently their cancellation is not as good as the new Sonys, which are also cheaper.

When I flew a piston single I used not Bose but LightSpeed, and the effect was significant. Low frequencies like prop noise are attenuated a lot, highs like wind rush (and jet noise) not so much.

What IS far superior is to use not headphones or earbuds but "Inner Ear Monitors" or IEMs, especially if they use foam rather than rubber flanges to seal. In fact, IEMs are so good they would be illegal for auto use, because you can't hear anything, including a warning car horn. When I fly commercially I have no issues at all being seated near a crying infant; I hardly hear a thing, and I can play my music at normal levels.

As for tuning out noise, this has been done in turboprop aircraft as a way of minimizing the beating effect. I doubt very much there will be much benefit to tuning the interior of a car, because often if you tune for one specific location then the other locations are made worse.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

model? brand? links? come on man, don't leave us hanging.

bagwell

SW17LS

Interesting...

bagwell

there's also custom molded IEMs, probably very pricey and usually only pilots gets them.

riredale

Sorry, been away from computers for a few days...

I can't remember the model number of my IEMs, but I actually have two different ones, and they were both in the range of $100-150 ten years ago when I bought them. They are both made by Shure, and I recall Etymotic (I think that's how it's spelled) are popular too. The rubber flange ones are pretty straightforward; the foam ones use that kind of foam that takes a "set" for a few seconds. You squish them and quickly insert them. Over the next ten seconds the foam expands back and the background noise just slips away.

The ones I use for air travel are so effective that I use a little Shure dongle in-line with the IEMs, that uses a slide switch to turn on a microphone on the cord, so I can talk to a fellow passenger or the flight attendant without having to pull the IEMs out and reinsert them again. Extreme isolation and also the bass is wonderful because the ear seal is complete.