Noise-Reduction Headphones...experiences?

[ddrueding]

Any out there own a pair? I've been looking at the Bose model for some time, but the $300 price tag and being dissapointed with Bose products in the past has delayed the decision. In the meantime, some other products have shown up. Sony's Ear-bud type are really appealing due to their small size and portability (not to mention that they cost half as much as the Bose).

But hey, I haven't heard any of them! Has anyone here? Are they worth it? I spend a LOT of time on planes, and a fair bit on busses and trains.

 

[ddrueding]

Ugh...sorry about that


Any out there own a pair? I've been looking at the Bose model for some time, but the $300 price tag and being dissapointed with Bose products in the past has delayed the decision. In the meantime, some other products have shown up. Sony's Ear-bud type are really appealing due to their small size and portability (not to mention that they cost half as much as the Bose).

But hey, I haven't heard any of them! Has anyone here? Are they worth it? I spend a LOT of time on planes, and a fair bit on busses and trains.

 

[Buck]

Here is a review of the Bose Quiet Comfort 2: http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2003/0912.htm

An acquaintance of mine uses them with his portable DVD player and is very happy with them. They are a bit pricey. Maybe that review site will help a little.

 

[ddrueding]

Thanks for the link, Buck...very helpful.

After reading the reviews on that site, it looks like the PlaneQuiet 6 is the better choice at one-sixth the cost of the Bose. But the smaller Sonys are still soo temting...

 

[Buck]

Thanks for the link, Buck...very helpful.

You're welcome.

 

[Pradeep]

I have the Sony ear-bud types, I forget the exact model, md-11 or somesuch. They work well, only downside is a slight hissing noise when noise-cancellation is turned on - which you can only hear in a quiet room. On a plane it's un-noticeable. That said the best sleep I've ever had on a plane is when I wore custom molded plugs (they squirt the crap right into your ear, really strange sensation

For the best noise isolation I believe you can't do better than one of the Etymotics plugs.

http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=2&subTopicID=15

True in-canal isolation, no electronics/batteries to worry about. Plus you won't have to wear something that says Bose on it.

 

[Pradeep]

Ah, yes, NC-11, those are the ones I have. The hissing is actually mentioned in the instruction sheet, of course they don't talk about it in the specs....

 

[Mercutio]

Bose is bad m'kay?

 

[ddrueding]

I have a new need for headphones at my desk at home. I'm looking for the best true isolation I can find for under $500. I don't want to hear anything going on in the room (primarily my wife talking to my mother-in-law), and I don't want anyone in the room to hear what I am listening to (primarily F1 races).

Electronic/active or not doesn't really matter. I'm guessing that they will need to be fairly bulky, and I'm OK with that. I'm interested in sound quality, but most of the time my source will be MP3 audio, so no need to go overboard.

 

[MaxBurn]

Check into http://www.complyfoam.com/.
They sound like they attenuate about 25-30db, similar to foam earplugs. No special noise reduction stuff needed.

Alternately you can take foam earplugs and punch a hole in the middle and get something close to these on the cheap.

 

[ddrueding]

Those do look interesting. Any suggestion on the earbuds themselves? I noticed Ultimate Ears is now owned by Logitech

 

[LunarMist]

...I don't want anyone in the room to hear what I am listening to (primarily F1 races).

OK, if you say so.

 

[ddrueding]

As opposed to my Kinley MacGregor books on tape?

 

[LunarMist]

Is that a lullaby?

 

[ddrueding]

Link. She writes romance novels with a paranormal twist. No, I don't read them.

 

[Adcadet]

I've been using Sennheiser 280 pros for ~7 years now and have been pretty happy, although I can hear my wife when she wants to get my attention.

 

[LunarMist]

Books on tape are just wrong.

 

[MaxBurn]

Those do look interesting. Any suggestion on the earbuds themselves? I noticed Ultimate Ears is now owned by Logitech

I got some TripleFi 10vi shortly after they were at the $99 price point on amazon. Don't regret it but I don't think my ears are good enough to get the most out of them. But anyway these plus the complyfoam truly do equal noise suppression equal to foamy earplugs. If you can wear earplugs for a long time you'll like them. They fit a ton of different earplugs.

 

[ddrueding]

The TripleFi 10vi was down to $99? Are we talking about the same product?

 

[MaxBurn]

The TripleFi 10vi was down to $99? Are we talking about the same product?

Yes, it was quite a deal.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/458905/ultimate-ears-triple-fi-10-earphones-for-99-at-amazon

 

[ddrueding]

I haven't used in-ear anything in quite a while. I think I'll start with the Comply NR-10 just to see if it works for me long-term. If it works for me, I'll probably end up with the Shure SE530.

These should also work well when I'm flying, combined with my Bose QuietComfort 2 / uFlyMike combination for a dead-battery safe operation and an even more quiet trip.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[ddrueding]

Yes, it was quite a deal.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/458905/ultimate-ears-triple-fi-10-earphones-for-99-at-amazon

Just paid 2.5x as much....should be here Monday.

 

[MaxBurn]

Just paid 2.5x as much....should be here Monday.

Have you seen them? They are large and don't fit everyone. All the reviews mention problems with the cable wearing out, something I haven't experienced at all.

 

[ddrueding]

Haven't seen them in person, but I saw several images online, including in some people's ears. My ears are fairly large, and I ordered a bunch of different sizes of the the Comply plugs, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

[ddrueding]

Got the UE TripleFi 10. For the record, mine came with several pairs of comply tips in the package. I've had them in for about an hour so far and I'm really enjoying them. They are likely the most accurate way I have of listening to music so far (certainly beats my cars, likely the office as well, probably the home setup). It is a bit flat for my listening preference, but I did a basic +4dB on the low end and it sounds fantastic.

I wonder if there is a way for me to compromise the isolation enough to use them on bicycle rides...

 

[LunarMist]

What do you all suggest in the way of in-ear noise canceling phones for air travel? My last pair of the Turtles was lost recently and they are no longer made. Noise isolation is not enough, and I can't haul around the headphone style.

 

[ddrueding]

The TripleFi are good, but nothing compared to my Bose headphones. I don't have any experience with with active noise cancellation in-ear monitors.

 

[Pradeep]

What do you all suggest in the way of in-ear noise canceling phones for air travel? My last pair of the Turtles was lost recently and they are no longer made. Noise isolation is not enough, and I can't haul around the headphone style.

From back in the day:

"Bose don't have a high end config. It's all turd.

As for noise cancelling headphones, I got a pair of Sony NC-11s (the in-ear versions) for flight use, they work pretty well, turn them on and the drone of the engines just melt away. Doesn't attenuate high freqs much, but you still need to take them out to hear what the flight attendant has to say. Oh and over 30 hours on a single AAA and no sign of fading! Makes things a lot less tiring."

http://www.storageforum.net/forum/showpost.php?p=34095&postcount=50

 

[MaxBurn]

I just blew my first set of cables on my tirplefis.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/ue/ue-earphones/accessories

I hear the westone cables are much better with a price to match but I would lose the mic and controls. Small mod to shorten the connector to fit.

http://www.westonemusicproducts.com/catalog/elite-series-monitor-replacement-cables

I haven't decided on what to do yet.

 

[LunarMist]

I received these noise-cancelling phones recently. Based on ambient and automotive noise reduction characteristics, I think they will fine for reducing turbofan engine noise during air travel. The $49 price is reasonable, but I would not listen to them indoors in a quiet environment as there is the typical light hiss during quiet passages. I have not flown with them yet. The cords are decently robust, so I hope they hold up better than the kind I was using.

 

[Howell]

Max I have the older product with no mic so I got an extender with mic and controls built in. You could do that.

 

[MaxBurn]

Which one? There seem to be dozens out there all of visibly terrible quality but I have yet to see one with a mic built in. Also thinking with the addition of that I'm going to have too much cable.

Other than not lasting long the ue vi cable is about perfect so I decided to order a set again and continue to think about alternatives. I am not above finding perfect alternatives and soldering the correct ends from my bad cables to the good ones and making my own. I do want the mic and button at a minimum and the volume control would be nice too. mic also needs to be in the right place.

 

[time]

I received these noise-cancelling phones recently.

I'm not into noise-cancelling headphones, but 10dB reduction seems poor. Wouldn't you get that level of attenuation just by wearing any good-fitting set of in-ear phones, without any noise cancellation function?

 

[MaxBurn]

IMO the complyfoams are around 26-30db, very much similar to foamy earplugs.

 

[LunarMist]

I'm not into noise-cancelling headphones, but 10dB reduction seems poor. Wouldn't you get that level of attenuation just by wearing any good-fitting set of in-ear phones, without any noise cancellation function?

Well of course that is in addition to anything from the rubbers.

 

[MaxBurn]

Of course? Like there is a set of standards?

 

[MaxBurn]

OK starting to hate my TripleFis

Was changing the foamy tip and did the usual twist and pull on it and the earbud split in two. Love the sound but this is not a quality product between this and the cables.

 

[Mercutio]

I have a page open on one of my PCs at home that basically says there's zero difference between any headphones that cost less than $100.

Which is pretty much what we all think about computers that come from retail outlets, so I suspect there's some truth to it.

 

[ddrueding]

TripleFis cost considerably more then $100, nearly double in fact. I'll need to be careful with mine, though I haven't tried the twist part of twist and pull, and I haven't had any issues with the cables?

 

[MaxBurn]

Head-Fi forum has a bunch of threads on the cables, some there even make replacement cables for them. Nothing with the integrated button and mic though.

These are well north of that price range and have three speakers (low/mid/hi) in each earbud. Though I do generally think the sub say $75 market is about all the same sound wise, but maybe not in construction quality. Also think anything north of $200 isn't generally worth it but I got these triplefis on sale to get them below that range.

What I am wondering is if the single driver westone talk series 1 or the sure se115m+ compare sound wise to these these or if I would notice the sound being worse.

Meh, first step is superglue.