Advice on noise cancelling earphones and silent places to sleep

I should probably split this topic in two, but I’ll give it a go first.

I recently arrived in Taipei and will move in a permanent apartment on June 1st. Meanwhile, I am staying in an Airbnb which is unfortunately noisy at night due to traffic noise. Earplugs don’t do enough and I can’t sleep.

I’ve been eyeing a top of the line Sony WH1000 noise canceling headphones for a while, and I think this could be a good time to make myself this gift. Do Sony stores in Taipei apply different pricing? Where and how could I get a good deal?

On the other hand, I’m also considering moving out of the Airbnb to a more quiet area. Doesn’t matter where, as long as it is within 1 hour of MRT to the main station. Where would you suggest me to look?

Thanks for any advice :slight_smile:

Alleys are generally quiet, you can find quiet places anywhere, just avoid roads.
Make sure the windows have good insolation, you can run a fan or air purifier for white noise.

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Avoid area hatched on the map above.

If you can handle 1 hour commute to Main Station, may I suggest, Linkou! The real Linkou, not the Guishan part.

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Have you tried them on yet? Noise canceling headphones can give a lot of people instant nausea the second it is activated. Myself included. I wish I tried the AirPods Pro before buying them.

As someone else mentioned above, you don’t actually need to move out of the city. You could just move into an apartment that faces the back of the building. Or just move to a smaller street or an alley that doesn’t allow cars.

You could also look into apartment tower complexes that have an internal courtyard, and get an apartment that faces the courtyard. Or just rent a higher floor. Anything above the 10th floor of an apartment tower should be pretty quiet.

The Sony WH1000 noise canceling headphones are great, I bought them a couple of years ago and then bought the 1000-XM wireless earbuds. I can’t imagine trying to sleep with headphones on but the ear buds would probably work. You might have battery issues. White noise podcasts on Spotify and YouTube through speakers well for work me for blocking out sound.

As for finding a quiet place in Taipei, best of luck to you. Like searching for a unicorn. There are many posts about this. Welcome to Taipei though.

Haha appreciate the map effort :smiley:

I know it’s a joke, but MRT has nothing to do with noise, on the contrary.

Avoid any apartment adjacent to a busy road.

I haven’t seen any in Taiwan. My experience is that there’s little difference between closing them or opening them.

Most Taiwanese probably will never understand the Ace Ventura window scene.

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One hour from Main Station would be in a different city, probably beyond Taoyuan Airport. Not very practical nor necessary. Pockets of silence do exist within the city.

No need to be close to Taipei Main unless you work there. Our subway system is very well interconnected. Let us know where you’ll work and we’ll advise accordingly.

We have a nice hotel next door. Cute park in front, isolated from noise by bigger buildings. Monthly plan, kitchenette. MRT next door and 20 minutes ride to Main Station. PM me if interested. Xindian BTW.

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I did try them briefly in a shop before, and I usually wear a pair of in-ear noise cancelling headphones. Only effect I hear is a little additional ‘pressure’ on my eardrum (which I think makes sense since the driver is effectively operating) but otherwise no nausea.
I tried using these in-ear with ANC to cancel the window noise, but I can still hear it. I think it may be sufficiently low-frequency that it gets through my ear canal otherwise, and that the only thing which could block it is over-ear insulation.

And for every suggestion so far: thank you :slight_smile: I just wish I could easily check a room noise levels before booking it.

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Nothing beats airpods pro gen2 when it comes to noise canceling right now. They are a bit less comfortable but the noise canceling is shockingly good.


Try these kind, rather than the standard squish/roll and insert. You should be able to find them in pharmacies etc., or online. Helped me enormously through the last few years in Taiwan.

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Visit at different times, both day and night .

Rule one of renting in Taiwan is do not rent sight unseen from abroad.

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Always followed your advice for ANY country, I’m not sure why this time I didn’t. Probably I wanted to skip the hassle of bnb-jumping the first month, and I trusted the listing. Lesson learned: I was right all along before :sweat_smile:

50 NT$ PU earplugs, crammed into your ears cancel 80-90% of noise. Don’t just have them stick out, really push them down.

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This is true. Have had/seen apartment in quiet area, but surroundings are consisting of either:
High-rise construction that won’t finish in weeks/months.
Neighbor having dog that barks all day/night. (
South East Asian laborers in batch in building.
Latino students in batch in building.
MRT station/lane construction nearby.
Shopping mall nearby.
Wet market nearby.
Ginger duck/stewed mutton/seafood diner on 1F.
Arcade machines in 1F.
Hangout area for local Taike.
Long road with curb/turns, that invites illegal drag races.
Highway on/off ramp nearby.
Neighbor that seems to always have a call on speaker.
Dodgy attractive looking girls in batch.
Room near a parking area in building.
Room near temporary trash collection in building.

Learned to use the foam version living in the Uni dorms. Could sleep, but still aware in case of emergency.

On the other hand, they don’t do much sitting on the ass end of a. 308.

Can one sleep on their side while wearing those?

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So, I’ve actually pulled the trigger and bough them. Oh my god they work so well!
Before them I tried standard foam earplugs, as well as my already owned in-ear noise cancelling earbuds (anker soundcore sport x10), with the latter doing a slightly better job, but not good enough.
Then I tried the Sony. I could barely hear a thing! The measured noise outside is around 50db according to a sound meter app I installed, and it gets all filtered (except the occasional really noisy sports car). And if I want, I can even put the foam earplugs on, and THEN the Sony on top. Works even better :slight_smile:
Costly, but they do their job. And I can experience what top-tier sound quality is as well. When I’ll grow tired of them, I will get some money back by reselling them second hand.
For side sleeping, you feel them obviously. But if you have a reasonably soft/adaptive pillow, their side is flat and will just thus be squished on your ear evenly. I could personally fall asleep ok.

Thanks for all your contributions :slight_smile:

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