Seems clear the unanimous winner is Bose, but at US$300-400 for a pair, they won’t be getting my business. So I’m considering these instead (primarily for long flights):
Sony MDR-NC6 Noise Canceling Headphones
At Amazon.com they’re marked down from $79.99 to $35.99 and they get fairly good reviews.
Has anyone tried those headphones or any other noise-cancelling headphones?
I only tried the Bose headphones in 101 building on the fifth floor, which are very nice indeed, but as you say too pricey to be realistic really.
From the New York Times the other day: Headphones to Shut Out the World
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]Seems clear the unanimous winner is Bose, but at US$300-400 for a pair, they won’t be getting my business. So I’m considering these instead (primarily for long flights):
Sony MDR-NC6 Noise Canceling Headphones
At Amazon.com they’re marked down from $79.99 to $35.99 and they get fairly good reviews.
Has anyone tried those headphones or any other noise-cancelling headphones?[/quote]
I have a pair (NT$2100 from Guanghua Market), and they’re good at shutting out background noise. But the main disadvantages are: air blowing on the microphones causes annoying noise so they can be a bother to wear outside on a windy day, and they can be pretty hot to wear in the summer.
Yea, David Pogue’s article was what re-activated my search (I think I first considered the idea when he wrote a similar article maybe a year ago), in particular the following part of the article you linked:
[quote]PANASONIC RP-HC500
The pleasantly smushy-edged earcups on this new model do an excellent job of isolating your ears. That may be one reason the noise cancellation works so well; all but the highest frequencies are subtracted. Better still, the music reproduction is stellar, especially in the crisp, clean higher registers.
I waited to look up the prices for these products until after I’d tested them. So I was astonished to discover that you can find these online for $100. You get quality that’s nearly indistinguishable from the Boses — for a third the price.[/quote]
But when I looked at amazon.com those headphones weren’t $100, they were $199 and they had only received a one-star review, which I notice now is from someone who was pissed that he could’ve bought them for half price elsewhere. For example, this morning I researched further and found one can get the HC500 at this place for $104.99, except that they appear to be out of stock presently. Or one can get the earlier model, the HC300 at Buy.com for $76.99.
I had looked initially at amazon.com so I could order some books/music at the same time, but with that price difference (a) maybe I should get the panasonic headphones elsewhere and (b) in any event, my decision may well be shaped by who will and won’t ship what products internationally.
Chris: you’re sure yours are genuine? Actually, hissing and wind noise seem to be common complaints about some of hte headphones, such as the sony’s, at amazon.com.
Yeah…but they didn’t test any ear-plug types. My emotic ear-plugs block-out sound better than my Bose’s. I really have to be careful 'cause I can’t hear shit.
I use the Sony noise canceling earphones since a few years and they are really great, especially at the airplane. Earplugs, eyemask, pillow works well for me for a nice sleep. You get used to it pretty quick.
On movies or music, you can reduce the volume by 50% at least. Make sure you have the adapters for the various airplanes to watch move.
I have a pair of “hand-me-down” headphones from the Sharper Image, of all places. I think they were under US$100.
Haven’t tried the Bose, but for plane rides, my second-hand pair seem to do the trick. You can notice a difference when you take them off on the plane–the white noise seems to roar up.
As Shiner mentioned, my set did come with an adaptor piece, so I can use them instead of the airline-issued earphones to watch movies, listen to the inflight music, and so on.
Also, they fold up pretty nicely (I’m sure the Bose do as well), making carrying them easier.
You can purchase the adapters pretty inexpensively at many audio stores. Get the fat plug for CX, the double plug same sized plug for SQ and most star alliance, and get a double, one fat, one skinny. That will cover almost everything.
If you really want to shut out the outside world, consider in-ear phones like those made by Etymotic or Shure. They are much better than any sound-cancelling headphones at blocking out outside noise. They’re great on airplanes, too.
I have the Shure E3Gs and love them. Amazing sound quality in a teeny tiny size.
I have a pair of the Bose ones, after trying out a pair that Ratlung has. As you say, very expensive, and most likely overpriced but I absolutely love them. I have had them for about 2-3 years and they had had a lot of use. I expect to get a lot more out of them.
I read in a mens health magazine a review on the health aspect of headphones, and it seems that Bose is the best for your ear health based on the type of waves they emit (i.e. long term use, the Bose set is better for your ears even at high volumes)
I have really good hearing, (which is a miracle considering I used to be a drummer, and spent most 9of my working life around running jet engines), so I am hoping getting decent headphones vs cheap ones will show some benefits later on.
A nice bonus of the bose phones is the nifty travel case they come with. An ipod fits in the central void perfectly.
Yeah, drop the money and buy the Bose. I’ve never owned them, but I’ve used them a few times and they’re wonderful.
I did own a pair of Bose Triports for a while, at a fairly hefty US$200. They were just astoundingly great.
[quote=“mildsevenlights”]If you really want to shut out the outside world, consider in-ear phones like those made by Etymotic or Shure. They are much better than any sound-cancelling headphones at blocking out outside noise. They’re great on airplanes, too.
I have the Shure E3Gs and love them. Amazing sound quality in a teeny tiny size.[/quote]
Agreed. You can block out more noise with ~$100 in-ear buds than with those fancy noise-cancelling phones. Only disadvantage to those buds is that you need to keep your ear canals fairly clean or gunk can build up.
Anyone have any idea why noise-cancelling headphones are not sold in Taiwan?
Admittedly, I did once see a pair of Phillips NCHs in Costco, but other than that I have looked many times in many places (including the yellow stores, the ChangHua computer market, Carrefour, the electronics stores on my street, etc.) and no one carries any brand. Why not?
The best collection of such headphones I’ve ever seen was in a shop in the Singapore airport, where they had over a half dozen types, which one could try out. They WERE great and I wish I’d bought a pair (or at least wrote down which models I liked). Unfortunately, I didn’t and I have no plans to travel through there in the foreseeable future.
Oops, I just went back and read page 1 of this thread and saw that Chris bought some at Changhua Market. Weird. I honestly searched many stores there for that exact purpose and couldn’t find any. And suluvaca said he saw the Bose at 5F of Taipei 101. Maybe I’ll have to search more, but I’ve honestly looked a lot and have been surprised how non-existent they are here.
I’ve seen them in Fnac.
Thanks. If I see something decent and not to pricey there, maybe I can give my wife a hint for a last minute Christmas idea.
There is a specialized headphone store in the Elite bookstore building on Xinyi (4th or 5th floor next to the DVD/music section) though the assortment is pretty small , purely high-end and expensive.
Near Boai road, where you have all the camera shops, there are also a few shops with hi-fi equipment where most models of these noise cancellation headphones can be found at more than reasonable prices. (except Shure which is over expensive priced here in TW)
Um, because almost the entire population is already completely immune to noise? Just a wild guess…
So, I was walking through the Taipei airport with time to kill before my flight and I decided to see if they had NCHs in the duty-free electronic store. They did – a couple of types, including Philips SBC HN060, in the ear type for only about US$50. My wife wasn’t with me, so there was nothing to stop me. I figured what the hell, just $50, if they work great. They don’t. I used them briefly on the flight but was extremely disappointed. I guess they make a very small difference but not much. So I blew $50; they’ll probably get very little further use from me.
Then in hte US over CNY my wife dragged me factory outlet shopping and we came across a BOSE factory outlet. Cool. I ran inside to check out the prices. Damn. The same outrageous prices as everywhere else (I forget exactly – US$299?). But they also had a set up to try out a couple of models: the older, over the ear, and the newer, smaller version. I tried both and made a discovery.
Great as the BOSE headphones may be, even those don’t do what I expected. Maybe I was naive, but I thought they would block out noise so that, without listening to music, they put you in a silent cocoon. They don’t do that. The best ones may make music, or inflight movies, slightly more enjoyable and allow one to listen at a lower volume, but they definitely don’t block out all noise or even most noise. If one is not listening to music I would think all models (except the BOSE maybe) would be pretty much useless.
I may still buy a pair of BOSE NCHs some day, but my expectations have been seriously adjusted. They’re not really noise-cancelling headphones; they’re noise-reducing (very slightly) headphones.