Noise cancelling headphones - Anyone have any that actually work?

[roorooroo]

I've bought a couple of pairs of noise cancelling headphones and both have been absolutely useless...i am trying to block out my extremely noisy neighbours and street noise..cars etc....

Just wondered if you have any recommendations for me?

Cheers, Roo

[SiM]

forget about active noise cancelling... just get proper IEMs that seal in the ear very well (that blocks out 90% of sound anyway).

I have super.fi 5 pros and I never have had this problem... but I have nearly been run over after not hearing a car

[peterb]

I used a pair of Sony headphones - but they worked best with constant background noise (aircraft, trains etc) and were not sogood on transient noise. Sennheiser have a good reputation, but expensive, and I suspect would suffer from the same problem. (Active noise cancelling works by listening to the ambient noise, phase inverting it and mixing it back with the sound - hence noise cancelling - transient noise spikes, particularly ones covering a range of frequencies, are hard to block)

So while it might be worth trying some (in a shop) as the prvious OP says, you may be better off getting a good pair that exclude ambient noise - noise cancelling ones tend to be lightweight and designed for travelling.

[dave87]

Didn't Jeremy Clarkson test the Bose ones? iirc he thought they were fantastic. Bound to be pricey though

[chuckskull]

Noise canceling works well on consistent noises. On a plane/train brilliant, to drown out screaming kids or annoying neighbors not so much. For that IEM's or a loud pair are better.

[SiM]

Didn't Jeremy Clarkson test the Bose ones? iirc he thought they were fantastic. Bound to be pricey though

He is hardly an audiophile.... Don't get the bose, they are meant to be terrible... sure they sound better than £5 headphones, but even the £15 CX300s are better...

The best cheap sets of IEMs at the moment are the CX 400 and the UE metro.fi 2

Just completely forget about noise cancelling, it can distort the music too... Isolation > cancellation...
In your experience it was completely useless... that is expected... google it, they generally are crap

[r_j_k_p]

a vote for the sony mdr-ex71's here.

they block out noise really well, and have a good fit in the old ear canal.
Only like 25 quid as well.

imho, i've had the sony noise cancelling ones and they were pants. You just here a bit of white noise, and im sure it does work, but as other people say, only to constant noises like being on a plane.
i dont think any headphones have like proper proper noise cancelling headphones.

[SiM]

a vote for the sony mdr-ex71's here.

Don't get those. I have a pair of those, the sound quality is not great and the wire disintegrates. Very poor build quality.

The CX 300 is cheaper and superior in all ways to the ex71.

[Betty_Swallocks]

I have a pair of Phillips ones. I'm not an audiophile but they sound pretty good to me.
I drive a rather noisy Mazda MX5 so I bought them so that I could hear my iPod and I have to say that the noise cancelling works a treat.
Only £35

[Lourdes]

Didn't Jeremy Clarkson test the Bose ones? iirc he thought they were fantastic. Bound to be pricey though

Is this a joke?

[Pob255]

Another vote for the Sennheiser CX400 here I got mine new off ebay for £10, they do a great job of plugging up your ears blocking out sound

but I have nearly been run over after not hearing a car

Same thing happen to me as well so you've all been warned

[kalniel]

Are you trying to listen to music as well or are you just after some quiet?

[dave87]

Is this a joke?

Not entirely - Jeremy Clarkson is well known for not holding back in terms of his opinions. If I'm honest, I trust that more than I do an audiophile.

What to an audiophile may be unacceptable, I may not even know the difference. And things are subjective.

I'm probably wrong, but meh, got better things to worry about.

[SiM]

If you choose to buy from ebay, you should be warned that there are a lot of fake earphones on ebay, so be careful...

Dave, his recommendation is similar to this analogy: Jeremy Clarkson recommends a celeron. He tested it and found it good.

He knows nothing about computers so that would hardly be accurate reflection of whether it is worth it for you... but for his purpose a celeron might be the best buy...

[acrobat]

forget about active noise cancelling... just get proper IEMs that seal in the ear very well (that blocks out 90% of sound anyway).

Yeah. I think covering your ears up is the most important bit. I have an ancient set of headphones with huge leather padded ear bits that completely block out all sound. They are about 20000 years old. I got them off my older brother and he got them off my dad, and my dad got them off a gypsy who came to him in a vision.

But my point is that they have no high tech noise cancelling properties, other than all those multiple layers of thick padded leather.. it's like putting my head deep up a cow's arse.

[dave87]

In which case - for people like my grandparents it is more than likely that it will be fine.

I would suggest his ears are as good as mine - I'm not an audiophile and will never pretend to be.