good question goat! according to some, well maybe one, nc headphones like these and Bose elimate jet lag, improve skin tone, and actually reduce the risk of cancer from solar flares while flying… :D
[quote author=“japaneseimportscomau”]Sennheiser Noise-Canceling Folding Headphones
Brand/Model: SEN PXC250
Finally bit the bullet and bought them as I am heading off on some long haul overseas flights soon.
First impressions (and i havent had the chance to fly with them yet):
Fantastic. The quality of construction is superb.
They fold down quite small;
and come with a very nicely made carry bag which fits the headphones, noise cancelling battery bit and also has a little compartment which fits my MP3 player and the adapter plug for the airline port (supplied with the headphones).
The noise cancelling is fantastic and inspires me to think they will be perfect on the flight. I stood in front of my air conditioner and turned it on and the noise all but disappeared. This was without playing a track. Once the music was on I couldn’t hear the airflow at all.
Sound repreoduction quality is excellent. I tried various music types and enjoyed the range of reproduction of these headphones.
Now the drawback is…..they are horrendously expensive. RRP $300 AU. I got these on the sly ( 8) ) for way less than retail and it’s the only way i would’ve got them. That said now having listened to them and after reading heaps about how they help with avoiding jetlag, I think I would be tempted at the real price, but $300 is a lot for headphones. Maybe at $200 I would be saying buy now, but that’s just an individual thing.
I’ll report back when I’ve flown with them.
Damian
(1)
Just would like to point out that earplugs can reduce decibels levels by 30dB. It seems like earplugs would work better at reducing airplane noise. Even the low frequency (bass) noises.
So does noise cancelling headphones cancel out noise better than earplugs in airplanes?
(2)
Anyone ever hear of any products out there that uses regular speakers to cancel out noise :?: from cars going by, say if you live near a busy intersection or near the freeway?
I’ve heard of such technology used in luxury automobiles.
Audiophile Gurus out there?
GoatCamel
8) 8) 8)
earplugs are ok, but noise cancelling ear phones work alot better. the mechnism of sound removal is different. ear plugs just uses a natural plug to keep noises out. noise cancellings works by producing an anti-sine wave that breaks down noise. for example, imagine drawing a sine wave. Then draw a negative wave and add them together. It’s something like that. As for the audiphile question, i’m not much of one, but i would imagine it takes more than just speakers to be one. I would imagine you need the settings like audio recording quality, copy quality sound card quality and of course, surrouding envirmoment.
time to shop for a noise cancelling for the plane ehhe my sony’s in-ear doesn’t block out enough :|
OK. I have been using them for a while but haven’t left for the big long haul yet (actually fly out tomorrow morning for a 10 hour jaunt ).
The impression so far; awesome. The sound reproduction is superb. Interestingly when you don’t have the noise cancelling function turned on the earphones still work but they actually don’t seem to produce as much bass, volume or have the rnage of reproduction that you get when the noise cancelling is turned on. If it’s off you have to turn the volume up quite significantly and they kind of sound like normal, cheap headphones. Turn on the system though and it’s a stunning difference.
So to conclude, i would highly recommend them, especially if you can get them for the sorts of prices you guys seem to have access to overseas. They are without doubt the best headphones (of this size/style) that i have ever used.
More soon…..
OK. I have been using them for a while but haven’t left for the big long haul yet (actually fly out tomorrow morning for a 10 hour jaunt ).
The impression so far; awesome. The sound reproduction is superb.<snip>
So to conclude, i would highly recommend them, especially if you can get them for the sorts of prices you guys seem to have access to overseas. They are without doubt the best headphones (of this size/style) that i have ever used.
More soon…..
Now i feel bad about procrastinating on the $80 deal. :(
Thanks, and let us know how the ten hour flight goes…
A very iinteresting thing happened. When the Sennheiser headphones were at Amazon for $80 I put a pair in my shopping cart. After procrastinating and going back to find the posted price at $99, I pretty much forgot about it.
I don’t buy much from Amazon. Last week when I ordered an item the headphones were still in my cart at $80. The site still showed them at $99. Obviously I was destined to own a pair… Nice headphones BTW.
Life lesson 59684: If it’s a good price, stick it in your cart. You may luck out.
Note: Most sites seem to update cart prices. I don’t know if this is a glitch in Amazon’s system, a customer courtesy or if adding a new item caused it to ignore the existing item.
Well the flights are over.
The earphones worked really well. They cancel all but the high freq sonds and i must say that after the OZ to Italy flight i felt 110% (which is rare for me on any day ). I stayed up all day and went to bed at a normal time and actually never felt the effects.
Then on the flight to NYC from Italy i gave them to my wife and she fell asleep immediately which is also unusual. An added benfit of these headphones is the fact that to listen to music or even the in flight movie you don’t have to crank the volume up as without the background noise it’s much easier to hear. I suspect that the bass fatigue also occurs because you’re blsting your ears with the entertainment as well.
In New York i shopped for a cheap second pair but ended up deciding on the cheaper Sony MDR-NC5 headphones.
Why you ask?
Well i thought it might be interesting to do a comparison and also they were $60US. The other thing i liked was the fact that the microphone/battery/noise cancelling bit is built into the headphone part itself whereas the Sennheiser has an extra bit hanging off the cords.
The Sennheiser certainly feels more robust than the Sony unit and the bag, build quality etc is very evident in the comparison. Also the Sony’s didn’t work quite so well at cutting out noise but were lighter on the head.
The result:
The Sennheiser is the better buy.
have you seen the duracell commercials ?:)
they might do one exactly the same for Shure
All pop signers use those when they sing, etc.
The sure is a professional quality. If you really want to enjoy music and relax… you might eat the 400$ and just get good shures… Living in LA makes me insane, being able to detach and feel the relaxation is gold…
I think this thread was really more about bang-for-the-buck than absolute best quality. Even with noise cancelling there is so much incidental noise on an aircraft that some of the finer nuances may become moot. Personally I’d have concerns about subjecting $4-500 earbuds to the rigors of travel.
No question Shure makes fine audio equipment. My last turntable had a Shure V15 Type III.
[quote author=“DayWalker”]have you seen the duracell commercials ?:)
they might do one exactly the same for Shure
All pop signers use those when they sing, etc.
The sure is a professional quality. If you really want to enjoy music and relax… you might eat the 400$ and just get good shures… Living in LA makes me insane, being able to detach and feel the relaxation is gold…
Yes, I am sure they are very good. But still, you just can’t compare 400$ equipment to 50-100$ equipment, it’s just a different device class.
Wanna compare your notebook PC against my UltraSPARC portable? No, you don’t. (And unfortunately, I don’t have such a beast anyway…)
ehhe my sony’s in-ear doesn’t block out enough :|
