Noise canceling headphones?


I have been reading about the noise canceling headphones from Sennheiser and some other brands. Can anyone that has tried these give some insight in to the validity of this technology?

I flew United Business Class the other day, they gave you noise canceling headphones. When I turned on the noise canceling, it was like pushing the loudness button on an old amp. Not very pleasant. I would like to know whether the Sennheiser et all are any better?
njonker

Showing 1 response by abstract7

I second Mg123. I have tried Sennheiser and one other (can't remember which one it was) noise cancelling. They do work--any monotonous noise is cancelled to some degree (like plane engines), but their fidelity is not very good. I bought a pair of Etymotic Research ER-4S (I recommend the S version) about 3 years ago. I have also purchased the airhead amplifier from headroom. This is a GREAT combination for travel. The ERs don't cancel noise, but they plug into your ear and effectively reduce the noise (I've heard by 25db--but perhaps its 23db--anyway it's a lot). They are fabulous fidelity. The airhead amplifier takes the whole thing up another level. Headrooms circuitry allows the user to switch in a little bit of cross talk with delay. This makes the sound less "in your head"--it is far less fatiguing than listening to regular headphones. Once you use one the headroom amps it's hard to listen for any length of time without it. For any audiophile who travels by plane very much--these are two products I would highly recommend.