Noise cancelling headphones - recommendations and advice required

[monsterbunny]

Previous threads on the same subject don't tell me much. Dropping nearly £300 on a pair of Bose seems a bit indulgent, especially when I only require them for travelling and combatting neighbour noise.

Does anyone have experience of any other brand and model that might do the job? I was thinking of the more reasonably priced, and well reviewed, Goldring NS1000.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

This is the one and only time I will ever say this.

Buy the Bose if you can afford them. They are the best available.

Normal service will now resume.

 

[colacubes]

I have the Goldrings. They're not as good as BOSE, but they're good for the money. I got them for a 10 hour flight and they were fine. Only issue with them is that the phono lead is a bit flimsy and mine died after only a couple of uses. But you can get replacements easily enough.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Killing your neighbours would solve half your noise problem.

 

[editor]

I've never been impressed with the noise cancelling headphones I've tried. If there's a John Lewis near you, go in and have a play - they usually have a good selection on demo.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

The Bose in-ear noise cancellers are astoundingly good. Yes, they are absurdly expensive - and the integral battery will die eventually, leaving you bereft - but they cut out tube noise like you wouldn't believe.

 

[High Voltage]

The Bose in-ear noise cancellers are astoundingly good. Yes, they are absurdly expensive - and the integral battery will die eventually, leaving you bereft - but they cut out tube noise like you wouldn't believe.

Are you saying that when the battery goes the headphones are binned? surely you can put in a new battery?

 

[ska invita]

how noisy are these neighbours? if the headphones are on at any kind of volume you cant really hear outside anyway can you?

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Are you saying that when the battery goes the headphones are binned? surely you can put in a new battery?

Sadly not. It's quite a significant design flaw. You get 500 recharges or so.

 

[maomao]

Sadly not. It's quite a significant design flaw. You get 500 recharges or so.

It's not a design flaw, it's planned obsolescence.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

It's not a design flaw, it's planned obsolescence.

You're right - that can be the only reason, as it doesn't make any sense otherwise.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

There's quite a lot of kit which ships with integral batteries, and the unit in question does the noise cancelling as well, despite being very, very small. So perhaps there are good reasons.

 

[monsterbunny]

Thanks everyone. I'm not keen on ear buds so I was looking to get the full sized Bose QC 25s. I’m calculating they’ll deliver 16 hours per charge and last around 50 charge cycles which should produce 800 hours of use at £3 per hour before the battery carks. At 15 – 20 hours of use per week, they should last a year before I need to replace them.

how noisy are these neighbours? if the headphones are on at any kind of volume you cant really hear outside anyway can you?

Unfortunately even with a deafness problem, ordinary headphones won't silence the incessant daily scream of my neighbour’s power tools so they’re intended more as an aide to screening out ambient noise as well as delivering soothing music. Plain ear defenders help to reduce the overall din but watching television or listening to the radio with them on is impossible. I could instigate Farmerbarleymow’s suggestion but I’m too old to end up behind the door so the headphones are a sensible compromise.

 

[StoneRoad]

monsterbunny - any chance that your local environmental health might be interested in the racket from the neighbours ........?

 

[equationgirl]

Thanks everyone. I'm not keen on ear buds so I was looking to get the full sized Bose QC 25s. I’m calculating they’ll deliver 16 hours per charge and last around 50 charge cycles which should produce 800 hours of use at £3 per hour before the battery carks. At 15 – 20 hours of use per week, they should last a year before I need to replace them.



Unfortunately even with a deafness problem, ordinary headphones won't silence the incessant daily scream of my neighbour’s power tools so they’re intended more as an aide to screening out ambient noise as well as delivering soothing music. Plain ear defenders help to reduce the overall din but watching television or listening to the radio with them on is impossible. I could instigate Farmerbarleymow’s suggestion but I’m too old to end up behind the door so the headphones are a sensible compromise.

You could try Sennheiser or RHA, my Sennheiser ones cost me £30 and are brilliant. They were a godsend at 4am this morning when the neighbours still wouldn't shit up or turn their music down despite several thumps on the wall.

 

[Prince Rhyus]

These ones http://www.trustedreviews.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-ANC7b-Headphones-review worked reasonably well for me - but as others said it sounds like the noise from your neighbours is the problem - see https://www.gov.uk/statutory-nuisance for more, then go to your local council (https://www.gov.uk/find-your-local-council).

 

[Gone Girl]

omg!

urban75 has its own headphone!

 

[mog1976]

Sadly not. It's quite a significant design flaw. You get 500 recharges or so.

You must be able to. If its put in then it can come out or it could be bypassed

 

[Cowley]

Have a look on here....http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/noise-canceling

 

[RubyBlue]

Does anyone have any experience of the Bose QC 35 Series 11? I’m thinking of buying them, particularly interested in the noise cancellation feature.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I got a pair of Sony ones for £45 and they're fine.

If I was travelling on planes weekly I might splurge on some Bose, but for once or twice a year they are fine. Frau Bahn used them coming back from Hong Kong with nothing playing, they just cancelled out the sound of the plane.

 

[nick]

Does anyone have any experience of the Bose QC 35 Series 11? I’m thinking of buying them, particularly interested in the noise cancellation feature.

I have them. Noise cancellation very good - the only time it seems to struggle is with wind noise when walking through Tube tunnels. On the tube itself the cancellation is excellent

PS I also have some apple airpods which, although small and convenient are unlistenable to on the tube because of the background noise invading

 

[RubyBlue]

I bought them. The noise cancellation seems pretty good but the sound leakage is terrible ~ I wouldn’t want to sit next to someone on the bus with these on. Luckily I can take them back so I am.