Headphones: noise cancelling or sound isolation?

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Eva
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As I've spent quite some time on planes recently I've noticed that my formerly much loved ear phones* for the iPod are crap when it comes down to noise reduction. Proper Headphones aren't an option cause they take up too much space. A quick search on the internet suggested in-ear phones (plugs) by Shure or Ultimate Ears, but when I went to a shop to try them, even the most expensive left me with doubts. So I'm back to square 1 and therefore ask you, dear HLers:

1. What shall I go for: Noise cancelling or sound isolation? Why?
2. Are the two labels I've mentioned really the best or are there more I should consider?
3. Do you have any personal favourites? Why?

Thank you people for taking the time. :notworthy:

*Bose in-ear, but not as much in-ear as Shure or Ultimate Ears
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mh
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They're not in-ear, but I've a pair of these and I find in the vast majority of cases they are extremely effective, and sound more than good enough for portable stereo listening. Deep punchy bass and sparkly treble. :D

The only time they really let me down was one time on a bus when I was sitting right at the back almost on top of the engine.
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EvilBastard
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My personal fave are the Bose In-Ear, but it sounds as if you don't like them. Did you try using the smaller or larger silicone ear-pieces? I found that if you don't use the right size then the outside sound-reduction suffers.
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Eva
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I'm using the smallest plugs and they fit well. :| It's not that I don't like them - the sound in general is brilliant, exactly what I want. Just on the plane they don't manage to reduce the noise enough, so I have to set the volume level very loud. Maybe it's an iPod problem though. Eggi has the impression that iPods generally aren't as loud as a mini disk player... :?:
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EvilBastard
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eyePods probably have some noise-limiting device installed because Steve Jobs doesn't thing you should be allowed to listen to music as loud as you like - a bit like eyeChoons, you can have the music you want but you can't listen to it on anything but the Pod. Yar Boo Sucks to apple. Hunt about online and see if you can track down the old-school iRiver IHP40 - solidly built in steel and chrome, firmware upgradable, and will play any format you can think of (and a few more you can't). The latest iterations of the player aren't up to much, but if you can find one of 2004/5 vintage they're stonking little beasts :D
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If you prefer in-ear, I can really recommend Audio Technica ATH-ANC3, with Active Noise Cancelling. Otherwise Sennheiser, as mh said, is the perfect choice, I recommend the Sennheiser PXC250, unfortunately I forgot mine at Stanstead a while ago... By far the best open headphones I've tried!

Both headphones provides good bass together with a crisp and balanced sound together with my Archos.
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I use a pair of Sony MDR EX 90 for travelling... in combination with an i-River HP20 and of course it´s "rockboxed" 8) .

Well, I am quite happy with that. But a general advice is try them out first. The Sennheiser sounds good (IE8) or a Westone W3, but have not heard them.
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Quiff Boy
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just as an aside, i'm pretty sure you can turn off the max volume limit on most versions of the ipod, either through the ipod's menus or via quick itunes tweak...

apple's official method: (depends on which version of ipod you have)
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA38403?viewlocale=en_US

menu version:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articl ... mum-volume

hack:
http://www.wikihow.com/Unlock-iPod-Volume-Limit

might not be that simple depending on what ipod you have, but it is possible.
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Izzy HaveMercy
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EvilBastard wrote:eyePods probably have some noise-limiting device installed because Steve Jobs doesn't thing you should be allowed to listen to music as loud as you like
And bloody right he is.

Youngsters today, and aulde phartes alike ;) ruin their ears by listening to iPods with in-ear at a way-too-loud volume.

If there's one thing that should be regulated by law, it's the maximum ouput of mp3 players :evil:

Mind you, if you want to ruin your ears, that's your business, but just go and stand near a starting jet then.

For that reason, try to use the cheap in-ears at all costs. I always try to talk people into using normal headphones, but I do understand the impracticality and all.

So, use Sennheiser indeed, they are very good, nicely balanced and still sound great at a NORMAL volume.

Don't think I'm trying to play old gramps here waving my finger, but thank me later when you are 50 and still able to hear birds twitter while walking through the park with your granddaughter.

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??? I always thought iPods were louder than most other personal stereo equipment, because Steve Jobs has a hearing problem.

Having googled it, this seems to be urban myth, and that 5th Gen (and subsequent) iPods do have a volume limit.
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Iprods do have limiting on the volume for sure.
It can be hacked, but isn't recommended at all (as Iz quite rightly states).

If you prefer the in ear option, then I use the Sennheiser CX300's.
They aren't too pricey, they sound fabulous (that should read, they make the music sound fabulous really) & they come in black (critical, as black headphones sound better than any other colour . :innocent: )
They cut out ambient noise brilliantly
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-CX300- ... 290&sr=8-1
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Quiff Boy
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this is quite a timely subject as i need some new headphones too, and they have to be in the ear (cant fit the headband on full-size ones over my quiff without crushing it ;D :lol: :oops:)

i've read a few reviews of the models recommended above and am still not sure. my 3 criteria are:

1) sounds quality should still be half decent when you just pop the headphones in

some of them seem to require 5 minutes to insert and extract the buds in order to get a half decent sound

2) come with a variety of different sized bud covers (rubber and or foam)

3) have half-decent noise cancellation

i think the foam ones are better than the rubber ones for point 3, as they expand in your ear canal to block sound, but the downside of this is that they then fall foul of point 1

that said, i think i'm leaning towards the shure EC2 ( http://is.gd/q3Cl ) with the foam covers ( http://is.gd/q3CE ) :|

in the past i've tended to steer towards sennheiser mx500 ( http://is.gd/q3E5 ) as they're cheap and cheerful and have with a decent sound, but i think i'd like something a little better now :)

thanks for all the info above :notworthy:
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Andrew S
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Don't get me started on bloody headphjones! I've just bought Sennheiser PX200s for my i-river. Given the reviews, reputation and, of course, the price, I thought they would sound a good bit better than the cheap old Sony MDR-A334 in-ear ones they were intended to replace. And they don't :x The Sonys have always sounded good, but I just assumed that was because I have untrained ears, so don't know any better. Well, maybe I don't but in comparison, the Sennheisers sound to me utterly middle-aged. Far quieter so I have to crank up the volume, a bit more clarity but with less bass and far less bounce. I'm now looking for a buyer for mine, although I'm not exactly seelling them well.

Sorry Eva - that was sod all use :lol: As for noise cancelling, I did get a try of some Sennheiser PXC150s in Dixons and they seemed OK, but the earpieces are quite small, so maybe that could be a problem. And as they're part of the same range as the PX200s, they're probably just as quiet. They also had Bose ones on trial, which were very good, but also large and expensive.

I think I struck gold with the MDR-A34s years ago without knowing it! So, I'm now looking for another pair, cos mine are now held together with sellotape.
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Andrew S
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Oh bugger - hiccups again!
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Eva
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No, Andrew_S, you sum it up pretty well. Headphones are a highly individual affair, that's why I'm looking for suggestions, even if they contradict each other. On my search through the internet I came across a "HiFi Forum" (in German) where they compared a lot of different (high end) in-ear headphones. The ones they love most were Shure SE530 and Ultimate Ears TF 10. Both are way above my budget, but I still went to a shop and tried them on. How was I disappointed! They all sounded worse than my beloved Bose and they didn't even keep the noise out of my ears. I went outdoors to try. After about an hour trying different ones in vain it dawned on me that their effectiveness really depends mostly on how well they fit into my ears. Now, believe it or not, I seem to have very small ear "entries" (God, my English gets from bad to worse - Sinnie, forgive me, please), so none of them really fit as they should. Besides, I'm not willing to spend € 300.- upwards for earphones I use to listen to mp3 music - as if that was high end!

What I really need are headphones that have the sound and quality of my Bose but are plugged deeper into my ears. Only: where to start? Bottom line of the suggestions so far is that I'll also consider Sennheiser, and that I'll consider them according to their shape and not their name and claimed quality. It might be that I'm better off with cheaper ones in the end. :roll: :D
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EvilBastard
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I think if you really want headphones that shut out the noise then you need to consider true noise-cancelling headphones rather than ones that just stop the noise getting into your ear-entries (love it!! :lol: ). There seem to be a number of these available but I couldn't tell you which is better. I'd be inclined to go for the Bose over-ear jobbies, but there are bud types available too.
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Eva wrote:...I seem to have very small ear "entries" (God, my English gets from bad to worse - Sinnie, forgive me, please), so none of them really fit as they should.
Don't have anything useful to add, I'm afraid :wink: , but I thought I'd express my empathy - I have the same problem! It's almost impossible for me to find an earbud that I can even keep in my ear, much less tolerate, and less still get decent sound from. Bah. :?
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Eva
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Update:
iRivers are much better, I know now, but it has to be an old model, and those, although 2nd hand, are still expensive... :| However, now I'm very happy with my iPod Nano 4G, because...

1. I got myself new in ear headphones: Sennheiser CX 300 II. They aren't as good as the Bose ones, but they completely shut my ears and are much easier to wear.
2. As Barry has mentioned, the bloody iPods bought in Europe have a volume limit built in (it's the bloody French's fault!!!), and therefore aren't as loud as the american or asian ones.
But you can hack it, even if you don't know how to access the Terminal of your mac (like me :oops: ):
a) for older iPods: google "GoPod". That's a small freeware available for windows, OSX, Linux (I think), which does the job.
b) Only running on mac, but perfect for new iPods: "iPodVolumeBoosterInstant"

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You just be careful.
You don't want to go deaf.

Glad you got good ear buds though.
;D
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Pista wrote:You just be careful.
You don't want to go deaf.

Glad you got good ear buds though.
;D
Same as with people wanting to pierce their whole body or want to jump off a bridge on a pair of stretched rubber...

It's your own body.

Go ahead, don't say we didn't warn you.

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Pista
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Izzy HaveMercy wrote:
Pista wrote:You just be careful.
You don't want to go deaf.

Glad you got good ear buds though.
;D
Same as with people wanting to pierce their whole body or want to jump off a bridge on a pair of stretched rubber...

It's your own body.

Go ahead, don't say we didn't warn you.

IZ.
What was that? Could you speak up a bit ......?

:innocent:
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I'm with Izzy. The gf assures me that tinnitus aint fun.

Own bloody fault for going to see the Bluetones in the first place imho...
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:lol:


i road-tested some shure se110 and se210 the oter day headphones and they're pretty sweet 8)

very comfortable (especially the 220's foam covers) and a really nice tone that doesnt hurt the ears and brain after a while...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 000111g-21

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shure-Se210-Sou ... JQET89ME6X

apparently they're the successor to the now discontinued e2c. the units are smaller and a lot less 'obtrusive' around the ears too...

me like.
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Jim wrote:The gf assures me that tinnitus aint fun.
It has been years since I experienced actual silence. My personal soundtrack has a perpetual high ringing tone behind it.

Thank you, Mr Hendrix et al - and my own youthful stupidity. :roll:

(Of course, I still don't wear earplugs at live shows...but that horse is long gone anyway. :lol: )
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