Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Muppets Threads! (And Anything Else) => Topic started by: Danneaux on January 07, 2014, 07:01:28 AM
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Hi All!
Dreaming here on a winter's night of summer travel, I realize I don't have to emerge from a jet feeling half-deafened by motor and wind roar if the adblurbs for active noise-canceling earbuds are true.
They promise 70%-80% reduction in ambient low-frequency noise (like said motor/wind roar) while allowing reasonable listening to in-flight movies while watching the screen in the seatback ahead by using a microphone to produce sound that is out-of-phase to the noise around me, making things seem quieter to my ears.
A quick survey shows a wide range of prices, from ~USD$18 for a cheap set of Philips ones to as much as USD$200+ for some that might work better (or not, according to some reviews). Panasonics seem to hit the sweet spot in the low-end at ~USD$54 or less on eBay.
The user reviews run the gamut at all price levels and actual effectiveness seems to depend primarily on how well the earbuds fit one's own ears. I see some use disposable AAA cells, while others have rechargeable batteries. Some have short cords, while others have long ones; all the active ones have a battery back midway. All seem to do something, none seem ideal.
So, asking if those of you with them have a favorite to recommend, hopefully with good effectiveness at a lowish price-point, as I can't imagine using these except for air travel, so don't want to invest a lot.
Thanks in advance for your recommendations.
Best,
Dan.
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Personally I found the earphones supplied by Emirates were perfectly good for me to listen to movies and music with no disturbing external noise.
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...I found the earphones supplied by Emirates were perfectly good...
That's it! I must change airlines...! :D
Best,
Dan.
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It appears I will need noise-canceling ear buds that include a dual-plug adapter for the jacks used on some/most airplanes.
Best,
Dan
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Dan,
While visiting your neighbourhood this past summer, I got a pair of custom-designed earplugs at the BMW rally in Salem. These are for motorcycling -- the main issue being wind noise, as well and the racket caused by car tires (my airhead has a suitably refeened exhaust note, and not a lot of engine noise). The outfit I bought them from fitted me on the spot, and the plugs were ready inside the hour. (They use a flexible plastic which reaches its "ready state" within the hour.) It's a California-based operation: bigearinc.com (Name lends itself to an earful of bad puns, ho ho ho, which those of us exposed to Noddy and Big Ears in our younger days will no doubt seize upon...) Their website invites readers to find a local retailer -- I didn't check that.
Anyway, I used them on my return journey of about 7,000 kms, and they work very well. I'd say that they block about 2/3 to 3/4 of wind and road noise, but (by design) not all. Blessed if I can remember how much they cost me -- $50, maybe? They're bigger than the standard cheapo items (company is called Big Ear, after all...) and come in several colours, the better not to lose them. Mine are a dreadful aqua-green, but then, I see them only when I'm looking for them, eh?
Of course, you can't use them and listen to music, etc. -- Ooops! Just saw your most recent post, so this info may not be of any use. I'll leave it as is, in case it's of use to other readers, or if you decide to skip the inflight music/movies etc.
Good luck!
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Hi John!
Many thanks for the heads-up on this one...sounds like these are nose-isolating rather than noise-blocking, but still very useful indeed for when one wants Quiet Time Away. No batteries required!
I pondered both, but figured hearing the movie might be nice. OTOH hand, the Linux-driven entertainment system on my last Airbus flight kept rebooting, so I saw the first 52 minutes of Ironman over and over and.... It wasn't that good the first time!
Best,
Dan.
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...sounds like these are nose-isolating rather than noise-blocking
Nose isolating? Haha! Careful you don't cut off your nose to spite your face!
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;D ;D ;D :D
Best,
Dan.
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Dan,
It is nice to dream about the summer. We are looking to book a holiday soon for 2015, and we have not even booked one for 2014 yet. The trick here is that magic balance of quality and cost.
I have used in the past, Shure 215 ear buds, these were very good came with the airline double adaptor, they work by going deep in your ear and block the outside noise. I stopped using these as the ear buds hurt my ears after a few hours. But I used them for 3 years and they still look in very good condition. The whole range of shure ear buds are very good. Light, small and easy to carry, they have their own case http://www.shure.co.uk/products/earphones
I now have a pair of Bose noise cancelling over ear headphones. These are brilliant, I love these they sounds great and on the train in the morning all noise is gone. You can even remove the cable and just block out the noise. They take a single AAA battery quite large but they come in there own case. I do takes these to London on the train each week with my work clothes for a 2 night stay away along with my laptop etc etc on my Brompton http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-personal-audio/headphones-and-headsets/acoustic-noise-cancelling-headphones/quietcomfort-15-headphones/
I got mine from the bose seconds shop and they are basically returns or remanufactured with about 30% off retail and they come with full warranty.
All the best.
Peter
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Wonderful, Peter; thanks so much for the firsthand reports.
Plainly, from a performance standpoint the over-the-ear 'phones would be best, but from a space-saving standpoint, the 'buds have the advantage.
Much thinking to do now; thanks ever so much for the recommendations and reviews.
Best,
Dan.
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Hi Dan
i had some Philips over the ear noise cancellation headphones. they were rated as being very good in comparison to the more expensive makes but i found them too bulky and sold them and replaced them with sennheiser in the ear noise blocking earphones.
i've tried a quick search but can't find the ones i have but these are similar but i didn't pay this much for mine so maybe with a longer search you could find a much better deal.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sennheiser-CX-880-NOISE-ISOLATING-Earphones-Headphones-for-MP3-Android-iphone-/201011755924?pt=AU_Electronics_Portable_Audio_Accessories&hash=item2ecd3bfb94
i use them a lot . it's amazing that just by blocking out the outer sound what difference it makes. i can also drop the volume of my mp3 player almost by half which is probably saving quite a bit of battery.
hope that helps
Waser
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Thanks, Waser; I'm gaining some traction toward a selection.
I have really good hearing -- never exposed to things like rock concerts and ear plugs and ear cups worn at the few drag-racing events in childhood (my house was 8km from the track, and we could still hear the burnouts louder than normal conversation, so it was Really Loud at Ground Zero) -- and want to keep it intact. Being able to run the MP3 player or airliner in-flight movies at reduced volume is just what I'm after for keeping what I have. I'd hate to lose the ability to hear the Night Noises I so enjoy when wilderness camping.
I have some Sennheiser ear buds for general listening that are really good, so this appeals as well.
Many thanks,
Dan.
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i use them a lot . it's amazing that just by blocking out the outer sound what difference it makes. i can also drop the volume of my mp3 player almost by half which is probably saving quite a bit of battery.
Or, as an audiologoist told us, preventing your future hearing loss :)
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no idea Dan i don't do that much flying ::)
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Hi All!
After some careful research and your comments, I have made a selection weighing effectiveness, sound quality, and price: I purchased Audio Technica ATH-ANC23 active noise-cancelling earbuds for USD$36/USD$38.95 shipped new from eBay.
They review well, given the price-point:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/headphone-reviews/audio-technica-ath-anc23-review/
http://www.head-fi.org/t/551759/my-review-of-the-audio-technica-ath-anc23
http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/b8f997425a783390/index.html?utm_campaign=bazaarvoice&utm_medium=SearchVoice&utm_source=AskAndAnswer&utm_content=Default
I hope they will be okay; if not, the price was low enough I should be able to recover my costs, judging by eBay closing prices for used ones.
I hope these do work alright. My last flight from Portland to Amsterdam left me with flattened hearing for awhile, and I found the continuous exposure to high noise to be very fatiguing at the start of my tour. I see some of the reviews indicate these are effectively noise-isolating to a high degree even when the active cancellation is off, so they'll probably stay in place if I can stand the feeling of the plugs. Might be a possible substitute for foam plugs in other noisy environs like hostels, as well, or when trying to sleep in airports on 24-hour layovers.
Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions.
Best,
Dan.
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Firsthand followup report and call for suggestions...
Oh goodness; early results from my testing of the Audio Technica ATH-ANC23 active noise-cancelling earbuds that arrived in today's mail are not encouraging for my use.
I realize this is a product category that depends greatly on achieving a good seal between the earbud cushion and the ear canal, and this is something I just can't seem to accomplish, despite having no problem with conventional audio earbuds, which seem to attenuate more ambient noise than these. I tried the three sizes of included rubber tips as well as the fourth included option, a pair of conforming "Comply" dense foam tips. I got the best isolation with those, but even normal conversation came through unmuffled, so I have to conclude at this point we (the earbuds and I) are not a good "fit".
Apart from the poor fit, they also fail to work as I had hoped;perhaps my expectations were a bit off.
Standing next to each of my noisy bathroom exhaust fans and next to my running refrigerator, turning the AudioTechnica's control switch on and off did reduce the background noise to a small degree -- while boosting the noise from my MP3 player, which I prefer to listen to quietly and -- ah! -- there's the rub. It seems the effectiveness of the Audio-Technica depends not just on good sealing (for noise isolation, which I was never able to achieve to my satisfaction), but *also* on the volume of the intended audio source, as the amount of background noise attenuation is directly dependent on the volume. When I listen at low volume, the noise cancellation just isn't as effective.
Thinking about it, this might be a common problem with noise cancellation, as you'd almost have to have a source volume close to that of the ambient noise you'd like to mask; otherwise, the out-of-phase signals wouldn't be loud enough to do much to attenuate ambient noise. It is a pity there aren't two volume controls, one for preferred source audio (i.e. MP3 player or in-flight movie) and a second one for the out-of-phase signal to cancel the ambient noise.
For those who have noise-cancelling earbuds or headsets, do they work like this? It sounds much different than Waser's experience with his Sennheisers.
I'd hoped to use these to listen quietly to the in-flight movies on a series of long international flights for a tour, but instead it seems I would be trading one noise for another and listening to the in-flight movie much louder than intended or preferred. Ah, me; I'll be putting these up on eBay and swallowing the loss if I can't find way to make them work for me. After using them just a short while, my ears feel as fatigued as if they had been exposed to the sounds of a long flight.
Others who tried mine had the same experience. I followed the troubleshooting guide in the instructions: Checked the fit of the earpieces, cycled the power switch, and changed to several fresh batteries. The core problem seems to go back to a poor fit at the earbuds with inadequate sound isolation as a result.
Thanks for any suggestions you might have to get these to work for me; they seemed just the thing for flights as well as noisy hotel room air-conditioners, loud rumbling trains, camping near the all-night-running generators of motorhomes and carvans in commercial campgrounds and the myriad Civilized Night Noises one endures until they can get out properly on the road for a tour.
Best,
Dan.
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I expect to be in a Jeep Wrangler for about 3,500 miles in April. Almost all of that time I will be a passenger. I am not looking forward to a very noisy ride for something like 60 hours. I have spent several hours of time on the internet researching noise canceling over-the-ear headphones.
I have concluded from the comments left by purchasers of a wide variety of them that I will probably not be happy unless I buy the $300 USD ones from Bose. If anyone has any other recommendations on what to buy based on first hand experience, please let me know. I am firm in wanting over-the-ear style.
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I've had a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort ® Acoustic Noise Cancelling ® headphonesfor years and are magic.
Just remember to carry a spare battery......
My assistant recommended the Sennheiser versions as being much better.
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Hi mickeg!
On my last long international flight, a seatmate had an interesting approach I may try myself. He brought his earbuds and a pair of cheap but effective Harbor Freight cup-type over-ear hearing protectors. He said those blocked a lot of the ambient noise, making it possible to play his earbuds are much lower volume.
For such a long car (Jeep) trip, it might be worth it to just use earplugs, noise-reducing ear cups, or both for part of the trip, but I can't see it working very well from a social standpoint -- people want to chat, and it would be a long time to just sit there.
Hoping I'll also find a solution that works for less than USD$300....
My ears don't feel "right" after yesterday's experiments, but I've brought in the Dyson and will see how the noise-cancelling works with that.
Best,
Dan. (...who is beginning to understand the real meaning of the phrase "tin ear").
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Update: I have found these noise-cancelling earbuds do produce a counter-phase sound even without a sound source, but it isn't very effective or noticeable due to poor sealing between the earbuds and my ear canals. The volume control doesn't control the amount of sound damping, but does modulate the volume of whatever source you've plugged it into.
Mickeg, I do think over-ear units would eliminate that problem and thus be more effective. Even so, you'd want a good seal 'round your ears to make them effective. The Bose ones do look very good in that regard.
For some reason, my ears feel really fatigued after using these things even briefly, so keep that in mind as a possible drawback.
Ah, well.
Best,
Dan. (...who may just be one of "those people" for whom these things don't work very well)
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I have a couple of over the ear hearing protectors I use with things like my shop vac. (Am now retired, did not count the ones that clip onto a hardhat as I might never have to wear a hard hat again.)
On planes I often use the foam in-ear hearing protectors, might just use those for the Jeep trip.
I spent several hours in various airports last month, it had not occurred to me to check out the various options in the airport stores at that time. I think I will wander thru the nearest shopping mall this coming week to see what is offered so I can try out whatever I would eventually buy.
Being retired, I only fly for personal trips, which means rarely. So, the primary use would be the Jeep trip, not future flights. But $300 USD for ones like the Bose QC15 or Sennheiser PXC 450 spread over 60 hours would be only $5 per hour, have to figure out if that would be worth it.
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A quick update on my noise canceling headphone search. I specifically wanted over the ear headphones. I anticipate spending 60 hours in a noisy Jeep in March and April, most of that time as a passenger, that is the primary reason for wanting them but I also fly a couple times a year.
I bought a pair of new (in box) folding Able Planet XNC230 Extreme noise canceling over the ear headphones on ebay for $35 USD with shipping. There must be a huge markup on these, suggested retail is $109 USD.
Reviews I read on the internet suggested that it has a very weak hinge joint in the center that easily breaks. And some reviews indicated that Able Planet was not very responsive to warranty claims. But, few reviews complained of poor noise canceling ability, so that suggested to me that most people were happy with the noise canceling.
I tried them at the health club where they have several treadmills, elliptical trainers, stationary bikes, and nearby Racquetball Courts. The headphones cut out almost all of the low frequency rumble of the exercise equipment. They were less effective at cutting out the background voices and the sound of Racquetball impacts. But I felt that the sound reduction was good enough for the price that I paid, so I can report that I am quite happy with them. If the Jeep and airplane noise frequencies are similar to the exercise equipment, I will probably be very happy with them for traveling.
Audio quality? When I am wearing headphones I usually am listening to the news or television. I am not a perfectionist when it comes to music. All I can say is that I think they are just fine for audio quality, but I am a poor judge of that. The headphones work when the noise canceling is shut off, that apparently is not the case with some others.
So, I bought them considering that I could buy about 8 of these for the same cost of one pair of Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones. I filed down a bit of the plastic on the folding latching mechanism that apparently is part of the reason for breakage, so that there will be less stress on the joint when I fold that mechanism, hopefully they will be less likely to break.