I sometimes wonder if my QC25s are on, or whether the weirdly oval silicon earbuds are actually in my ears. They don't cut out music or conversation. When I tak

I sometimes wonder if my QC25s are on, or whether the weirdly oval silicon earbuds are actually in my ears. They don't cut out music or conversation. When I take them off I realise they've cut out a lot of white noise/background noise. But they just focus distractions, really. With music on, yes, they work much better. But whenever there are gaps between the music the distractions come right back. I need earbuds rather than headphones for portability, and I was prepared to be realistic about what this meant for noise reduction. But if there was anything better than the QC25s in a similar form factor I would switch in a heartbeat.