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From all the reviews I've seen, Bose noise-cancelling headphones are pretty much the best you can buy. Especially if you want earbuds (the QC20s). They're ext

From all the reviews I've seen, Bose noise-cancelling headphones are pretty much the best you can buy. Especially if you want earbuds (the QC20s). They're extremely expensive though. Do you (or anyone) have suggestions for alternatives?

anigbrowl 12y ago
I believe they're good as far as they go because Bose has the strongest patent portfolio in this area, but wearing any kind of noise canceling headphones immediately gives me the unpleasant sensation of having my eardrums sucked outwards. I'm not sure why; I think it's a side effect of the tiny latency inherent in the design. It's so unpleasant to me that I stopped paying attention to new products in that category so I'm a bad person to ask.
tinco 12y ago
For the price of Bose noise-cancelling headphones you can get headphones from the three brands the parent mentioned (throw in AKG for good measure) that sound better in 'lab conditions'. But if your discerning feature is 'noise-cancelling', i.e. headphones that sound excellent in noisy environments like trains, coffeeshops or open work environments I believe Bose is the king and will be as long as their patents are enforced.
- raverbashing 12y ago
  I had an in-ear Noise Cancelling Philips, that's around $20 And for heavy noise cancelling goals it was very good (like, being able to work with someone with a lawnmower or a drill next to you) Granted, half of the noise isolation is passive, half active, still, very good
tomc1985 12y ago
I've a pair of Sennheiser HD280's that knock out background noise passively better (their website says 32db attenuation... and I swear they are a sanctuary from sound) than a lot of active (as in powered) noise-cancelling headphones. They're also some of the most unbiased headphones I've heard at $100 (which may or may not suit your tastes)
ansgri 12y ago
I use Klipsch x7i and they allow you to listen to audiobooks on a low volume setting in an underground train. Which, in Moscow, seems like a perfection. The sound is very clear, but not balanced. Neither an expert nor a musician though.
redacted 12y ago
tomc1985: hope you see this - your account has been hellbanned for over two years (about 850 days, with one comment visible 270 days ago - not sure how that happened). Your comments over those years don't seem bad at all - sometimes perhaps a little confrontational but not aggressively so. Perhaps HN could allow users above a certain karma threshold vote on [dead] posts, with those scores going towards a "repeal fund" - make decent comments over a certain period and get temporarily un-banned.
DiabloD3 12y ago
Bose QC15s and QC20s are the best active noise-cancelling headphones out there... but the problem is, hey still have very mediocre sound, but they do the noise-cancelling part well. They are also massively overpriced. Sennheiser HD280 Pros have extremely good passive isolation, and will beat QC15s at a fraction of the price, in both isolation and audio quality. So yes, Bose still loses when you look at the big picture. Bose is very good at marketing, they are not very good at making quality audio.

anigbrowl 12y ago

I believe they're good as far as they go because Bose has the strongest patent portfolio in this area, but wearing any kind of noise canceling headphones immediately gives me the unpleasant sensation of having my eardrums sucked outwards. I'm not sure why; I think it's a side effect of the tiny latency inherent in the design. It's so unpleasant to me that I stopped paying attention to new products in that category so I'm a bad person to ask.

tinco 12y ago

For the price of Bose noise-cancelling headphones you can get headphones from the three brands the parent mentioned (throw in AKG for good measure) that sound better in 'lab conditions'. But if your discerning feature is 'noise-cancelling', i.e. headphones that sound excellent in noisy environments like trains, coffeeshops or open work environments I believe Bose is the king and will be as long as their patents are enforced.

raverbashing 12y ago
I had an in-ear Noise Cancelling Philips, that's around $20 And for heavy noise cancelling goals it was very good (like, being able to work with someone with a lawnmower or a drill next to you) Granted, half of the noise isolation is passive, half active, still, very good

tomc1985 12y ago

I've a pair of Sennheiser HD280's that knock out background noise passively better (their website says 32db attenuation... and I swear they are a sanctuary from sound) than a lot of active (as in powered) noise-cancelling headphones. They're also some of the most unbiased headphones I've heard at $100 (which may or may not suit your tastes)

ansgri 12y ago

I use Klipsch x7i and they allow you to listen to audiobooks on a low volume setting in an underground train. Which, in Moscow, seems like a perfection. The sound is very clear, but not balanced. Neither an expert nor a musician though.

redacted 12y ago

tomc1985: hope you see this - your account has been hellbanned for over two years (about 850 days, with one comment visible 270 days ago - not sure how that happened). Your comments over those years don't seem bad at all - sometimes perhaps a little confrontational but not aggressively so. Perhaps HN could allow users above a certain karma threshold vote on [dead] posts, with those scores going towards a "repeal fund" - make decent comments over a certain period and get temporarily un-banned.

DiabloD3 12y ago

Bose QC15s and QC20s are the best active noise-cancelling headphones out there... but the problem is, hey still have very mediocre sound, but they do the noise-cancelling part well. They are also massively overpriced. Sennheiser HD280 Pros have extremely good passive isolation, and will beat QC15s at a fraction of the price, in both isolation and audio quality. So yes, Bose still loses when you look at the big picture. Bose is very good at marketing, they are not very good at making quality audio.