Noice Cancellation Headphone recommendations?

[Statica]

I'm looking for a set of decent Noice Cancellation headphones .. I dont want to spend the amt for a Bose Quiet Comfort .. but something that will effectively drown out most low frequency sounds yet have a good sound quality. Any recommendations?
These are what I've looked at:
Sennheiser PXC 250 - it seems to be quite decent at NC but seems to generate whitenoise of its own.
Sennheiser HDC451 - seems to be reviewed well enough .. but sound quality seems poor according to some reviews.
Sony MDR-NC50 - I really dont want to buy a Sony product (I'm currently boycotting any Sony product quite seriously!)

Any recommendations or personal experience?

TIA

[mbossman2]

with all my travels of late...the sony (i know) seems very popular as does the bose...i have only seen a limited # of sennheiser....so going by sheer numbers, I would say Sony

[Freakitchen]

This is probably not very helpful, Statica, but I actually had a pair of the Bose demonstrated to me yesterday, and they are VERY good at low frequency noice cancellation, whilst still allowing you to hear higher frequency sounds.

They are expensive, but (in the UK at least), we have a number of Bose 'outlet' stores, where the stuff is either factory-reconditioned or reduced due to over supply. I was quoted £225 for the headphones, including a "free" MP3 CD player. Just thought I'd mention it in case the 'outlet' stores exist where you are.

Freakitchen

[David M]

Freakkitchen,
I am using these headsets: http://www.russellnewquist.net/index.php?p=253&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 The reviewer says there is a hissing (high freq white noise) but there is none in mine. The reviewer is probably noticing noise coming from his own audio source that he never heard before till he got a decent pair.

They cost me about 50 bucks at Best Buy. They do a good job at noise cancelation and are comfortable. The sound is excellent as well. A much better value than the Senheisers. Best of all, they are not Sony's. :)

BTW, there is a practical limit on the cancellation frequency on all noise cancelling headsets becuase they must react fast enough to generate a sine wave that is the opposite waveform of the sinewave generated by the noise for accurate full or partial phase cancellation...and it takes at least one cycle to record and then replicate a negative waveform of the noise.

Another limiting factor is a time difference between the microphone that picks up the noise and cochlea in your inner ear where sound is converted to neural signals. The smaller the sine wave (higher frequency and shorter wave period, the greater the difference where the microphone is in the noise sinewave and where the cochlea is (in the inner ear) in the sinewave. Basicly, the headsets would have to know exactly where your cochlea in your inner ear is located with respect to the microphone and then make a time correction as frequencies go higher with therefore shorter (x-axis, time) sound waves. Essentially, don't ever expect noise cancellation to reach 20,000Hz unless some genius figures out how to measure the distance between the cochlea and the mic for different sized humans. I hope I made some sense.

[Hi Ho]

I have listened to most of the Sennheiser noise cancelling models. They all sound good. I did not hear any white noise. I couldn't recommend a specific model because I listened to them all at once and don't remember which was which.

[Statica]

Thanx for the recommendations folks .. I probably will go for one of the Sennheisers .. while I really like Bose products, I dont have the usage requirements of a $399+15% tax (in Canadian prices) on headfones ..

Cheers.

[kstatefan40]

Hey Statica, do you folks have a Sams store (walmart warehouse like thing) up in Ontario?

They have a Bose system here that sounds absolutley great for $99 (if I remember correctly) with an MP3/CD player. I was listening to it just the other day. Then again, $99 american could be somewhere equal to $399 canadian :D

I'd be willing to go buy and ship it to you if you'd be willing to buy through me (if you guys don't have a Sams up there and that is what you are looking for).

[Hi Ho]

Even the lower end Sennheiser stuff is a step above Bose at a lower price.

[Statica]

Just thought I'd update it and thanx again for the responses. So here's what I've been doing .. been trying out a few headphones from the local box store and trying to make a decent decision. Here's what I've tried & felt... (& just my opinions)
a) Sony MDR-NC50 - Ok there was a lot of prejudice against Sony , the company itself, but I couldnt find anything else on my list and decided to take this home.
This is a lousy set of headphones at any price and for much less at one that lists at $250 CAD, there is no way anybody should ever have to live with this. Firstly, the sound quality leaves a LOT to be desired, it's really awful .. but seems to get better when NC is engaged and no it's not because NC is that effective. The NC is a joke .. Sony's answer to NC is to generate a horrible, "loud?!" white noise! It's just worse than the noise itself. Finally, the design of the headphones are bad as well. I guess the shape of my noggin' aren't what they had in mind, but I found the headphones itself press down against the top of my head. I guess the only good that I can say for the phones was that the battery compartment, just required a single AAA, was built near the fones.
b) The Sennheiser PXC 250 was amazing! The design of the earcups was such that it roughly cut out more than half the ambient noises. The NC was unbelievable .. all I can say is WOW! The sound quality is very rich, the best I can describe it. The only downside to the Sennheiser, is the NoiseGuard circuitry itself .. it's quite heavy and the size of a pen. It just really has the potential to be quite cumbersome, but it's just one beautiful piece of equipment that I can see myself getting addicted to. The 2 AAA batteries are heavy, am not too fond of headphones that have audio cables from both earcups as opposed to the single ones that most higher end headphones have.
c) Bose .. I have yet to find a pair in the usual places I've looked at .. Hi Ho I know about your opinions on Bose, for me - I am fond of Bose audio and would be testing one. i still dont see myself buying a $300+ set but I am intrigued by the possibility of comparing a Bose to a Senn.
d) Panasonic and a few others .. blechhhh! Not even worth writing about.

Again, these are just my opinions so far, and audio perception is extremely subjective.

Thanx for your opinions.

[RevCLB]

Hi Stat, Audio perception is extremely subjective. If you don't want to go to the expense of having your hearing tested in a lab why not just go with the phones that sound & feel the best to you. I have a couple ranges my hearing is cloudy on but but other than that I am like a sonar boosted bat. I can hear stuff on cheapo speakers & phones. I can hear stuff that many others can't. Go with your comfort & intuition Amigo

[Floppyman]

Interesting discussion! I'm just about to drop dough on some Sennheiser PXC 300's actually. I've also been looking at some noise cancelling headphones and couldn't justify the prize of the Bose Quiet Comfort 2. It seems the PXC 300's are just as good but cost less than 1/2 the price of the Bose. Plus I've owned Sennheiser in the past and have been very satisified with their quality. Let me know what you end up going with Statica.