Noise-cancelling headphones

[doctorgonzo]

Last year there was a post about noise-cancelling headphones and the Sennheiser PXC 300 headphones were very highly recommended. I may need something for my Christmas list and I was thinking of these, so I was wondering if these are still a good buy? Or have they been replaced by something newer and better (and maybe cheaper)?

This was the original thread.

[rjfvillarosa]

Good grief $350 for a set of headphones
http://www.bose.com/controller?event...adphones_index
I caught a TV ad out of the corner of my eye the other day but as usual I had the sound turned down, they indicated noise reduction headphones in the ad and a search of Bose (the company in the ad) came up with the headphones linked to above.

[doctorgonzo]

Bose is overpriced. Everybody who is an expert in audio seems to agree with that statement. That's why the Sennheiser headphones looked so good. They are only $150.

[rjfvillarosa]

These seem a reasonable price for Sennheiser's http://www.music123.com/Sennheiser-H...-i115122.music I dont know if they are the same spec as the PXC 300 mentioned in the thread you linked to but the prices on the music123 site are usually very good.

[Statica]

I bought these earlier this year after testing out lots of others (good ole box store return policies) and then purchased them from Amazon Marketplace (I believe thru Staples or sthing) at a very reasonable price. They are just amazing. The noise cancellation is quite efficient, the audio quality is superb - especially when you turn NC on. Battery life is extremely good.
I've compared it with similarly priced headphones and some out of the league. Most of the others use an annoying white noise as an excuse for NC... not these! Above all these are extremely comfortable (comfortable enough that you might actually forget you're wearing them on flights)
The only cons that I can think of (if I had to put something into the cons section) is that the some others have the NC circuitry and battery compartment built into the ear piece and not a separate piece that you've got to carry around. It's a bit hard to explain to paranoid flight crew .. especially when there's a red light on the compartment when NC is on).

Addendum: rjf - the headphones aren't NC's
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-PXC...&s=electronics are what I got
I'd compared it with http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...ght=headphone; the PXC 300 was not available in Canada .. the PXC 300, I bought from the US, was 20% better than the PXC 250 (no not really, if there was a difference I couldnt detect it)

[Floppyman]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo Bose is overpriced. Everybody who is an expert in audio seems to agree with that statement. That's why the Sennheiser headphones looked so good. They are only $150.

I'm actually a proud owner of several Sennheiser headphone pairs, including the PXC-300 noise cancelling set. I bought these around last Christmas and took them with me on an Africa trip. The first thing that impressed me was the sound coming out of these headphones. I own a couple pairs of bigger Sennheisers (575's and 535's) and these tiny noise cancelling headphones sounded just about as good as my bigger pair. The noise cancelling works well when traveling on airplane an even better on the bus, but like any noise-cancelling headphone it's not perfect. It's all about what you expect when you invest in something like this.

Overall, I highly recommend them though. Great sound, battery life is great as well (after hours of usage the pair of AAA's in the noise cancelling portion have not yet run out), and they very portable (headphones fold up and come with a nice carry pouch). I think I ended up $140 for mine, and for that price they can't be beat.

[Strider]

I have a Sennheiser HDC-451 which is at least a couple of years old (maybe older) and they've been the best headphones I have own. Like listening to music playing from the computer without listening to the hum of my computer.

[dogdude16]

i was wondering if noise canceling headphones are worth it. and as for noise from my pc, i cant hear it over my stereo which is hooked up to my pc

[Panama Red]

I bought some cheapie noise cancelling headphones last spring and used them on a couple of flights. They do a great job blocking the background noise. I'm sure these Phillips phones are nowhere close to the Sennheiser quality but I'm satisfied for the limited use I give them.

[mojo]

It really depends on the person for noise cancelling headphones. Since they use opposite phase sounds to cancel the noise, many people, including myself, percieve this sound pressure even though distinct noises are cancelled. When I put on noise cancelling headphones my ears "feel" like I'm on a plane with the roar of the engines, even though there really is no noise. I personally prefer the earphones that physically isolate sound from your ears, such as my sony MDR-EX71's, which I paid $30 for.