What type of NOISE CANCELING headphones do you have?

Try the Etymotic, either er-6 (about $140) or er-4 (about $270). They're canal phones which means they go all the way into your ear canal and and block about 25db--so they're not noise cancelling, but rather noise blocking--but with music on, everything is blocked out. If you can deal with these being stuck in your ears, the sound quality is almost perfect. I have the er-4's, and I'm constantly blown away by their clarity--well worth the money I spent (and believe me, I was very hesitant to spend that much on protable headphone).

For good headphone info and advice--Headphone.com is great, and they have a 30 day return policy.

Here's a comparison of the etymotic and Bose phones.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1101/headphones.htm

I think most that have heard both will give an edge to the Etymotics.

I can only comment on the Ety's (ER-4P's) and the Boses. My advice on the Bose: Try them on a plane. They block the ambient plane noise, but not the annoying people around you while you're trying to sleep. They just seem louder actually because they're yelling to overcome the plane noise.

I'll never forget my first long (CVG to CDG) flight with my ER-4P's. As we were taxiing on the runway at CDG, I took my Ety's out and then noticed there was a kid behind us crying. I mentioned to the guy next to me that it would have been terrible if that kid had been screaming like that for the whole flight. The look the guy gave me was all I needed to realize that he had been screaming the whole flight. These things (with my iPod) have saved my sanity on my several intl flights over the past year or so.

The ER-4x series of headphone is just like taking a world class headphone, and sticking it in the middle of an earplug. You get the ≈30db noise reduction that you'd get from a pretty good earplug, and then you can drown out any little bit of noise that exceeds that with music - which doesn't take much volume. Classical music on a plane is actually possible. They also come with either rubber or foam tips - just like most popular earplugs.

The other problem with the Bose (and apparently others) is that they tend to work so hard on getting so/so noise cancelling performance, that they seem to totally forget about the speaker/music quality. Go look at a forum like headwize.com and you'll see the general Bose opinion is that they are the Microsoft of the speaker world - OK products with exceptional marketing.

The only potential "gotcha" of the Ety's on an airplane is that you need to be comfy with having an earplug in your ear. I have used earplugs a lot in the past so for me it was a no brainer. Go down to Wally World and get a cheap pair of rubber or foam earplugs (in their Pharmacy quite often) and see if you can handle it. I like the rubber tips myself because of their durability, but the foam ones work well too, and are perhaps a bit more comfy.

The Ety's aren't perfect. If you want to jog in them, well, you probably don't. I have some cheap $15 Sony's for that. The Ety's cause a lot of cable noise if you hit the cable while moving. Not good for activities like jogging. However, you can do somewhat active things in them still. I painted my room one weekend while wearing them without much problem at all.

The only other disadvantage is that you won't be able to hear the pilot when he wakes everyone up to point out the grand canyon below you... :) (Of course, there was the one time that I missed an announcement that the tower where we were going to be landing was on fire, but that's another story...)

Oh, and as to the $$... Yeah, it's a lot. But I wish I would have just bit the bullet in 1997 when I first heard of Etymotic instead of waiting several years to research and dispose of several cheaper ($40 a pop) Sony headphones.

Some people don't like the microphonics of the Ety's or having things so deep in their ear canals. For those people active noise cancellation is still a very good option when flying, but I wouldn't recommend the Bose. Check out the Sennheiser PXC250 if you want over-the-ear phones or Sony MDR-NC11 for canal-style buds (not as deep as the Etys). The gang over at head-fi would, in general, probably rank the Sennheisers as the best non-Ety solution.

are you sure you want noice-cancelling instead of isolation?

headphones with isolation usually have wider soundstage, headphones with noicecancelling usually sounds less detailed

the ETYs are nice, they have good treble, which i love.

However, I will take less treble and a more defined midrange with my shure E2s for half the price ($80 at guitar center).

They fit fairly the same way, but the shure, for me, hits the right mark for an intermediate budget looking for portability and quality.

Sony MDR-NC11 is quite good, you can get them at a pretty decent price off of ebay. I use to use it, blocks off outside noice very well (70% as it advertised). Only problem is the wiring from the earphones, there is a remote like thing in the middle of a very long cord which you can clip onto your clothes. If you are also going to be using the remote from ipod, you are looking at about 4 feet of wiring dangling around you + 2 things clipped on to your clothes. Very troublesome.

Originally posted by SunByrne
but I just bought a set of Sennheiser PXC 250s which both have better cancellation and better sound. The PXC 250 can be had for $89.99 from www.macmall.com; it says 129.99 but when you add it to the shopping cart it drops the price by $40! Very good price.

Sweet! Thanks for the tip, I just ordered a set. :D