BEST poor mans headphones!
I was lookin for a pair of headphones that were the following:
*Noise Canceling
*Comfortable
*Inline Volume changer
*Decent cord length
And the only thing I thought that would meet my requirements were a pair of Bose Noise cancelers, that retail for 299.99. BUT I tried The Koss Ur-29s, and that are absolutley great. I was on a flight from Cleveland, to New Zealand, that about... 11 or 12 hours. To my right, I had an asian woman frantically speaking on a cell phone, to my right a 12 year old kid BLASTING music out of his portable speakers, in front me I had a senior class of about 110 seniors, and behind me NOT 1 NOT 2 but THREE babies. And the best part of it all, was that I couldnt hear one of them, just my music flowing from my iPOD. The Ur-29s are about 30.00 and well worth it. They are also collapsable and very comfortable.
Very happy!
# 1 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
glad to hear someone is enjoying their UR29, it does have good isolation, but more people said they'r sound arnt detailed enough. but hey...dont expet too much form $30 phones:)
# 2 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
Cell Phone while in flight?
That's not allowed, is it?
Isn't that why they have those phones behind the seats?
# 3 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
Squibbles:
i suppose that's what he meant...
Any other suggestions what's the best boom for the buck / best for your ears and your euros?(ok lame rhyme i know)
# 4 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
You could look into either the Shure e2c's (about $80) or the Etymotic ER-6's (about $130). Neither are noise cancelling but both are very noise isolating. About the same as a good pair of earplugs. Add your music on top of that and you won't hear anything from the outside. Plus, they have very good sound.
There are plenty of discussions here and at the major headphone sites (headwize, headroom, head-fi, etc.) about them.
# 5 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
Sennheiser PX 100/200 are cheap.
60$ cdn if u order from UK site.
# 6 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
Can you tell me where I can see these headphones online?
I would appreciate it alot.
thank you.:)
# 7 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
From what I google'd it doesnt look like the 100's have noise
cancellation, but the 250's do.
There also seems to be a huge price difference between
the two.
Is there a pair of noise cancelling headphones that are
small(er)? The 100's and 250's both appear rather large.
I'd still like something I can stick in my bag or *gasp* a pocket
if need be.
I just got my ipod and have been frustrated with how poorly
the headpones that come with it isolate ambient noise.
I find myself cranking the volume up waaay too high and
don't want to damage my ears.
-div
# 8 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
Hmm... Pocket-able noise cancellation? Here's the *most* portable I've seen.
http://www.minidisco.com/mdr-nc11.html
And the second most portable I've seen (but I wouldn't put them in a pocket, for fear of breaking them):
http://www.minidisco.com/pxc-250.html
Hope this helps.
azdude at 2007-11-15 15:35:20 >
# 9 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
so after doing like 5 seconds of reading around on here
(yeah yeah sorry its sunday and i was feeling lazy)
I found a few options.
Sony makes one ( MDR-NC11 ) which az_dude mentioned just
now.
I also was reading about the Sure E2C
http://www.shure.com/earphones/eseries_e2c.asp
The FAQ on the site says that in-ear phones can sometimes
exceed noise cancelling headphones.
I was wondering about that myself, it would seem that
noise cancellation could pose problems, due to the fact
the frequency inverter could conceivably pick up sound
beind emitted from the sound driver.
I'm no audio tech or even an audiophile, just like good sound.
So I guess what I'm wondering now is,
can anyone compare the mdr-nc11's to the sure e2c's?
The sures look like a more portable option, and
there faq/infomercial text is selling me pretty good :)
thanks
-div
# 10 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
Good thing about in-ear isolation phones over noise cancellation phones, is that they cut out more than average noise (airplane engines, etc... constant sounds)... they cut out purty much everything-- they're like earplugs that sing ;-)
azdude at 2007-11-15 15:37:16 >
# 11 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
nice analogy.
-div
# 12 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
For isolation, flat response, and detail, I would hate to give up my Etty's.
rt297 at 2007-11-15 15:39:24 >
# 13 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
I have the MDR-NC11 because, well, because I wasn't thinking and I should have bought the Sennheiser PXC 250. They're basically the Sony EX in-ear phones with noise cancellation circuitry.
I prefer active noise cancellation when on airplanes and buses and such because I actually want to be able to hear it if my wife or son or the flight attendant or whoever is talking to me. Not that I can really still hear them, but I can identify that I'm being spoken to and can then turn things off.
I'm sure that isolating phones like the Shures sound better than the NC11's, though, so if that's your most important concern, go with those. The NC11's have a similar sound to the Sony EX70/71, which in my opinion is muddy.
# 14 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
I've settled on the Eytmotics. Many of the noise cancelling headphones that I have tried give me earaches with extended use--they put a slight pressure on your ear kind of like going up or down in an elevator pretty quickly.
I had a pair of PXC-250s from JandR, but I returned them because they didn't give a good enough seal to allow good sound at reasonable volumes. To get good sound, I had to continually hold them clamped to my ear with my hands.
I had a pair of the previous generation Sennheiser HD-451s. These gave me an earache from pressure with extended use on a long airplane.
Etymotic ER-6s were good, I liked them enough to convince me to try the ER4Ps. I have settled on the ER4P as my headphone of choice for travel. It did take me a while to get comfortable wearing the in ear canal headphones for extended time periods. They rule for both sound quality and noise isolation.
Bottom line is that this is an intensely personal decision based on your comfort level with the different types of headphones. Try to get exchange priveleges when you buy so that you don't get stuck with expensive headphones that you don't like.
# 15 Re: BEST poor mans headphones!
I like Sennheiser PX 200. You have to give em a few days to break in, and then they sound incredible for fifty bucks.
