Noise Reduction/Cancelling Headphones

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#565486 6-Jan-2012 19:31

alasta:
Fabian: I've been offered a pair of used Bose QC15's for $280. ?Should i pull the trigger???

You can buy the Sennheiser PXC-250-II new for about $380 ($300 if you can get a good deal). Admittedly the QC15 has better noise cancelling ability but the PXC-250-II has vastly superior audio quality.

If the price of $280 for the QC15 were for a brand new set then it would be tempting, but if it's second hand then you'd be better paying a bit more for a better alternative brand new.?

If you're looking to spend just under 300 bucks look online to get new ones, the sennheiser pxc 310 cost me 290 nz landed from amazon.co.uk and only took 4 days over xmas to turn up as well. cheapest here is 484 on pricespy. A lot of sennheiser gear seems to be on special @ amazon.

The pxc 250's will cost you just over 200 landed as well, but from what I've read of the reviews if you can get something better for the same money then you'll want to try something else.

Boeingflyer

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#565494 6-Jan-2012 20:05

Thanks Scottr, just did a search on Amazon and your right $290 to land in NZ, now i will have to do some review on it. Would you like offer any more info? They look a bit uncomfortable with the roundest of the ear cups but i'm guessing that these are 'on ear' headphones

alasta

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#565501 6-Jan-2012 20:17

scottr:
alasta:
You can buy the Sennheiser PXC-250-II new for about $380 ($300 if you can get a good deal). Admittedly the QC15 has better noise cancelling ability but the PXC-250-II has vastly superior audio quality.

The pxc 250's will cost you just over 200 landed as well, but from what I've read of the reviews if you can get something better for the same money then you'll want to try something else.

Are you talking about the original PXC-250 or the updated PXC-250-II? The latter is apparently much improved to address some concerns around audio quality.

Having said that I have the original version and I find the audio quality excellent. I can't really imagine anyone being dissatisfied with these except for those who prefer the colourful bass heavy sound profile that you tend to get from Japanese audio products.

scottr

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#565519 6-Jan-2012 20:50

Fabian: Thanks Scottr, just did a search on Amazon and your right $290 to land in NZ, now i will have to do some review on it. ?Would you like offer any more info? ?They look a bit uncomfortable with the roundest of the ear cups but i'm guessing that these are 'on ear' headphones

I can't offer any more info unfortunately, I'd purchased them and had them shipped to someone else in another city. I will be checking them out next week though when I'm down there :)

They're on ear yes, I only got those ones because the person i got them for didn't want in ear or over ear headphones, he wanted on-ear headphones. Kinda drops all the standard noise cancelling options somewhat!

Still I thought it was worth mentioning the sale on at amazon though as many other decent headphones are discounted as well. So if you find something else you like hopefully you can get it for a good price.

scottr

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#565521 6-Jan-2012 21:05

alasta:
scottr:
alasta:
You can buy the Sennheiser PXC-250-II new for about $380 ($300 if you can get a good deal). Admittedly the QC15 has better noise cancelling ability but the PXC-250-II has vastly superior audio quality.

The pxc 250's will cost you just over 200 landed as well, but from what I've read of the reviews if you can get something better for the same money then you'll want to try something else.

Are you talking about the original PXC-250 or the updated PXC-250-II? The latter is apparently much improved to address some concerns around audio quality.

Having said that I have the original version and I find the audio quality?excellent. I can't really imagine anyone being dissatisfied with these except for those who prefer the colourful bass heavy sound profile that you tend to get from Japanese audio products.

Unsure, possibly the II variant? The issue with the reviews I'd read were more with the noise cancelling ability than the audio quality, I don't think they fared too well against bigger more expensive headsets (understandably, they're much smaller and quite cheap in comparison to bigger sets). As a headphone they're alright, but as a noise cancelling headphone they're apparently average.

alasta

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#565528 6-Jan-2012 21:38

scottr:
alasta: Are you talking about the original PXC-250 or the updated PXC-250-II? The latter is apparently much improved to address some concerns around audio quality.

Having said that I have the original version and I find the audio quality?excellent. I can't really imagine anyone being dissatisfied with these except for those who prefer the colourful bass heavy sound profile that you tend to get from Japanese audio products.

Unsure, possibly the II variant? The issue with the reviews I'd read were more with the noise cancelling ability than the audio quality, I don't think they fared too well against bigger more expensive headsets (understandably, they're much smaller and quite cheap in comparison to bigger sets). As a headphone they're alright, but as a noise cancelling headphone they're apparently average.

That's probably a fair assessment. The closed ear cups give a bit of noise isolation and the effectiveness of the active noise cancelling is okay, but if you're really serious about blocking noise then the more expensive options are probably more suitable if you can afford them.

I guess the other criticism would be that the inline batten style noise cancelling module is a bit of a nuisance because it needs to be fastened somewhere when out and about and it tends to cause major cable tangling, but overall I'm very satisfied with mine.

Boeingflyer

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#565550 6-Jan-2012 22:17

I'm wanting a really good pair that will excel in noise canceling, i think i might just get the Bose ones. I see that Amazon do have refurb PXC 310 ones for only 90 pounds but they won't deliver them to NZ.

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scottr

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#565565 6-Jan-2012 22:38

alasta:
scottr:
alasta: Are you talking about the original PXC-250 or the updated PXC-250-II? The latter is apparently much improved to address some concerns around audio quality.

Having said that I have the original version and I find the audio quality?excellent. I can't really imagine anyone being dissatisfied with these except for those who prefer the colourful bass heavy sound profile that you tend to get from Japanese audio products.

Unsure, possibly the II variant? The issue with the reviews I'd read were more with the noise cancelling ability than the audio quality, I don't think they fared too well against bigger more expensive headsets (understandably, they're much smaller and quite cheap in comparison to bigger sets). As a headphone they're alright, but as a noise cancelling headphone they're apparently average.

That's probably a fair assessment. The closed ear cups give a bit of noise isolation and the effectiveness of the active noise cancelling is okay, but if you're really serious about blocking noise then the more expensive options are probably more suitable if you can afford them.?

I guess the other criticism would be that the inline batten style noise cancelling module is a bit of a nuisance because it needs to be fastened somewhere when out and about and it tends to cause major cable tangling, but overall I'm very satisfied with mine.?

Over-the-ear headphones seem to be the weaker type of design for noise cancelling. People want what they want though and in-ear and over-ear are just not always appropriate.

You're right, another criticism for the pxc 250 was the external battery holder but I think that's livable given that you can have a nice pair of light headphones and the fact that you don't look like you're walking down the road with a pair of earmuffs on. :)

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#565619 7-Jan-2012 02:04

I've been using a pair of Sennheiser PXC-150's at work for about the past two years, and for the price they work very well indeed.

One thing I've found with headphones through using Beyerdynamic, AKG, Shure, Sennheiser etc, is that you need to get the pair that YOU find the best. Our hearing is all quite different and what sounds best for one person is not necessarily best for you, or for the environment you'll be using them in.

corksta

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#565622 7-Jan-2012 02:31

Well I seem to be about the only Bose supporter in this thread, but I bought a pair of the QC15s in the USA recently and I love them! The noise cancelling is excellent, and I find the audio quality to be awesome. Everyone in the family thinks they sound great too, so I'm really happy with them.

LennonNZ

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#568603 13-Jan-2012 20:14

I decided to buy a Blackbox M16 for the trip. After I come back I'll let people know how they turn out on the plane.

I also looked at the Sennheiser PSX 250-II at nearly the same price and it was hard to choose from either/or as they both looked like they had their pros and cons.

Boeingflyer

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#570102 17-Jan-2012 19:31

I've ended up buying the 2nd hand Bose QC15's but i'm not happy with them at all. I'm not sure if i'm just too picky or that these ones have degraded or are even fakes. The noise canceling in them is crap, i know that they aren't 100% cancelation but when i put them on i find that i can clearly hear the tv and voices around me. I remember trying a pair about a year ago and am pretty sure they were way way better.
If anyone out there has a pair, can you comment on what i should or shouldn't hear???
I can't get to the Bose shop in Auckland till the weekend to try a new pair and compare.

timmmay

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#570105 17-Jan-2012 19:37

Noise cancellation only works on bass frequencies, like jet engines, railroad track noise, air conditioning hum, etc. Even then it's not perfect. Telephones, voices, TV, etc, will be pretty much unaffected, except that being enclosed they will give a tiny bit of isolation.

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#570110 17-Jan-2012 19:50

As said, noise cancellation works on some types of sound - not only "bass" but actually "white noise", like the constant humming of a computer, air conditioning, fan, aeroplanes turbojets, etc.

Also noise cancellation is an active effect - it means it needs to "listen" to the noise, then it will send out similar noise, in the exact opposite wave to cancel that out. This means you have to insert batteries and turn it on. You are doing this, right? Just to confirm.

The active noise cancellation is helped by a passive noise cancellation. Basically a headphone is better than an earphone, because it will block noise in a more effective way.

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#570112 17-Jan-2012 19:54

Skip everything else and buy M14's. I am a nervous flyer and I hate trips without them. I have tried other alternatives and never found anything close to as good. I have also had surgery on a side of my face which made my ear sensitive and these don't bother it at all.

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