Use of Noise cancelling headphones on public transport?

[Martin2012]

I was wondering is there anyone on here who uses noise cancelling headphones to listen to music whilst traveling and if so, how effective are they in blocking out the noise of other passengers?

Have been considering investing in a pair for a while as I love listening to music when traveling but sometimes find it difficult to block out the noise of other passengers either having a conversation with one another or talking loudly on their mobile.

In addition does anyone know do noise cancelling headphones prevent the sound coming from the headphones from being heard by other passengers?
One of the other reasons I'd like to invest in some is after an incident last week on an NX coach where I without meaning too, got on the wrong side of a driver-because I turned up the volume on my Ipod to drown out the sound of other passengers.

 

[Techniquest]

I use a pair of JVC Gumy earphones, which are noise cancelling. They work beautifully on their own without music at blocking out the surrounding noise! I'd have been lost without them on my overnight coach and Cally Insomnie moves earlier this month!

I found no issues with leaking sound so you should be OK there. My pair were only 8 quid too from Asda so a good way to block out the irritances on public transport.

 

[yorksrob]

I don't think they're noise cancelling, but I've just bought some in ear ones made by a company called Jays for twenty squid. I've been impressed so far and haven't had any problems keeping out other noises.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

I got a pair of Sony Digital Noise Cancelling headphones included when I got my Z2, and they are by far the best headphones I've had as the jack is a 5 pole jack instead of the standard 2 pole jack...

 

[tony_mac]

Noise cancelling headphones work by cancelling out constant, low-frequency noises.
They are very good for engine noise, but not much else, certainly not other people's music or conversations.

You probably want to look at noise isolation rather than noise cancelling.

 

[cambsy]

I have a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 25 which though expensive £270 approx, are brilliant at cancelling out side noise, they are active noise cancelling, very good sound sound quality, over the head head phones.

They work by using microphones which pick up out side noise and block it out by very clever stuff, means can play music at lower volumes so not annoy other people or driver, you do definitely get what you pay for as these are one of the best noise cancelling head phones on the market. you can get in ear noise isolation ear phones which work by making a seal in your ear and are good, on the ones I have u can feel a little bit of pressure from the noise cancelling technology, I prefer these as u get better sound quality and just love them for travelling.

 

[455driver]

As long as you use something better than the 50p earphones supplied with Apple products I don't mind.

I don't know why but when they sit beside me and I start tapping along to their music they get annoyed!
Maybe if they got some decent earphones so I didn't have to listen to the leakage I wouldn't annoy them by tapping!

 

[AM9]

The current fashion of wearing full over-ear headphones in public is driven by the need to isolate external sound rather than inverting the phase of sounds picked up by microphones fitted to the outside of the earpieces.
When travelling long-haul, I was rarely tempted to watch in-flight movies as the background engine roar destroyed any ambience on the soundtrack especially therough the rubbish headsets that the airlines provide. A few years ago I had my Sony 7506 cans which I use for video recording in my carry-on baggage and for the first time, really enjoyed a film, (The King's Speech which has plenty of quiet dialogue). I always carry them on now as they make journeys much more relaxing. Sometimes i carry them with my kit on trains.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I got a pair of active noise cancelling headphones for long haul flights. They are pretty amazing - you turn them on and the engine noise just disappears.

However they do not block out variable noises like conversation if anything the actually make it clearer so if the people behind you are having a loud conversation you can actually hear it more distinctly than without the headphones on.

So if you were thinking of getting them to use in a busy train carrage they might not be as useful and a good set of noise isolation headphones might be better although you run the risk of missing important announcements.

 

[jnjkerbin]

I have a pair of Sennheiser Noise Cancelling Headphones and they work absolutely brilliantly. They only block out fairly constant background noises (like the engine noises of a train) so you can generally easily hear announcements being made. Would strongly reccomend.

 

[pemma]

I have a pair of Sony MDRNC7B Noise Cancelling Headphones, which aren't the latest model. They block out a lot of background noise even with the noise cancelling feature switched off. I'm not really sure the noise cancelling feature does a lot extra most of the time so I'd suggest a decent pair of ordinary headphones which are effectively designed to block out background noise would be just as good.

Noise cancelling headphones wouldn't block out conversations except maybe if someone was talking in a very monotone voice.

 

[Puffing Devil]

I travel a lot for work - planes and sometimes trains - and am a big fan of Noise Cancelling headsets.

I started with the original Bose QCs when they came out. I replaced these with a folding set of Sennheiser's that eventually gave up the ghost. These were upgraded to a set of Bose QC20s in the last Amazon Prime day (saving over £100!).

They make travel much more pleasant - catching up on podcasts, listening to music or even watching the in-flight movies.

 

[Robertj21a]

You could just save your money and keep the sound turned down.

 

[Simon11]

You could just save your money and keep the sound turned down.

and ears!

 

[AM9]

You could just save your money and keep the sound turned down.

How do you do that, ask all the other passengers including children?

 

[subria]

I've used active noise cancelling earphones on the Underground (and is generally noisier than standard rail) for years, works like a charm. If you have the music going, and the cancellation on, I normally cannot completely hear the announcements (my Sony equipment has a monitor button to overcome this when required). My basic Sony pair claims to be 85% efficient, and heads up to 95%+ on the pricier end.

It's not going to to drown out a child crying, someone talking loudly next to you, but at least one can listen to whatever you want without having to turn the volume up high. The key is that on their own, they're not going to block much direct noise, but if you are listening to something, it will help you hear that more clearly than the outside noise.

 

[gazthomas]

My Bose ones which have active noise cancelling are excellent

 

[Minilad]

Do these headphones work on wives?

 

[gazthomas]

Sadly not, get yourself a dog and take it for lots of walks. Worked for me!

 

[Blamethrower]

I have some Shure 535 in-ear monitors for general tunage. £400 they used to retail for so not sure if anyone else will buy them at that price. My mate works for Shure so I didn't pay full price.

However, they are truly the most amazing earphones ever. Cancels out all the all the kids, other people talking, announcements and general hubbub.

As a bonus they also appear to be the best sound on the market. What these do is actively show up anything with poor production values and emphasises anything with good production values.

However, I've just ordered myself a new cable so only one downside to it, but then with other earphones you'd have to buy a whole new set!

So yes, they work, but at a cost

 

[PaxVobiscum]

The Shure 535s are sound isolating rather than noise cancelling, but as you say they are the bee's knees for that.

In the broadcast and entertainment industry, the term 'In Ear Monitors' (IEMs) is applied to the whole system, usually wireless TX-RX and the actual bit that goes in yer ear.
Shure know this perfectly well, but they also use the term to market expensive in-ear headphones.

 

[Puffing Devil]

I had some Shure E3Cs which worked well with good sound. The downside for me was the need to have the ear canal completely sealed for them to work well/properly. I even had some custom ear inserts made. Even these started to bug me after an hour or so of use, so I went back to over-ear for longer sessions.

 

[snail]

I had similar issues with Shure earbuds so now have a pair of Sony XBA-2s. They come with silicone earbuds and foam inserts which I find very comfortable and isolate sound well on trains and planes. I can still tell when announcements are being made (but can't hear them unless I mute what I am listening to) which I prefer to having all sound blocked.