Need new headphones

Hey guys

I'm looking for some new sound canceling headphones, on a budget of around $100 max cdn. I might be a bit flexible if its worth the money.

I've come across some sony ones and a panasonic one but that's it. There are some really nice bose ones too in future shop but those are like 400 bucks.

Any ideas?

 

Bose is decent but generally not worth the premium.

I would buy Grado if I had any money.

 

As suggested in another thread, IEMs could be a good alternative to noise cancelling headphones.

 

BOSE = Buy Other Sound Equipment lol. For comfort and sound cancellation, full sized headphones are still unmatched. Grados have good sound but most are open (which lends to the audio quality at the cost of sound bleed in and out).

 

The anti-Bose comments above come from people who read stuff said by other people who also know nothing online, and repeat ad nauseum. Their stuff is what they are - works well enough for the intended audience, designed to be easy to use / live with and well marketed. Many people who don't really care to geek out on this stuff want something that works for them and Bose usually delivers on that front. I'd raise issue with anyone saying 'Bose has the best sound quality' or anything like that, but generally speaking their stuff works better than something nerd-friendly for the average consumer. The Apple of the audio world, basically - the parallels are amazingly close.

The Boses are actually among the very best noise-cancelling phones in terms of NC function and comfort. But personally as a frequent traveller I'm not a fan of noise cancelling.

The best of them (like the Boses) do what they do very well in a very specific band (the engine band) but apart from that, they don't cancel noise like babies, or even part of the higher-frequency air noise heard in planes. For that, the closed noise-cancelling phones rely on how they physically close out outside sound. Also, while larger yet lightweight full-sized headphones with soft pads are comfortable in theory, there's still issues of pressure on the head and also heat.

So as namaiki suggested, I use in-ear monitors. They're not quite as effective as e.g. the Boses for the specific band that electronic cancelling phones designed to work in - removal of engine rumble on planes - but in terms of everything else, IEM's win hands down IMO. Generally speaking the IEM's offer a high level of noise isolation far more uniformly across all frequency ranges. They're more comfortable to wear once you get to the in-ear aspect, as there's no head pressure and no heat build-up around your ears.

If I flew private, the Boses would probably work better. But since I spend the bulk of my flying time in elderly commercial jets, it's IEM's for me, and specifically, balanced-armature IEM's which require an air seal in the ear to work and therefore provide the best isolation.

I like the Shures as they fit well and have a well chosen (for me) compromise between achievable sound quality and ultimate noise isolation. But there are many entry-level options around the $100 range - Ultimate Ears, Jays, Kilpsch, etc all do balanced-armature IEM's. Sennheiser also do in-ear monitors around this price range, but their range is dynamic - which can't have a total air seal in the ear to work. So isolation is not as high but sound quality is higher and sounds nicer than the other balanced-armature phones at this price. You just have to figure out what's important to you.

 

I disagree, I've owned the Bose QC1 and tested out my friend's QC2 numerous times. They are not worth $400 for their sound quality and noise canceling abilities.

 

I strongly recommend Shure for audio products. I currently own the SRH440 headphones and SE110 IEM earbuds. The headphones do a decent job isolating you from outside noise (they do it without batteries which the Bose QC series requires) and give excellent sound quality. However for the best isolation, you'd want to go with IEM earbuds as they go directly in the ear so they work best to block out noise. They could be uncomfortable though, so watch for that.