Noise cancelling headphones

[the_riviera_kid]

Dear Lazyweb,

$family_member wants to buy a pair of noise cancelling headphones.
- Primarily for aeroplane use
- Over ear preferred over ear buds
- Noise reduction a higher priority than compactness

Any advice for
- Models
- Online shops
- Physical shops in $hometown
greatly appreciated.

Comments

[dannipenguin]

Headphonic in Leederville

http://headphones.com.au/

[the_riviera_kid]

Thanks!

[justadecoy]

Seconded : Had really good service from them buying my current headphones and spare parts.

[arkem]

I really enjoy me Bose QC3 headphones ( http://www.bose.ca/controller?url=/shop_online/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/quietcomfort_3/index.jsp )

Though the price seems higher than I remember.

[thisisthehabit]

Website RRPs are usually rather inflated so that retailers can make their prices look good :-(

[thisisthehabit]

Ear buds _suck_. Most of them only handle quite low frequencies, and mostly rely on passive noise isolation rather than active cancelling. They also tend to boost the volume and add some white noise when set to active cancelling, making me wonder how much real cancelling they actually do.

The same is probably true of cheaper over-the-ear headphones.

Find ones that cancel into the higher frequencies if possible. That should reduce the low-to-mid level hiss that many cheap ones create.

I'll second the recommendation for Marcus at Headphonics. He's great, and he'll talk your ear off with good info if you show the faintest bit of interest.

[cymun]

Available from jb-hifi:
http://sennheiser.com.au/au/home_en.nsf/root/private_headphones_travel-line

Better models can be had these days for the some amount of $$$ I dished out on the PXC150 a few years ago. I don't fly anywhere without them.