active noise cancelling headphones are awesome

[masraum]

I've been using ANC headphones at least 5 days/wk for the past 4-5 years. I use them for phone calls, zoom video conferences, music, videos, etc... on my cell phone and my work desk phone when I had one. I use them for audio and video on my PC.

But what's really great is the active noise cancellation. Noise doesn't really bother me, and I'd never found it distracting at work, but I've gotten to where I put them on at the beginning of my day and leave them on until I'm done working and sometimes I just leave them on because the silence (except for the hiss of my tinnitis) is wonderful.

The other day I left work while I was on (approaching the end) a zoom call, so I shutdown my PC and left but stayed on the call. I got to my car and left. I was probably on the road with them on while on the call for 5-10 mins, just long enough to get out of the parking garage, out of downtown and on the interstate. As soon as the call was over, I turn them off and took them off. My car is an '08 Boxster S and I'm running a factory hardtop which makes it pretty quiet when cruising, or so I thought. Holy moly, when I shut off the headphones it got REALLY loud. It made me want to put them back on, but I don't drive with headphones, earbuds, etc.... I was near downtown. Once I got out of town and was in sparse traffic, I stuck them on again to see if it was as drastic as it seemed the first time. Yeah, it's amazing.

It's probably not a bad thing to drive with them on. I've noticed that I can actually hear MORE outside specific sounds when wearing them than not, presumably because they cut the noise out. For instance, you can hear folks talking or a radio or a loud exhaust or I suspect a siren pretty clearly with them on. When I worked in another building downtown, when I started wearing them, I noticed that at noon, I head music. With them off, I didn't hear the music. I think someone that I worked with said that a church a couple of blocks away played a little tune at noon every day.

But I just feel like it's a bad idea to wear headphones while driving, and I question the legality.

My first set was excellent, in some ways, possibly better than my second set. It was Plantronics Voyager 8200UC. The battery life and software of these was better than my current set. But the support for them, for instance, the availability of new ear cushions, was not good, and the cheap Chinese stuff on Amazon wasn't as good as the OEM cushions

My new set are Bose 700 noise cancelling UC. The materials seem better, and the ANC seems (a little) better.

The great thing about both is that when on zoom calls or phone calls, I can generally hear as good or better than most of the others on a call. Many times I've had folks tell someone "I can barely hear ," but I hear them just fine.

[dw1]

I've been using my Bose nose-cancelling earbuds so long that the rubberized coating on the electronics dongle is wearing off. I first got them for work-related travel (mostly international flights) and I certainly agree they are certainly wonderful.

My wife has Sony noise-cancelling headphones and I believe the Bose units do work a bit better.

[Zeke]

I had the Bose II for years until a sudden death. I now have some no name and I think technology has caught up. I imagine the real Bose are awesome.

[Steve Carlton]

What?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dw1

I've been using my Bose nose-cancelling earbuds so long that the rubberized coating on the electronics dongle is wearing off. I first got them for work-related travel (mostly international flights) and I certainly agree they are certainly wonderful.

My wife has Sony noise-cancelling headphones and I believe the Bose units do work a bit better.

My primary use case was for work calls, so I was primarily looking for great 2-way communications. Plantronics has years, probably decades of experience making headsets for call centers and folks that spend all of their time on the phone. At the time, they were purported to have ANC as good or nearly as good as the Bose, but I believe their microphones for voice surpassed anything made by anyone else (something like 6 or 7 including some that were used for cancelling background noise so only the wearer's voice was caught).

When I was ready to replace them, Bose seemed to have caught up in that dept, so I took a chance on them thinking that they should be pretty good. I feel like the Bose 700 and Plantronics (now "Poly") 8200 are like Canon vs Nikon or Mustang vs Camaro, pretty even. One only clearly excels once you pick one or two features that are your top priority.

For me I'll probably stick with the Bose.

Originally Posted by Zeke

I had the Bose II for years until a sudden death. I now have some no name and I think technology has caught up. I imagine the real Bose are awesome.

Right, I'm sure the current top-o-the-line Bose/Sony/etc... probably surpass cheapies, but I suspect the current cheapies probably equal or surpass the Bose from several years back. Technology has advanced to the point that most folks can make a decent ANC headphone at a reasonable price.

[ramonesfreak]

I have the apple earpod pro 2. Pretty cool. I work from home so no real reason to use them but I got them for Christmas and like how they immediately connect to my phone or iPad and the noise cancelling is impressive. Tried them when snowblowing my driveway but one fell out and I almost ran it over….hard to find them in snow cause they are white.

[LWJ]

Wife has some Bose. I have a knock off from Amazon.

I spent all weekend running a skid steer. While I was covered with a few pounds of dirt, my ears were very happy. Noise canceling is the bomb.

[Rick Lee]

If you have an Amex Business Platinum card, you get a $200 credit twice a year for anything on dell.com and they sell the Bose earbuds there. I think I paid $86 after shipping and sales tax for mine.

[GH85Carrera]

I have a set of the active noise cancelling full over the ear aviation headphones. They have the two plug in jacks to operate the microphone and allow full intercom function in our airplane. It has a separate box on the cord to turn the noise cancelling on or off. It is astonishing that even with the full ear covering headphones how much quieter it is when the noise canceling it activated.

I use a cheap set of "jogging" headphones for mowing the yard. They are noise cancelling, and connect via Bluetooth. It is nice to hear my music and have the noise of the lawn equipment much reduced. They are designed for sweaty active joggers to be in the rain or whatever conditions so they can handle a sweaty head.

[Deschodt]

I had a set that was so-so.. I recently got the latest airpods and was amazed also.. incredible !

My question for the audio boffins is: is it really better for your ears or for your brain ?
As far as I think I understand those systems read sound waves and produce a cancelling one... So your brain hears less.. But are your ears in essence still taking a double dose of the sound, the original + the cancellation ? Kinda wondering how that works, I may be overthinking it.

[Rick Lee]

I just got another set of the second gen. Apple AirPods. I only want noise canceling when I'm in an airplane. Otherwise, I want to be able hear ambient noise to be aware of my surroundings. AirPods are best for playing my guitar along with songs on my phone, as the non-noise-canceling feature allows my practice amp to mix just right with the song in my AirPods. The Bose earbuds really block out the ambient noise and I have to turn my amp up too loud to mix, which defeats the purpose of using earbuds when I need to keep the noise kind of quiet while Mrs. Lee is working.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

I had a set that was so-so.. I recently got the latest airpods and was amazed also.. incredible !

My question for the audio boffins is: is it really better for your ears or for your brain ?
As far as I think I understand those systems read sound waves and produce a cancelling one... So your brain hears less.. But are your ears in essence still taking a double dose of the sound, the original + the cancellation ? Kinda wondering how that works, I may be overthinking it.

No, ANC actually reduces sound via destructive interference.

If you create a wave that is the opposite of another wave and combine the two they cancel each other out.

[syncroid]

I have the Apple 2nd gen AirPods as well. The noise cancelling is amazing! I mostly use that feature when doing my yardwork or when on an airplane. Walking the dog is a whole different thing. I want to be aware of my surroundings.