Noise cancelling earphones

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RisseN

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Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a good pair of noise cancelling earphones? I work from home and we live right next to an extremely busy road which is driving me crazy and giving me headaches every day from the constant traffic. It quite honestly sounds like the road is running through the middle of our house. Fortunately we're only living here for another year, but in the mean time I need to find a solution.

I believe there's all sorts of options such as noise cancelling, noise isolating etc. Basically im specifically looking for headphones that when used, simply cut out all (or most) external noise.

I dont really care if they're good quality in terms of playing music because im actually just planning to wear them with no music or anything playing. I simply want them to make the world quiet!

Does it matter much if you get the ones that cover your ears completely or not? I see you get some which dont cover your ears completely but seem to still do the trick,...presumably by active noise cancelling.

Any suggestions? Experiences?
 
These definitely work: http://pro.ultimateears.com/en-za/home
I have driven on the payway for an hour with them, and didn't hear a single car, or wind noise, or anything besides my music.

I have also tried a work colleagues Bose on-ear headphones (Possibly OE2?) and I didn't hear there was a thunderstorm outside whilst I was gaming.
 
I bought myself a Corsair Vengeance 1500 V2 for gaming, it blocks out any noise from the outside because it is Circumaural Noise Isolating headphones! And the sound it produces is mind blowing! I have had it for half the year and it solid. And they are very very cumfy
 
So are you looking for earphones or headphones, because they are 2 completely different things. Also, what is your budget efor it?

I've recently purchased the Bose QuietComfort 20 noice cancelling earphones for ~R3k in Germany and they're simply amazing in terms of noise cancelling where you have a constant droning noise like in airplanes or office aircon.

By the sounds of it, headphones with good enough passive noise cancelling/isolation would do the trick for you. Like a colleague of mine has the Sennheiser HD380 Pro (now ~R1800) and its noise isolation is insane, so much so that he almost falls out of his chair everytime someone comes in his office since he's zoning out so much when he has them on :)
 
Pada said:
So are you looking for earphones or headphones, because they are 2 completely different things. Also, what is your budget efor it?
Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions so far, im busy looking into them.

Regarding headphones or earphones, I dont really care. I just want to stop feeling like im sitting in the middle of a highway all day. Budget wise probably about R2000.

I really like the bose quiet comfort 15 and a few other bose options, although most seem to be out of my price range.

Im a complete noob in this arena,...but from what i've read im specifically looking for active noise cancelling. Not passive. And not noise isolating. I've already got a pair of Roccat Kave's (http://www.roccat.org/Products/Gaming-Sound/ROCCAT-Kave-5-1/). They're fine for gaming. But for blocking out external noise I need something purpose built.

Any other suggestions? Thanks again.
 
I've got a pair of HD380's and if you're not playing music you can still hear what's going on around you. I'm sitting in the office now with them on and no music and I can hear the guy 7m away from me talking on the phone. Music on however you're in your own space.

For your situation it sounds like you want active noise cancellation. If I were you and had to endure this for a year still I'd be dropping the cash with a smile.
 
morkhans said:
If I were you and had to endure this for a year still I'd be dropping the cash with a smile.
Click to expand...

Exactly :)

Im not someone who generally gets headaches. I can count the number of times i've had a headache on one hand in the last 10 years. However since moving here a month ago i've had at least 4-5 headaches per week from the constant noise.
 
Maybe try to get out of contract, i lived next to such a road, and the streetlights made it like daylight at night. The Putco busses started at 4am, drove me nuts, and my relationship got hurt, i cant say that was the only reason, but atleast 60% of the reason, and health issues with all that gasses
 
THe Parrot Ziks was a Dion Wired special the other day for something like R1.5K. I just missed out of the special. Was sold out very quickly as they usually for for 3.5K
 
If you are planning to generally listen to music reasonable closed headphones will cut off enough external noise to do away with the strain of constant droning noise. Another option is to listen to white noise type sounds, like waves, running water and so on.

The Sennheiser HD-380 do have a reputation for having one of the tightest seals around. Some even find it enough to be uncomfortable. They also aren't particularly good headphones in the audio quality department.
 
Quick question for those in the know. Can the noise cancellation function on the headphones being discussed work on its own. In other words if you don't want to listen to music, can you just activate the noise cancellation to have some peace and quiet?
 
RisseN said:
Quick question for those in the know. Can the noise cancellation function on the headphones being discussed work on its own. In other words if you don't want to listen to music, can you just activate the noise cancellation to have some peace and quiet?
Click to expand...
Yes. At least mine do (not the ones above lol)
 
Borrowed a friend's Bose headphones to try out and then bought the Sennheiser HD380. The HD380 did a lot better job of blocking the ambient noise. Neither of them block all of it out so you will need to play some music if you want to escape it.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Im really liking the options from Audio Technica that someone suggested. I watched this youtube video which compares the Bose Quiet Comfort 15 vs Audio Technica ATH-ANC9 vs Audio Technica ATH-ANC7b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKAwjvttX_k

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like Audio Technica is available locally. There's a couple options I found if you order through Have2Have. Not sure if there's anywhere else? Really liking the ANC9

For those of you who suggested the Bose quiet comfort, any suggestions on the cheapest place to get a pair?
 
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