Do noise cancelling headphones work?

corblimey

The background noise in my gym (where i mostly use my mp3 player) ranges from annoying to all encompassing depending on where in the gym I am and my in-ear phones supplied with my player are just not cutting it. I'd be happy to pay for some good headphones that let me listen to my choice of music, but I have my doubts.

These ones, for example, claim to block out 2/3 of 'ambient noise'. What is ambient noise and would 2/3 be enough to let me listen to my music in peace? The noise in my gym is mostly very loud music coming from speakers on the walls and muscle bound freaks shouting and grunting.

Thefirestarter

They do work but i dont think that type of ear-phones would not be best suited to exercising .

Try these http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/324484/art/sennheiser/cx-300-earphones-in-black.html

or

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/237748/art/creative/ep-630-earphones.html

DerekD Goldfish

Yes they work but not nearly enough to justify their extra expense(I spent 200 quid on a pair)
Closed cup headphones will cut out far more than open ones even with noise reduction but then with closed cup you have the problem I pointed out in my other thread.

corblimey

Thefirestarter wrote: »

They do work but i dont think that type of ear-phones would not be best suited to exercising .

Try these http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/324484/art/sennheiser/cx-300-earphones-in-black.html

or

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/237748/art/creative/ep-630-earphones.html

They're pretty much the same ones as I got with my player (http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/599445/art/sony/nw-za815b-walkman-2-gb-mp.html) and I find that they're pretty much useless in the face of a massive speaker 10 feet from me.

zilog_jones

There's headphones like CX300s which have some form of active noise cancelling. Sony do some - they have some extra box yoke along the cable: http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=MDR-NC22&site=odw_en_GB&imageType=Main&category=HED+Travel

Dunno how well they work. At that price they'd want to do something!

Kintarō Hattori

zilog_jones wrote: »

There's headphones like CX300s which have some form of active noise cancelling. Sony do some - they have some extra box yoke along the cable: http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=MDR-NC22&site=odw_en_GB&imageType=Main&category=HED+Travel

Dunno how well they work. At that price they'd want to do something!

I got these for my missus for when we are on the plane and she loves them. They are very effective and you'll be hard pressed to hear anything you shouldn't.

Stepherunie

I have the CX300s and I find them great for cancelling out the noise - can be an issue when people are trying to talk to me though!

I use them as ear plugs when I'm studying because they're that good at cancelling out all the background noise, even in loud places.

Gran Hermano

www.shure.com

You will not regret buying

pleasant Co.

or another great brand: http://jays.se/home.aspx

zilog_jones

Stepherunie wrote: »

I have the CX300s and I find them great for cancelling out the noise - can be an issue when people are trying to talk to me though!

I used them doing factory work in Dell. They cancelled out a lot, but still weren't great - depending on where I was the PA system blaring out Live 95FM could still be quite instrusive.

I'd say those Sony NC22s could do a much better job.

Passenger

Gran Hermano wrote: »

www.shure.com

You will not regret buying

Aye.

corblimey

Gran Hermano wrote: »

www.shure.com

You will not regret buying

Any particular model?

Gran Hermano

corblimey wrote: »

Any particular model?

I'm using the older models from Shure (E2s and E3s), check the newer
SE110, SE210 or SE310 depending on your budget.

heathersonline

You can get the cx300's on ebay for less than a tenner, I got a couple of pairs and they're excellent, no doubt they're authentic (the ones I got anyway) and they're fine for the gym etc

projectmayhem

heathersonline wrote: »

You can get the cx300's on ebay for less than a tenner, I got a couple of pairs and they're excellent, no doubt they're authentic (the ones I got anyway) and they're fine for the gym etc

i own shure earphones and i use my cx300's far, far more... superb earphones.

devinejay

Yeah seriously, look into Shure headphones. I have my E2Cs for about 3 years now and they're great, I have yet to hear anything come close to the quality and isolation for a more reasonable price. I definitely recommend them!!

Gran Hermano

OP, have a look on the fora on headfi
These guys live and breathe for IEMs and earphones, plenty of info
comparing all brands (link above compares E2Cs to CX300s).

4Xcut

zilog_jones wrote: »

There's headphones like CX300s which have some form of active noise cancelling. Sony do some - they have some extra box yoke along the cable: http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=MDR-NC22&site=odw_en_GB&imageType=Main&category=HED+Travel

Dunno how well they work. At that price they'd want to do something!

If they are anything like other noise canceling equipment they play a noise into your ear just a tiny fraction of a second later than the noise outside. This noise they play has the same wavelength and frequency of the outside noise but because of the slight delay it causes destructive interference and so renders the noise in audible.

That might not be how these work tho, that's just one way in which active noise reduction works.

zilog_jones

Oh yes, the sound is reproduced in the opposite polarity (180 degrees out of phase) to attempt cancel it out. It's often used with big engines and in airplanes and stuff. I think all of these things work like that, though some fancier systems may do other stuff on top of this. I'm just not sure how effective these <€100 headphones are as I've had no experience with them myself.

pleasant Co.

zilog_jones wrote: »

I'm just not sure how effective these <€100 headphones are as I've had no experience with them myself.

I've had some really limited time with some noise cancelling phones when I was in Stansted airport last year. I was in a small Dixons there and the had a load of noise cancelling phones out on display and ready to test...so I did just that.. I must admit these systems work very very well, most noticeably with over ear phones as IEM's do a great job reducing environmental as is.