Looking for some noise canceling headphones

[metallicat]

I want to buy a pair of noise canceling headphones but have no idea what to look for. I would prefer over the ear types but am open to anything. I need noise canceling ones to essentially take the place of wearing hearing protection and using a radio in a vehicle. My budget is preferably under $100. Any ideas?

[Russic]

I'm an earbud man, so my recommendation probably isn't quite what you're looking for. I seem to be the only one on the planet that likes these (Apple in-ear), but after trying earbuds from Bose and Shure I keep going back.

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MA...remote-and-mic

[troutman]

Stop listening to Nickelback?

[blankall]

If you are spending less than $100, I'd recommend the following:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

These are currently on sale too...probably get them for around $20 shipped. The reviews, however, are fantastic. The quality far exceeds the price.

http://www.meelec.com/

The reviews on this brand of earphones are similarily fantastic. The quality far exceeds the price.

The trick you're going to have with the $100 budget is that it's a price range that many companies offer their lower quality earphones at, and you end up paying largely for branding. IMO you should go with my suggestions or be prepared to spend in the $200-$250 range for audiophile style earphones.

[metallicat]

Because they say DJ, I can expect they will drown out a lot of noise? Because if so, that's perfect.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Because they say DJ, I can expect they will drown out a lot of noise? Because if so, that's perfect.

Honeslty,

I'm not sure what the technical definition of "noise cancelling" is, but here are some reviews:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-57337747-47/how-good-can-$21.59-headphones-be/

http://www.head-fi.org/t/608453/mono...es-8323-review

http://www.digitalaudioworkshop.com/...one-first.html

I have yet to see a bad review of these phones.

[photon]

Drowning out noise just means that your ears will be subject to MORE abuse than not having them on, I don't know what noise level you are dealing with but that's something to be aware of, you want to protect your hearing. If you are wearing hearing protection to avoid hearing damage (as opposed to just not having to listen to the work environment), then just getting something that's only going to overpower the environment sounds risky to me.

In the case of those monoprice ones or other ones that are over the ear and closed, you'll get some isolation benefit from them, so you'll be able to listen to them at a lower level, but how much I'm not sure.

If you wear large cans for hearing protection already you could maybe just fit earbuds underneath?

Or there are hearing protection earmuffs that also work as headphones, though the audio quality probably isn't that great.

http://www.howardleight.com/ear-muffs/sync

Actual noise cancelling headphones actively sample the ambient audio and then produce the "anti" sound to cancel it, but I don't know if that kind of thing is appropriate for hearing protection, but understanding how sound works would suggest to me that it would be ok (active noise cancellation creates the anti-sound for a sound, which would be the opposite pressure wave, meaning no extra pressure meaning no ear damage).

Then any over the ear noise cancelling headphones could work well:

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-noise-c...ng-headphones/

But $100 will be tough, as active noise cancellation requires processing power, batteries, etc, which raises the price.

EDIT: How active noise cancellation works:

[metallicat]

Thanks Photon. I think I misunderstand what noise cancelling headphones actually did. I was hoping they'd act like hearing protection, with a built in speaker! Too simple for that to be the case I guess. My work environment is fairly noisy, so I'll have to come up with a different solution. Thanks guys.

[sclitheroe]

Of note too, active noise cancellation can get you about 26 dB of noise reduction - isolating headphones often do 30-40 dB (it varies according to frequency range - most isolating headphones do better at high frequency sounds)

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Thanks Photon. I think I misunderstand what noise cancelling headphones actually did. I was hoping they'd act like hearing protection, with a built in speaker!

They do - they mix the inverted waveform of the ambient sound along with the audio input you feed them. The sound quality is affected somewhat, of course, since that inverse-ambient waveform will also cancel a small portion of the audio spectrum you are feeding it too.

[photon]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Of note too, active noise cancellation can get you about 26 dB of noise reduction - isolating headphones often do 30-40 dB (it varies according to frequency range - most isolating headphones do better at high frequency sounds)

Yeah so it kind of depends on the exact details to determine if active noise cancellation would be sufficient.

Might also be a health and safety issue if hearing protection is required.

If active noise cancellation doesn't work, there's still the other ones I listed which are actual noise protection earmuffs with a speaker in them or putting earbuds on your ears and then your current protection earmuffs.

[metallicat]

Yeah unless they cut out noise like an actual pair of earplugs does, then I can't wear them. Actually I technically can, but I don't want to. Nobody can force me to wearing hearing protection while working, but I choose to do so because I see how poorly my co-workers now hear after years and years on the job. I think for now I'll just suffer through not having any tunes to listen to.

[blankall]

Anyone looking for good earphones should take a look at this:

http://store.sony.ca/webapp/wcs/stor...d%3d.&mode=add

They are on sale for 69.99 from 129.99. You then get an extra 40% with coupon code: MU40OFF

Brings the total to $41.99 plus tax.
These headphones are very well reviewed as well.

[photon]

Good to hear, my dad has issues due to not wearing protection when he was young and I still see lots of young people not taking care of their hearing.

Why not something like this though?

http://www.amazon.ca/Howard-Leight-R...7865695&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.ca/Howard-Leight-1...865771&sr=8-34
http://www.amazon.ca/Howard-Leight-1...65857&sr=8-127

Actual ear protection that also has speakers built in.

[Mtt48]

I have some great steelseries headphones that cancel noise nicely. I cant hear the old lady yelling at me anymore. Perfect

[J Diddy]

The PSB M4U 2s are not $100 or less but highly recommended and worth the money. You get what you pay for. These are true noise noise canceling headphones.
http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/...U-2-Headphones

They were named 2012 product of the year by Sound and Vision. Spend a bit extra these may be the last headphones you buy for a decade.