[mbriant]

A vote for passive noise isolation, not active reduction | The Apple Core | ZDNet.com

Found this review interesting. I've yet to purchase a set of isolation phones. What's the general opinion here of those who have?

 

[Uncle Erik]

I have both an active pair (those Amp Mobile ones) and the Shure e3c. I'll take the IEMs any day. Active noise reduction works, however, it seems to take part of the music with it.

 

[uberstuber]

IEMs isolate much better than active noise canceling stuff IMO.
And you also don't have to deal with the extra batteries, etc.

 

[LaBreaHead]

Passive isolation using IEMs is so much more portable, and there's less between you and the music. (Also, some active systems don't block out some human voices ... which I would find disappointing after going to the trouble and expense of an active system.)

 

[pedxing]

All the noise cancellation headphones I have used made my music sound funny when activated. Also they add a strange stuffy sensation to my ears.

 

[wquiles]

I had 3 different active noice cancelling systems (two from Sony and the Bose), and for the last 6 months used IEM's. Hands down the IEM's with their passive "cancellation" and better isolation and better music sound quality are much better

Will

 

[Jussei]

Active is terrible in my opinion.
The drivers output (along with the music) an inverse wave of the ambient noise the tiny microphones pick up from the outside, so they don't necessarily 'take away' from music but add junk to it that's not supposed to be there. This isn't a good thing in my book.
Give me my Ety ER4's any day over ANY active cancellation.