[ubs28]

Since I fly every week, I'm considering buying ANC headphones. I listened to some before in the past, but I was never allowed to test them out in a plane. So how good are ANC headphones for use in an airplane? ( I see alot of people using Bose headphone so they must be doing something right I guess)

Or can good IEM's offer similar noise isolation?

 

[ascl]

Buy some Bose, particularly the in ears. I know they suck from an audio perspective, but they are very comfortable and block a lot of noise. I have tried custom in-ears (JH Audio), normal IEM's with high isolation (etymotic h5's), and none work as well for a comfortable flight experience. This is, of course, assuming you aren't doing any real critical listening, but for watching movies or some relaxing music to pretend you are elsewhere, they work well enough, and the ANC is excellent. I held off for a long time, because, well, "Bose" right? they suck, everyone knows they suck... but they have pretty much the best ANC.

I did find some Sony's over ears that had some great ANC, but when you are trying to sleep or relax, they aren't super comfortable imo.


I'm not sure this will be a popular opinion, but for me (I fly on long haul flights a decent amount... anywhere from Aus is far!), they are the best I have found for the purpose.

 

[illram]

I have the Bose ANC IEM's, (QC20?) and they are AMAZING on a plane. Amazing. Push a button and *poof* silence. I refuse to fly without them now. Once, I left them at my office before a 7AM flight, and woke up at 3AM just to make sure I could get to the office and then get to the airport on time so that I had them.

They also work on busses, trains, walking around a busy street. Walking around downtown San Francisco in these with the ANC on for the first time was sort of surreal. (Maybe it was because I was listening to Pink Floyd...)