[Palpatine]

I travel to Europe once every summer, and I would like a nice pair of phones to listen to my iPod touch while on the plane. I wanted to get noise cancelling headphones at first, but have heard many arguments that in-canal ear phones provide just as good if not better sound isolation. I'd also like to use them with the in-flight audio system, and even just as sound suppressors w/o music.
I have reduced my choices to two:
Shure SE 420
Audio Technica ATH-ANC7b

I really am torn between the two. Any suggestions?

 

[mark2410]

id take the IEM's.

the 420 will work better at blocking out the noise you dont want to hear on the plane and anywhere else you want, you can take them with you anywhere in a way you cant with the audio technicha's

 

[zacharace]

I'd go with the Shures as well in this case; like mark said, their noise suppression is noticeably better than the ATs.

 

[billybob_jcv]

How about one of the Etymotics? They have excellent isolation. Why did you come down to those two choices?

 

[Pale Rider]

I favor IEMs as well. I have several friends who were Bose fans, until I turned them onto either Westones or LiveWires. Or now JH-13s [a bit more of an upsell].

 

[oldskoolboarder]

I vote IEMs. I've tried the Bose versions and the canceling effect feels like it's sucking air out of my eardrums, a bit painful.

The other plus is that IEMs can be way smaller and you don't need to worry about charging or batteries just for the canceling feature. When wearing my Superfi's, I'm pretty isolated.