[jbi130]

I'm leaving in a few days for a fair amount of flying and am wanting to try some noise isolating head phones instead of cancelling - I have Senn. PXC 150s and they are nothing special.

I'm not too concerned about sound quality as I will normally listen to the movies on the airplane and pod casts (voice) off my Nokia phone, and don't listen to that much music.

As I only have a few days I'm probably going to be limited to Skull Candy, JVC and I think a variety of Shures. So my question is, are the cheaper head phones going to provide as much isolation as the more expensive ones? I'm willing to pay more if so, but don't want to pay for something the the SE 210s if they aren't going to isolate any better.

Etymotics might be an option, but mail order only, but from a city nearby so its likely I could get them overnight.

Thanks!

 

[ben4345]

Something that is very basic, plenty of isolation, iM-590 cheap too.

 

[ljokerl]

Yes, there are vast differences in isolation between IEMs, especially for use on a plane. All of the Skullcandies I've tried have been rather mediocre. The low-end JVC's are too except the FXC50 which is surprisingly good.

There are a couple of lower-priced IEMs that have isolation that stands out from the rest. It's really hard to beat the Etymotic Er6i for isolation for under $100 but there's also the Altec Lansing iM616 and Meelectronics M11 that do pretty well. If you really want to be cheap I was very impressed with the isolation of the $7 Q:Electronics earphones. But obviously you are limited by the time factor so low-end Shures are likely a good bet though I haven't tried anything below the E4C.

 

[Bilavideo]

I really liked my UM3X because it screws right in like a hearing aid. For me, the fit is the most ergonomic of the universals and I found I could use it as an earplug in noisy environments.

 

[paulypaul]

The klipsch x5 are very good in the isolation area, especially with the double flange gels.
I wear them on the plane all the time, even when im not listening to music.

 

[aconteceu]

the first version of apple in ear is quite isolating, if it can be still found. (without mic and not dual driver)