[MToscan]

I live besides 3 rather noisy soccer open-fields where every night one or more simultanous matches are held. I was considering buying active noise-cancellation headphones, but while I haven't read it clearly stated, I figured that this technology is effective on constant background noise like a crowd or metro. The problem is that these fields are about 100 feet from my windows and generally the place is extremely silent and quiet, only to be disturbed by totally random shouts and whistles and ball kicks. Tgherefore the noise is not exactly "flat" but more like an irregulat chain of random noises over a perfectly silent background.
Can someone tell me what would be (besides moving ) the best choice to adopt? I was reading about MM 550-X and QC15 having both good noise-cancelling capabilities but the reviews are often discordant on the subject. I am not extremely interested in good quality sound, what is mandatory for me is just noise cancellation and to know if it might work even with such irregular noises.
 
Edit. sorry but I read the welcome message too late, I can0t find how to move this message to the "help" forum, even though it is not specifically about headphones but more on the nc technology

 

[agua102]

Im interested too. I even consider no noise (absolute silence) insted of music.

 

[earmonger]

Noise cancellation works by sensing noise (with a microphone built into the headphones) and generating a soundwave to cancel it out. A sudden shout or whistle doesn't give the processor time to do that.

Over-ears like the Bose and Sennheiser you mention are mostly going to be as effective as their seal over your ear.

Your best choice is IEMs with passive isolation -- that is, just blocking the external sound mechanically. Basically earplugs with little speakers built in; after all, IEMs started as stage monitors. Look at Etymotic for deep fit and serious isolation (though some people find the fit too deep). Most IEM reviews also mention how much they block external sound, which depends on design.