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hi
What I am looking for probably doesn't exist but i though i'd ask anyways.
I have a pair of Grado SR-80's and old Sennheiser HD 495'sWhat I am looking for is a new pair of noise cancelling headphones that sound as good as the Grado's (the best sound I have heard yet in headphones) , are as comfortable as the light weight Sennheisers, are noise cancelling, and are under $500
Follow Ups:
I understand that the in-ear phones are prolly the best for blocking noise, but not everyone is comfortable with inserting objects into their ear canals (heck, I can't even put in contacts). I found what I feel to be an excellent set of noise cancelling cans that are a bargain: the JVC HANC100, priced at about $48 currently. Here is my posted review from Amazon:
The End of My Noise-Cancelling Headphone Odyssey!, February 21, 2006
Reviewer: Phillip Slepian "bondmanp" (Elizabeth, NJ, USA) -
About a year ago, I switched from a commute by car to a commute via train and subway (from New Jersey to New York). I am an audiophile, so I wanted a good-sounding CD player/headphone combo. And since I damaged my hearing years ago with a Walkman that I played too loud (causing Tinnitus), I wanted as much noise isolation as possible. For various reasons, in-the-ear-canal ear buds don't work for me, so I set out to find a good pair of on or over the ear cans that offered good fidelity and a reduction in exterior noise. Note: I don't do reduced bit rates, so all of the comments refer to performance using standard "Red Book" CDs.Although I started out with an iRiver CD player (which is a pretty good-sounding player), it was too picky about the CDs it would read, so I switched to the Sony D-NE320PSBLK Psyc player. This player reads almost all CDs, sounds OK, although the treble is somewhat rolled-off (but I actually prefer this when listening to headphones; it compensates for overly-bright CDs). It has great battery life and great features.
First, I tried the Sennheiser PXC-250, an on-ear portable design. Although neutral sounding, the Senns lacked good bass extension. Worse, the out-board noise cancelling module created a mess of tangled wires. After only three months of daily use, the wires went, and since everything is hard-wired, the Senns were now useless (quite a difference from my home headphones, Sennheiser 424X I bought new in 1976 and still work perfectly).
Next, I tried the Aiwa HP CN6. This is an open-air, on-the-ear design with electronic noise cancelling. The noise cancelling works well, and these cans sound fairly good. A little bright, but with extended, powerful bass and fairly neutral mids. The noise cancellation circuit increases efficiency to 106 dB, one of the highest efficiency ratings for noise-cancelling phones. This saves battery power on your player. However, the circuitry adds a significant amount of hiss. Battery life of the Aiwas was fantastic. Comfort-wise, they were only fair, and the thin foam earpads were beginning to wear out after about six months of use. Then, the noise cancelling function stopped working. Time to look again.
I visited the Bose Store with my player and tried the $300 Bose cans. The sound was OK, but not what you'd expect for the price. The electronic noise cancellation seemed to work well, with less added hiss, but the passive noise cancellation from the sealed, over-the-ear design was poor. I could clearly hear the Bose salesman talking on the phone a few feet away, almost as loudly as without the headphones. Plus, it was much less efficient than the Aiwas, which would have meant heavy battery use in my player (which takes only one AA battery). Just not worth the money (like most Bose products, IMO).
Then I tried two Koss noise cancelling models. The QZ-50 is an inexpensive, behind-the-neck, over-the-ear design. It was awful. It's electronic noise cancellation added hiss but no apparent noise reduction at all. It's passive noise reduction was inneffective as well, since the ear pieces did not make a tight seal over the ears. And it was very innefficient, making it a poor choice for portable players. The newer QZPro was on sale on line, so I tried it as well. This padded over-the-ear design is comfortable, but passive noise cancellation was minimal. Active noise cancellation was OK, with some added hiss, but it was the least effecient design (90 db!) I have seen. Sound quality was fair, but I preferred the Aiwas, and I was ready to buy a new pair of them when I started reading about the JVC HANC100 phones.
Feature-wise, the HANC100 is nice. Unless you have larger-than-average ears, they are comfortable. The headband bothering so many hasn't bothered me yet. The ear cups fit over my ears, although I do have to partially fold my outer ear into them. They seem sturdy, although the cord is thin and I have gotten it caught on things a few times, without causing damage. I do not retract the cord, since I cary them inside a duffle bag when not in use. The only issue I have with comfort is that they are warm. In February, they double as good ear muffs, but I fear that in warmer weather they will make my ears sweat. After an hour or so, I do feel the need to shift them to relieve pressure on my eyeglass side-pieces. These comfort issues are half the reason for 4 instead of 5 stars. Like all of these electronic noise cancelling cans, you can't use the noise reduction feature in windy conditions, since the wind noise through the built-in mics is too loud. But at least you can shut that function off on the JVCs, and listen without it.
Efficiency-wise, the HANC100 is fine. Not quite as effecient as the Aiwas, but I suspect that the published spec of 103 dB with noise cancelling off and 100dB with noise cancelling on, is innaccurate. First, it's the only time I've seen a *decrease* in efficiency with the noise reduction on. Second, I hear no difference in level whether it's switched on or off.
Sound-wise, they are OK. They would benefit from a less resonant enclosure, since there is a little of the "cupped-hand" effect in the mid-band. I adapted to that quickly, though, and overall, they sound clean and neutral. Bass is a bit muddy and does not extend too deep, but the Sony player has numerous bass-boost features that compensate for this. When a CD is bass-heavy, the JVCs respond well to a point, but can be overloaded with extremely high levels of bass, and they then distort audibly. The highs are noticeably rolled-off, but I prefer this for headphones.
I have had no issues with uneven channel level.
One thing to be aware of is that they are not shielded from cell-phone interferance, and you will hear buzzing (like an old morse code device) when cell phones are in use nearby. I can live with this, although I hear that Sony has added shielding to its noise cancelling phones. How about it, JVC?
Now the best part: The noise cancellation. Passive noise cancellation, which covers higher frequencies, is excellent. With all the other cans I tried, I used to hear conversation of other passengers clearly. With the HANC100, I can tell people are speaking, but at levels reduced so much that I can't tell what they're saying - awesome! They only thing they don't block out is the elevator music that the Port Authority plays - at fairly high volume - in its larger train stations.
The electronic noise cancellation is also quite good. If you commute by train or subway, then you know how loud trains and subways can be, both from outside and inside. With the HANC100, I can barely tell when a train car end-door has been opened while the train is moving. With other headphones, this made listening impossible. And the rumbling of the trains is almost completely eliminated when inside the train. Outside, the trains are very loud. While the HANC100 doesn't block enough of that noise to listen through it, it does reduce the noise significantly, and that's a good thing for my ears.
The one star was deducted for comfort, although I doubt they could be made cooler (with ventilation) without loosing some of the passive noise reduction, and for the lack of cell-phone shielding.
The HANC100 would be a good value at its list price of ~$90. At street prices, which are much lower (check Amazon's price!), they are an outright steal! I recommend the HANC100 over any other noise cancelling headphones I've tried.
EDIT (3/13/06): After a few weeks, and some unintended tugging at the cord, the right earcup developed a crackling sound which modulates both with the audio signal and amount of external noise. Sounds like something is loose within the earcup. I have ordered a second pair. If these last about a year, fine - can live with replacing them no more often than once per year. If not, I will have to look at something else. Oh, well.
... A year later and I am still using the same pair of HANC100s. I have no desire to keep trying new ones. Sonics-wise, the JVCs wear well. The sound is generally smooth, a little light in the bass, but on some source material, low bass will appear from nowhere, and quite forcefully so. They also offer a surprising level of detail retrieval considering that I use them in noisy environments and keep the volume fairly low.
the ER-6's are pretty good, I think the shure's 2, 3, and 4 are good to with the 2 being a great value point. You may also like the Maudio 30's (I haven't heard them or the shure 3's if you want to go for the $250 price point. The ER-6's have the best isolation - but, as mentioned alsewhere, can be more uncomforatble... great bass though. Stupidest thing I ever did (ok not quite) was leave them on the airplane a few months ago.
I have the Shure e2c (about $100) and they work great with my Ipod and computer. You do need to be OK with the in the ear thing and get a good fit.
...I paid retail for my Shure E5c's - $499 - and they are amazing.Cancel out noise and have 'electrostatic-like resolution' according to TAS.
CNET rates the shure E4c's as the best they've tested and these are better - 2 way.
I'm sure you can find them discounted.
I'll second the E5C's - I wear mine while using a chainsaw, leaf-blower and industrial strimmer and they both protect my hearing from the power tools and provide music via an MP3 player at a comfortable volume which doesn't leave the ears ringing.
v.i.
The Aiwa HP-CN6 are great sounding headphones and I'd use them even if they weren't noise cancelling. It's also my impression that when they're in the noise cancelling mode they invert polarity. Sony owns Aiwa and has discontinued them and has there own version with a similar model number with an N6 in it and they are also similar in construction but don't have as good high frequency response. They're also quite efficient and will work well with portable CD players and can even work off the line output of most regular CD players with and an adapter and if necessary a headphone volume control that you may purchase at Radio Shack. They rest on the ears and are relatively light weight and fold up for carrying. They both have an MSRP of $59.99 but sound better to me than any other headphone regardless of price that I've heard recently.
I've got a pair of etymotic in-ear phones, and a pair of Sony MDR-NC150 (or something like that; they're a few years old), and of course, I've tried the Bose demo at the airport.I can say without a doubt the in-ear (isolating approach) blows away the over the ear (cancelling) approach for noise reduction performance - absolutely no question.
I know in-ear may not appeal to everyone, but after a little time getting used to the ety's - I really like them, both for the noise reduction and very good sound quality.
Of the over the ear - the Sony's provide some noise reduction - nowhere near the reduction of the ety's, but it's there. I tried the Sony's against the Bose at the airport once, and I think the Bose may have had a slight advantage over the Sony's in the noise reduction (they are more enclosed; the Sony's are semi-open), and they are quieter in the sense that the frame is more solid (the Sony's I have are folding, and the multi-piece frame tends to squeak and make a little noise when you move a little or lay your head against the wall - like one tends to do on an airplane). I didn't have time to judge differences in sound quality (and the Bose salesperson didn't like me A/B'ing right there at the display).
Of course, the Bose cost the most of all three, the ety's were about $240 or so, the Sony's about $150.
The Etymotics are supposed to be good but haven't heard them. I have the Shure e3c ($150-$175) and like them quite well. I did a direct comparison between them and a pair of Bose noise-cancelling phones. I thought the Shure did a much better job of isolating the sound from noise AND they were MUCH better fidelity. There are at least 2 levels of Shure in-ear phones that are more expensive than mine, with the most expensive being around $500. But I don't know how much better than mine they are.I think the best sheaths for them are absolutely the triple-flange model that can only be bought separately. Amazon sells a set with three pairs for $10.
In terms of sound quality and noise reduction, probably the best bet is not a noise-cancelling phone (e.g. Bose) but a noise-"blocking" phone, i.e. in the ear phones such as Etymotic or Shure. The potential downside is comfort. Since they are in-ear, comfort is a very individual thing. These phones come with a variety of foam and plastic plugs to achieve the optimum combination of comfort and noise reduction. If the plugs don't fit snugly, not only is noise reduction compromised, but so is sound quality. Sometimes people complain that these phones sound "tinny", which is exactly what you will hear if there is not a good air seal - they rely on the air seal to provide good bass and if the air seal is not there the bass goes away, hence tinny.
Yes, I've tried some Shure IED's, which sound great but definitely NOT my thing.
I have really enjoyed and gotten a lot of use out of my Etymotic ER-6i while on the road (in the airplane). I initially tried the Shure E2C, which sounded great, but I discovered that they were a bit too big for my ear canals. The Discovery Store graciously accepted my return of the Shures for a full refund. I then ordered the Etymotics from Headroom, which are reasonably comfortable after I've had them in my ears for a few minutes. I still prefer my Sennheiser HD-580 when external noise is not an issue.
a decent regular set of headphones in sound quality. I have a pair of Sony NC50, they tend to wipe out the separation and just don't sound as good as just about any pair of open air cheapo headphones. They don't sound bad, just not great for the price. However, if you really need the noise cancelling feature, they are very good at that task.
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