Noise cancelling headphones - Re: The Newly Inaugurated London.pm "Most In Need of Positivity" Award

[Greg McCarroll]

On 11 Aug 2006, at 16:33, andrew Black wrote:

> danny staple wrote:
>> Simple solution, buy some really decent noise cancelling headphones,
>> and listen to whatever you like on a computer or music player device,
>> turned up so you cant hear the radio.
>
> Do they work - or rather more specifically does anyone have
> recommendations for ones that work.
> I tried some cheapo ones and to be honest think the feature was  
> cosmetic.
>

I splashed out before a recent plane flight on a pair of Bose QC2's, I'd
previously used a complimentary pair in business class on an American  
Airlines
flight so I was fairly confident of their value, it was just a  
question of
making the investment asap so I'd get the return, rather than putting  
it off
for a few more years.

They were really good, they let me sleep on pretty much any leg I  
wanted to
sleep on - however perhaps the best test was at one stage when I  
didn't know
if they were on or not, so I took them off, only to be truly  
horrified at
how bloody loud and annoying a 747's engines were and to quickly retreat
back into their blessed sanctuary.

This morning in the office I actually had to take them off as I was  
the only
one in and I didn't want to not hear the door buzzer in case there was a
delivery or someone had forgotten their keys.

The only caveat I'd add, is I tend to listen to music quite loudly,  
so much
so that I think I'm starting to go deaf in my old age.

Greg