Are any noise-canceling headphones any good?

[denti alligator]

I ask because whatever their drawbacks, the benefits of reducing ambient noise in public spaces is huge. I'm thinking up a portable "hi fi" system for travel/walking/exercise and this is a possible part. Others include FLAC player and decent DAC, preferably together (the fiio X3 or X5 maybe).

[mcandmar]

I used to commute by bus for about seven years and the best thing i ever bought was a pair of snug fitting in ear buds, the amount of noise they blocked out was wonderful, it was the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears. Even when i didn't want to listen to music i wore them for peace and quite

I've never tried the active noise cancelling, those didn't exist back then.

[Doc B.]

I don't know how effective the latest generation of sound canceling headphones is, but looking at your activities I would suggest wearing something that still allows you to hear a little outside noise. I run mostly without headphones these days, but when I do use them I use a pair of TF10s and they do a nice job of blocking most noise but still letting me hear that big truck coming up behind me. I have gigantic ear canals and the TF10's largest rubber plugs just fit, giving a nice seal.

[galyons]

I tried several iterations of the noise cancelling headphones.  I flew many, many flights for work.  They work OK. I just found something irritating about the sound...just didn't seem enjoyable and on long flights I would get a bad headache.  I now use in-ear buds.  Takes some initial getting used to, but much better music reproduction and no headaches.

Cheers,
Geary

[denti alligator]

Headphones or earbuds would be fine. My step dad in law had some Bose noise canceling earbuds that sounded ok. But I'm sure there are better.

Doc, what do you use for a source and amplification?

[Zimmer64]

I currently use Bose QC15 when I travel or commute in trains, trams or busses. I also use them at work as I work in an open plan type environment and they even bombard us with pink noise all day to cut down on the overall noise (and I can hear that damn hiss...). They work great and sound very good. Not serious highend sound, but very good I think. The downside for me is the relatively large size and that the ears tend to get to feel hot after about an hour.

I also have the Klipsch IE X10i, that I use as well on the road. They sound better than the Bose. They also cut out the noise very nicely. Small packing size. The downside for me is that even with the largest adaptors the do not sit tight enough and I have to push them back into the ear canal every five minutes.

When I go runing I do not listen to music. Gotta feel and hear that heart and the lungs pumpin' and the birds tweeting

Michael

[Doc B.]

I use the buds jogging, and I listen to pandora with my iphone. For me it's not about fidelity as much as finding new music to buy and play on my 'real' system. The notion of lugging a bunch of little boxes with the idea that I can have portable ultrafi seems a little wacky to me.

[mcandmar]

So no chance of a Bottlehead pocket warmer then?     I do use a portable amp in work, but for moving about and walking i wouldn't bother trying to listen to anything, prefer to listen to the birds tweeting too.