Originally Posted by
oshelef
Thanks. I guess what I had in mind is that if keep them off, how well do they block noise passively? (I'm guessing this is less well than the Etymotic's I already have, but I don't know how much less well)
And then is the active part (turning them on) meaningful? The hush quieting is a good start. I wonder if it's enough to make up for the (probably) less effective passive blocking.
Perhaps this is a good test:
Do you ever wear them (unpowered, musicless) for just passive noise blocking? E.g. take off & landing?
When off, does putting them in have a sort of earplug-like effect?
The passive part does reduce the noise level. I think "in-ear" plugs come with varying degrees of in-ear. My impression with the Shure's and Etymotic's are that they are relatively deep into the ear (hence very good passive blocking). Personally, I find things in my ear canal makes them itchy over time so I've avoided that. These go in partway and are comfortable for me. In fact, I tend to press the AT's in and, indeed, the sound level is less when I do. So, yes I do wear them on take-off and landing unpowered (but often plugged into the music IFE if it is available. The ambient sound is certainly dampened in that mode - there is an earplug-like effect.
On active, I think they work very well. There is a discernible reduction in background noise - it becomes quiet in the cabin both with and without a sound source. I've used the Bose active canceling headsets on planes (it's comes with AA's "IFE" on 763s) and I would say this is comparable. I don't like the Bose because them make my head/ears sweaty, god knows whose head they've been on and they are bulky. Bottom line, when I first used them I was pretty surprised at how much quieter the plane seemed and it made me realize how much noise I'd been experiencing over many million miles. I now pretty much wear them all the time on a plane unless I am chatting with someone.
The fact they are <$60 on Amazon and I can carry them easily in my computer bag is great.
FYI - I pretty much only use them in air as I have other earbuds for when I am running around that don't have the controller box.