In the early flights, First passengers were invited to use the big washrooms at the top of the stairs. I don't think they intended them to the enormous in CW, but I guess the alternative was to put some passenger seating in there, so we really should be grateful on the whole. I'm guessing there was a big debate as to whether to put First on top, up front, but the width and weight made it infeasible from their perspective.

You can get adapters for your own noise cancelling headsets, but due to all the technology out there I've found it easiest to stick to in ear fully fitting sets, as used by Shure among others, to be technology proof.