Interesting article. I had missed it in the NYT, so I appreciate the post.

I agree that one can't quite appreciate noise-cancelling technology until one tries it. Pure magic, if you ask me, especially since I don't like the in-ear kind.

I've got an older model Sennheiser (the PXC (or whatever the letters are) 250s), which doesn't have the bells & whistles of the model in the review, but I love them. I've used the Bose QC2s - I'm more than happy to use the airline's batteries rather than my own - but I really don't think the Bose are that much better and certainly not enough to justify the much higher price, as I got my Sennies for not too much over $100.

I've spent plenty of hours sleeping with both the Bose & the Sennheisers and I can sleep with both. The Bose are a bit better while sleeping in the sense that they don't slip around on the ear as much as the Sennies, which don't cover the ear. On the other hand, after some hours, my ears get HOT and I have to take off the Bose and let my ears cool off and that is less of an issue with the Sennheisers.

And yes, I find - and love the fact - that the IFE is too loud or almost too loud. I generally find I can stand it if it is on the quietest setting. But I'm curious about and heretofore unfamiliar with these attenuators. Does the adapter thing mstraveler mentions work with all kinds of noise-cancelling models or does it go with a specific brand? Might need to check this out...