I also advocate moving this to the Travel Technology forum, as it doesn't seem specific to the AAdvantage forum.

I went through a similar decision. I have always thought Bose products to be overpriced for what you get. Not that they are a bad product, just not deserving of the price. After trying a couple of different cheaper brands that didn't fully cup the ear, and hating them, I finally bucked up and bought the Bose. I'm really glad I did. I had a chance to try them many times in International Business, and really liked them.

What made it easy to swallow, at the time, was Bose spreading the cost over 12 months of automatic credit card billings, with no interest. They unfortunately do not offer this anymore, or I'd buy some QC2's and keep the QC1's for my travelling lady friend.

This is an easy one for me: I'd go with the Sennheiser PXC-250 headphones in a heartbeat. Amazon had them on sale for $81, but now they're are $100. Regardless, the PXC-250 headphones offer the best combination of price, performance, and portability.

Thread moved to Travel Tech forum.
 

dchristiva is right folks - this isn't really AA-specific, so i'll move it to the Travel Technology forum.

Thanks for everyone's participation. :)

I suggest skipping the Shure E2 and go straight to the Shure E3 earphones. They are available on the net for US$139 including delivery (don't pay US$179 or more) and worth the extra money. I bought mine for in-ear monitors for stage work, but find them wonderful for airline travel. Much smaller and lighter than NC headphones and far better isolation from external sound sources.

For those that really want the QC2s but are reluctant to part with cold, hard cash . . .

You can get these phones through SkyMall, using FF miles or Hotel rewards points (I spent 83,500 Marriott Rewards points for mine).

Just a thought . . .

The AIWA HP-CN6 noise-cancelers work fine for me. List price is around $60.00 but you can find them new for between $29 and $49.

They fold up well, use a single AA battery (integrated into the headset, not in a separate box) and they included the adapter for in-flight. I wear glasses and never noticed any extra pressure that ricktoronto reports; maybe it depends on the eyeglass frames. True, they aren't the most comfortable headphones I've ever had, but none of the noise-cancelers have been. For the price, I think they're great.

Are you sure about this? I looked at SkyMall but couldn't find how one can use FF miles to order things...

Looks like I might've been wrong about the FF miles redemption for merchandise at SkyMall. I used Marriott Rewards points; there's a link from the MR web site that takes you to a special order screen for SkyMall stuff. Since it was SkyMall, and I was using a travel-related loyalty program's points, I assumed that airline loyalty programs would offer similar options.

I've since checked AA, USAir, Continental and NWA and none of them offer direct miles for merchandise redemption (although Continental does offer token discounts with miles redemption towards merchandise through Brainstorm Logistics . . . but no Bose products).

It's possible that other airlines provide additional options.

I used to have a pair of Sony NC11 (I think that is the model number) but changed to Shure E3 and find them much better! Even though they don't have a noise cancelling module, they seem to block out noise a lot better!

Are noise cancelling headphones really worth the big price tag? I would imagine a good ol' plan set would suffice but I am a bit of an audiophil and plus, being a Dave Matthews Band fan, i'd like to hear all the intruments -- every detail and not have the engines providing a unpleasant background sound and disrupting my listening enjoyment.

NC headphones have the added plus of somewhat muting screaming children, drunk sales executives, etc...

Actually, NC headphones don't help much for those sounds. They really only cancel out constant low-frequency sounds, such as air conditioning and engines. The only way the reduce screaming children is their limited isolational properties.

This is why I prefer the Shure E3's as their isolation is considerably more than any over-the-ear headphones, and the isolate the whole audio spectrum, not just the constant low frequency sounds.

I've owned both the AIWA's and the Bose's QC-2s and after a 10 hour flight (HNL-EWR), the Bose is MUCH more comfortable than the AIWA's.

The Bose headphones are especially great on red-eyes. Slip them on and I'm out like a light.

aloha

I've become a big fan of the Shure line of earphones. As others have mentioned, they fit into your ear canal and block external noise through physical isolation like earplugs.

I haven't tried the E2c, but have a friend at work who likes them. I've tried both the E3c and the E5c. The E5c is fantastic - in some ways one of the best headphones I've ever tried. The E3c is perfectly respectable and I would wholeheartedly recommend them.

One note is that these earphones have switchable flanges - the rubber part that goes into your ear. I've read that the tri-flange gives you more isolation than the stock flange.