Have you tried these? Do they work well on airplanes? Any comparisons to E2C's?

They don't claim to be noise-canceling. I think most of the ear-bud types claim to be noise-isolating, not noise-canceling. I've never used E2Cs so I can't compare them.

And my E3's block out more background noise than the Bose QCII's. Their sound isolation is across the whole audio spectrum and not just the continuous low frequencies that the active noise cancellation headphones attack.

Also note the only difference between the E3 and E3C is that the E3 is grey and the E3C is white. I prefer the grey - probably because it matches my hair colour the best .

Love the Shure E2c's. I am not a fan of anything in my ear, and was hesitant to buy a pair of ear bud style headphones. i am now a believer. Every other pair I have ever owned hurt my ears. The Bose headsets are just too bulky for my taste.

Not noise cancelling, but noise isolating. The amount of isolation you'll get depends on the choice of tips you use. The foam tips will do the best at around -30dB. Rubber tips (clear or gray) wil be around -25dB.

For comparison, the QC2s and other noise-cancelling headphones are around -15-20dB...

Personally, I love my e3's.

I am right now working in a computer network lab. There are 17 racks of computer gear running, as well as the airconditioning needed to keep it operating. The noise in here is much worse than on an aircraft. So out come the E3's and my Dell Axim X50v and out goes the noise while I listen to my choice of music.

Of course lots of the PC's in this lab are folding for the FlyerTalk team!

I recently got a pair of Etymotic ER6i from Beach Audio (an Amazon third party vendor) for $100 which is a bit more than the target price. Im stunned at the sound quality.

Flew a roundtrip to London and am in Japan now after wearing them on the JFK-NRT flight. I wear the Etymotics in my ears and the Bose QC2s over them with the cord out on the QC2s but the noise reduction turned on. It is wonderfully isolated. Someone suggested I get a splitter and amplifier and power up both sets of speakers. I may try that if I have time to get to Electric City before my flight after I leave Kyoto. If not Im going to London next week and can try then.

Mesage is though dont just use the in-ear phones on those short flights (although they are more compact and nicer for that). Use them with the QC2s on longer flights as well.

That doesn't say a lot for the Ety's. Think I'll stick with my E3's (and maybe move up to a set of E4's!!).... as someone else mentioned, they're less bulky than the QC2s, a lot better than the QC2s at reducing noise, and as good or better audio quality.

D.

I don't think it says anything about the Ety's. Using both methods will increase isolation no matter what you are using. I occaisionally have wrapped my pair of PlaneQuiet's around both Ety's and E3c's.

My wife's job gives me access to a wide variety of hearing protection including 31NRR muffs and 33NRR foam plugs - about the best you will find, and I still wear both of them for motorized lawn care duties (effective 36 NRR) - it doesn't say anything about their quality.

I have stopped carrying the PlaneQuiets - the extra couple of dB are not worth the bulk and weight of carrying them. I have moved to the E3c's for sound quality, but I don't think they are any different from the Ety's from an isolation standpoint.

Wow, Ive been partially quoted out of context on Flyertalk! I feel like an important liberal politician. But I digress....

The part of my post you didnt quote was:

"I recently got a pair of Etymotic ER6i from Beach Audio (an Amazon third party vendor) for $100 which is a bit more than the target price. Im stunned at the sound quality."

As CPRich says the Bose adds to the isolation but the Etys are great by themselves. I was just telling a previous poster than if they had the QC2s already and got a good pair of in the ear headphones to not just use the latter on short flights. Rather they should use the in ear headsets on all flights and put the Bose on top of them if they carry them as well on long flights.

I just got my e2cs and I love them! The sound quality is great. I couldn't hear my roommate furiously banging on my door either today. I'll get to test them flyin on Tuesday when I take my next run but for now they're working out great.

Sounds like a nightclub when I crank them up. I think the bass is perfectly adequate for my needs. Not overbearing.. that was a complaint that came up most on cnet.com for example.

If you can find a place that will let you try on both the Etys and the Shures, that may be the best way to determine which one you prefer. The various Eymotic models (in particular the ER-6 and ER-6i) have slightly different fits, which in turn vary from the Shure earphones.

The sound produced between all of the earphones have different "signatures" and come down to individual preference (especially between the E3(c) and the ER-6/ER-6i). Bring your own music player with you as the amplifier in your device will have its own characteristics which may not be displayed with the in-store players.

Either way, if you can get used to the fit of the earphones, they're far superior to the Bose QC(2) in terms of sound quality and reliability. I would recommend getting an in-line volume control and an airline jack adaptor if you plan on using them with the IFE systems.

How often does one need to replace the foam tips on the e3's?

I just did a bit of research on these Griffin EarJams and the reviews are not so good. Definitely not a competitor to the E2Cs. iPodLounge gives it a B- in their review but the comments from other users give it a pretty solid thumbs down. Here's the link to the review and comments:

http://ipodlounge.com/index.php/revi...rjams-updated/

I recently purchased the shure e2c's and absolutely love them. No one has mentioned the handy carrying case, very small and compact, keeps everything together (including treo adapter jack) untangled. Shure by the way has an excellent website shure.com.