what about when not listening to music?
 

So much of what I have read is about how great the music is (or lots of complaints about the E4C's lack of bass when listening to music). How about just making the roar of the plane disappear without listening to music?

I'm looking at the E4Cs regarless of the whining I hear about the bass. I'm not that finicky about the music (unless that sound is really bad, then I notice too) but I'm really looking for peace and quiet mostly. I have such a hard time sleeping on planes.

I have to fly across the u.s. and back this coming week, so it will be a perfect time to try them out.

Thanks for the great thread.

First off, why would you want to drown out the harmonic turbine engines? ;) If you want to just drown out the noise, why not get ear plugs? Otherwise, if you want high fidelity portable earphones, the E4C's will not dissappoint. I've had mine for over 2 years and use them extensively.

I guess I wasn't clear. I want to listen to my ipod but I *also* want to just have some peace and quiet. Can I do both with earphones? Or are you saying "use the earphones to listen to music without the engines and then take them out and shove earplugs in when you just want a quieter flight"? I thought I read something in a Bose QC2/3 salespitch that said something about turning them on but not plugging them into anything to just drown out the engine noise....

Try the demo for Shure at this link: http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/P...0_pth_content#

I find that the Shure's without music block and the Bose without music block about the same amount of noise with the edge going to the Shure's. I made this comparison several times while flying when I had both kinds of units with me.

Earplugs of a good quality beat both. You can find earplugs with clearly marked ratings of how db's of reduction they provide in most drugstores and certainly online.

So if you just want to block the noise, earplugs. If you want good music reproduction and good sound reduction: Shure or Ety's.

I'm a happy E4C customer - and they are bass-shy until "broken in" which takes around 5-10 hours. Also, if the seal isn't quite right, bass will virtually disappear. The Shure's audio quality resembles real music, which unfortunately isn't the case for the Bose QCs.

If you want the best noise reduction, buy a small pack of industrial "foamies" - I always keep a few of these on hand for the times when I want to stretch out to sleep on that great QF Skybed...