Alternatives to Bose Headphones
 

Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster. Apologies up front if I am treading on a well-worn path.

I searched the threads in this forum and overall to see if there was a substantial discussion on alternatives to the Bose QC2 & 3 headphones, with the intention of finding the best value for the price paid.

I have come across a product recently released by Helium Digital, and they seem to be reasonably priced with a newspaper coupon i saw. I am thinking of giving them a go.

Opinions? TIA

Prairie East

Seem to be quite inexpensive though i have not heard of this brand. Any others have advice?

Sennheiser PXC 250
 

About 2 years ago, when I was looking for something for our occasional plane travel, several friends raved about the Bose QC2. I could not justify the $300 pricetag for something that would be infrequently used, nor did I like the large size. After checking some reviews on the web, I bought the Sennheiser PXC 250 for my wife and myself, and we love them. Used them for the first time on a trip to Hawaii, and was astonished at how well the noise cancelling feature worked. Music reproduction is quite good. The earmuffs are small and lightweight, and the entire thing folds up into a nice little package that is easy to store. (We can put both headphones into one Sennheiser carrying case.)

The only downside is the somewhat awkward design of the battery pack, which sits a little too close to the headphones themselves, but I don't consider this a dealbreaker.

Good place for product reviews is Cnet.com.

I think I paid around $150 each, and I believe if you do a little online searching you can find them for around $100. I would consider that a terrific deal for some high-quality headphones by an established manufacturer.

Anyone know of any ear-clip style noise canceling headphones like these:

http://www.amazon.com/Noise-Cancelin.../dp/B0009EFFZ2

This JVC model got a few bad reviews, so I'm looking for something else. Must be an earclip like this one, and no earbuds.

Check out Vupoint ... less than $50 USD I think, and every bit as good as the Bose IMO (I have tried Vupoint and Bose side by side). I think with Bose you are paying for the brand name.

My wife has these JVC clip-ons and likes them very much because they don't mess up her hair. You can get them for a lot less than the amazon.com price on eBay.

Im not defending this particular product (it doesnt even impress me enough to buy and try it), but I did want to mention this:

Always take review opinions related to noise canceling technology with a grain of salt. Many people have no idea what its all about, and when they put them on and it doesnt completely muffle out all frequencies of sound, they get online and review them as "junk". Also beware of compaints related to "not enough bass" which typically comes from folks that like an exagerated artificial amount of bass in their music ... if you seek accurate sound reproduction then you can ignore most "bass" comments ... if you want your eyeballs to vibrate at low frequency in their sockets then you might give weight to bass comments. :D

Agree entirely with the positives and negatives, but overall these headphones are great.
I also agree with Muddy about opinionated reviews. Treat with caution because what is an issue for someone else may be unimportant to you. My only suggestion is to try before you buy if at all possible.

Pxc 300
 

I see that Sennheiser now do a PXC 300. Is this an advance on the PXC 250?

From my reading of the spec sheets, the main difference is the PXC 300 has less interference from mobile phones. This would not be a problem on flights, I hope. Download the spec sheets from sennheiser to see the other minor differences. In AUS, the price difference was about $100, which for me did not justify the extra expense for the 300. In other countries, this difference may be less.

Thanks Bob. The Sennheiser look like just the ticket for me! I really dislike earbuds, and don't like the giant 'over the ear' options. The 300 are about 25 quid more than the 250, but I don't really see an advantage. Because of the need to have the big NR bit always there, I'll probably only use them when I travel. As long as I avoid Emirates, I shouldn't have to worry about cell phone interference :).

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK

I recently bought the Sennheiser 300's, and while I have not flown with them yet, I did give them an effective testing by driving with the windows open and they did reduce the wind noise significantly, if not entirely.

Case is a solid hard case.
Adapter plugs have their own storage loop.
"the "microphone" powersource/processor does seem a bit clumsy, but you can clip it onto your shirt or blanket.

Many other options...
 

For a pretty comprehensive review of many other options, I would suggest looking at http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roa...honesindex.htm

As I recall, he gives good marks to the Plane Quiet's.

I have both the older and newer Plane Quiet Solitude models and love both of them. They are still pricey but less than the Bose models.

i have the newest solitude II's which were replaced by plane quiet/outside the box due to a battery blow up with out question (not their problem but they repalced it with for free and free return shipping) the new case has a cutout for an ipod ^ and my ipod video fits like a charm^^ but is a little thick-could have been designed a little thinner and still had the ipod cutout. all in all i love them

i also have used the following (and now given to goalie parents)

a pair of brookstone soundshield 250's and 500's. the 500's (repalced by 501's) are over the ear and the 250's are on the ear. i bought the 500's first as the 250's were not out and i prefer the 250's as they are on the ear. but are good and have an inline controller (tho the cable from the controller to the seat jack could be about 6 inches or so longer). all 3 also offer poass thru sound so if the batteries run out, you still can use the passive n/r

other than that-my order of preference would be....

brookstone soundshield 250-$150.
solitude II-$199
brookstone soundshield501-$250