Which Noise cancelling ear defenders?

[morrisminordriver]

Hi, I need a pair of good quality, adjustable (as I have a big head!) ear defenders , not primarily for the workshop, but more to cancel out the noise of the TV so I can read when others are watching some dross or other. They’ll get occasional workshop use when the need arises.
Are there any which you’d recommend?
Thanks.

 

[RobinBHM]

Pardon?

 

[harry the b]

Pardon?

 

[harry the b]

Bose quiet comfort.

 

[D_W]

Any of the high filter pass headphones that call themselves noise canceling are good enough for me. I have a generic pair of "MPOW" bluetooth headphones that are good enough for me. I can still hear things in the background, so if the kids need something, they can get my attention, just not as easily...

..but everything in the background is at a low enough level that it's not distracting and all of the ear-ringing high pitched things in the shop (for me, a belt grinder which is sneaky white-noise sounding and will leave you with serious hearing loss) are audible, but not very loud.

 

[Jimmy69]

I have the bowers and wilkins px5 and have had Bose quiet comfort II's. The sound on the px5 is far superior to the Bose but the Bose are way more comfortable.
The PX5 are heavier and get a bit sweaty in the heat.

 

[D_W]

FTR, on the low end "if you broke it, you wouldn't care" like my headphones, they're the "MPOW H19" headphones. I've seen them for as little as $27 and they have no bluetooth issues with any of my devices. They charge on a phone charger in about an hour and then have about 20 hours of audio and noise cancellation time (lithium) before they need to be charged again.

They sound very good, but they are not audiophile headphones. They are, however, somehow better than a lot of studio headphones that I've used that are lower end studio stuff (like $100 headphones that would be used in a low end shop).

 

[mccpe]

https://www.3m.co.uk/3M/en_GB/p/d/v000082834/
3M Peltor Optime. I can wear these for hours, and not expensive.

 

[Gavlar]

There's a difference between headphones and ear defenders - Bose, Sony etc are the former and not suitable for workshop use if the aim is to reduce hazardous noise. If you want the latter I would go for Peltor any day. Their adaptive NC ones are excellent but be prepared to pay 200-300 depending on model.

 

[Oraclebhoy]

MPOW for me also. I use them in the garage to drown out the saw and router. Got them connect to my Alexa so I can listen to music while doing it.
Usually I just use them as normal without the sound cancelling function switched on as they do a good enough job

 

[Stuart Moffat]

If you just want to eliminate harmful noise (as opposed to listening to music etc) what does the better job, good passive ear defenders, or noise cancelling devices?

 

[D_W]

If you just want to eliminate harmful noise (as opposed to listening to music etc) what does the better job, good passive ear defenders, or noise cancelling devices?

Both work fine, but at the rifle range, when shooting large rifles with a lot of muzzle blast, the recipe was plugs and muffs, both.

 

[Nelly111s]

Ear defenders are best for harmful noise. They're what's used near aircraft. They also don't need charging up! Noise cancelling devices have a microphone that "hears" the ambient noise and circuitry that cancels it which uses power.
I have BOSE headphones for general use (they are particularly good on aircraft) and Peltor Optima in the workshop with dust extraction, tablesaws etc.

 

[Sandyn]

I have a pair of Sony WH-1000X M3 headphones which are extremely good for noise cancelling, (especially on aircraft). I use them to cancel out TV sound if I don't want to listen to crap, or if I'm listening to stuff on the PC. I wouldn't use them in the workshop. I just use normal ear protection.

 

[D_W]

I remember the early bose headsets for airplanes (by that, I mean that a pilot would wear). DC headsets (just good muffs with radio in them and mic) were something like $270.

GPS (before anyone else really had it) sold for huge money back then and the Bose noise attenuating headsets for pilots came on the market around $1000 (this was in the late 1990s) and they sold like crazy. That's like $2K now.

I am not a pilot, but a friend (who has never been of means and can hold on to money like water through chicken wire) always bought all of that stuff and is now a commercial pilot.

It did seem like space technology back then (I also have a four lamp green LED flashlight from before the days that a commercial white flashlight was available. You could have red or green back then, or pay some extra and get blue). They were a princely sum of $30 for a plastic flashlight, but the one that I have still works. None of the LED flashlights that I've bought since are as heavy (not even the metal ones) and none work more than a few years before failing, but old greenie keeps going and will go for 11 days on a pair of AA batteries). White came out the next year.

 

[bansobaby]

Peltor Protac III, noise cancelling (electronically), used for shooting they are brilliant and weren’t too expensive at around £100 IIRC.

 

[GuitardoctorW7]

There's a difference between headphones and ear defenders - Bose, Sony etc are the former and not suitable for workshop use if the aim is to reduce hazardous noise. If you want the latter I would go for Peltor any day. Their adaptive NC ones are excellent but be prepared to pay 200-300 depending on model.

We use active and passive Peltors in broadcasting as there can be quite high SPL's in TV environments and crews need to hear talkback (direction from the gallery) at a safe and comfortable level. Bose and Sony noise cancellers aren't really made for what you want and will get knackered quite easily as they're only built for light domestic use. Having said that any ear (and eye) protection is better than nothing. Disposable 3M foam earplugs will drop sound by around 20dBA which should be enough to take the LEQ (equivalent continuous sound level) to below safe levels for long durations.

 

[hairy]

I thought the active noise cancelling ones from the likes of Bose would let voice through?
I like bigger passive cans because they cut everything, are comfy and not silly money.
I have had three pairs of active noise cancelling from Bose to £30 amazon ones and not been a fan.
Also, I discovered I have small ear canals so the little roll up foam plugs don't fit.
On my motorbike I have some custom moulded ear plugs which are lovely. You can get them with speakers in too.
If you block too much noise like foam plugs with cans over the top it can affect you balance.

 

[niemeyjt]

BOSE - Buy Other Sound Equipment.

A massive avoid from me. Amongst many, I have QC25 with the wire problem (Google it). Customer service = zero. Replaced with Sony.

 

[Skeety]

Both work fine, but at the rifle range, when shooting large rifles with a lot of muzzle blast, the recipe was plugs and muffs, both.

Exactly that, for rifles I used my Peltor Sportacs (noise cancelling) with plugs. For Clay shooting and clay refereeing just use the Sportacs. Very comfortable especially when being worn all day sometimes refereeing.

JON.