Noise isolating headphones – don’t travel without them
A few months ago I decided to try out some noise cancelling headphones for the time I spend on airplanes. After looking around at the conventional over-the-ear designs which are too big for me to lug around and too expensive for what they are ($300 for the Bose model) I stumbled across an alternative headphone design that fits in the ear canal like an earplug. It’s relatively cheap ($80 for pretty good quality sound to $500 for top of the line), no larger than a standard set of ear buds, and I can objectively say it’s way more effective that the over-the ear models.
Besides the benefit of totally blocking out all of the audio going on around me, I love these headphones because I can enjoy music played at a relatively low volume since I’m not turning up the volume to overpower airplane engines, kids screaming, or coworkers chatting. I recommend these to pretty much anyone who likes listening to music in places with ambient noise; everyone I know who has them loves them. The only reservation that some people have might be with the sensation of having something in the ear canal; if you think this might be an issue you should buy from a vendor who guarantees satisfaction and allows returns.
The two vendors that make these headphones are Etymotics and Shure. Both brands have a product range from ~$80-500 and both have excellent reputations. I went with the Shure E2/E2c because it was reputed to be more comfortable, easier to insert/remove frequently, and better optimized for bass response (with a slight tradeoff vs the Etymotics in the clarity of mids and highs). I’d post some links to vendors I don’t have internet access as I’m writing this.
P.S.; since the headphones are small and efficient they will make any noise in your audio system very obvious; I had to give up playing music via my laptop/desktop since their audio feeds had too much signal noise. I bought an Ipod and have not regretted paying the premium for the design of the Ipod over the cheaper competitors.