Noise-cancelling headphones on QF?

[gadgarra]

I will be flying business class on QF15/16 BNE-LAX on 747-400 with (I hope) upgraded seating.

I read in an old thread here that, at that time, QF provided noise-cancelling headphones in business class. Is this still the case? If so, are they good, or would I be better off buying my own (e.g. Bose QC25).

Also, presumably they need to be plugged into the headphone socket for the noise cancelling action to take effect. Is it possible to turn the volume down to effectively zero, to get real quiet?

 

[TheRealTMA]

I will be flying business class on QF15/16 BNE-LAX on 747-400 with (I hope) upgraded seating.

I read in an old thread here that, at that time, QF provided noise-cancelling headphones in business class. Is this still the case? If so, are they good, or would I be better off buying my own (e.g. Bose QC25).

Also, presumably they need to be plugged into the headphone socket for the noise cancelling action to take effect. Is it possible to turn the volume down to effectively zero, to get real quiet?

Buy your own. The supplied ones on QF and EK (don't know about others recently) are not as good as the Bose QC15/25.

 

[sausagefingers]

Doing the same flight in a few months but in whY, I might not be flying up the pointy end, but my ears will be traveling first class with my Bose QC25s.

 

[russ]

Yes, they still provide noise cancelling headphones. They seem to be an old version of the QC25.

A couple of weeks ago I tried to use my own BOSE QC3's and got muffled sound (first time ever - not sure what was wrong), so I used the Qantas headphones and they were fine.

You can just pause a movie and you will get zero volume until a cabin announcement comes on.

 

[subichow]

Definitely take your own. Only a couple of airlines eg American Airlines actually have Bose QC headsets. All the other ones I've come across have been nowhere near as good as my own pair of Bose QC. It is worth buying your own pair for sure!

 

[bsb]

We were on the 744 from SCL last week and my partner had Bose and I couldn't be bothered carrying mine. If you want the best quality take your own, but I was fine with theirs.

 

[Sdtravel]

I have the qc 20. Used them in Y, Y+ & J. Much easier to sleep in. bought a cheap airline adapter in HK. Or take from the domestic headset pack.
Remember if you do buy a set to claim that TRS refund on the way out.

 

[coriander]

JB Hifi have them for $400.

I bought my QC25s from Palings Audio for $337 shipped a couple of months ago, but I see boombeats have them for $299 - "hopefully" there's a shipping charge to push the invoice over $300 for TRS.
I used them in-flight (but turned on) and unplugged just to have peace and quiet - they are wonderful headphones. I also have a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-ANC9s but the Bose are better noise-cancelling.

The only thing with the Bose is that they have cr*ppy sound if the battery is flat or they're turned off.

HTH.

 

[gadgarra]

Many thanks for all the helpful replies It looks like buying Bose is the way to go.

 

[serfty]

Hah ... love the Bose marketing. Yes they are good but not more than $100 + good. YMMV

FWIW I was in QF First last month and the supplied "n/c" 'phones were pathetic. I Tried another pair but they were basically not very good.

I simply then used my own that AinNZ gave to me as an Elite a few years ago.

 

[marki]

Monster Cans without N/C and without that nasty pressure of active cancelling is very reasonable just by isolating / dampening sound.

 

[gadgarra]

Hah ... love the Bose marketing. Yes they are good but not more than $100 + good. YMMV

So what do you recommend for say $200+ instead of $300+?

 

[coriander]

So what do you recommend for say $200+ instead of $300+?

Best thing to do is to actually have a listen to some headphones in a noisy shop to make a decision - perhaps google "best noise canceling headphones" and go listen to the list you generate. That's how I ended up with QC25s.

Also bear in mind old Chinese saying "bitterness of poor quality linger long after low price forgotten."

 

[bPeteb]

I finally bit the bullet on the weekend and bought a pair of QC25s. Videopro has them for $348 at the moment. I know I could have got them cheaper online but we were going past the store and I thought just get them.

 

[serfty]

So what do you recommend for say $200+ instead of $300+?

I have never paid more than $60 - and that pair were from CRE/\TIVE - I don;t think the do them any more.

I would never spend more than around $100 ... if I did I would have to justify the additional expense, and personally I can't do so - I haven't been able to perceive any experiential difference beyond that.

 

[Ausbt]

QC25 all the way. Those that state "they are not as good without power" are missing the point - their strength is noise-cancelling and decent AAA batteries keep them going for a reasonable time. I use mine in powered-off mode watching tv on my laptop in quiet locations and they are fine. You can't have one 'do it all' headphone: I have Solo Beats for bassy music, $8 TDK buds for random iPad stuff, Logitch buds for the gym.

 

[TheBOSman]

I have never paid more than $60 - and that pair were from CRE/\TIVE - I don;t think the do them any more.

I would never spend more than around $100 ... if I did I would have to justify the additional expense, and personally I can't do so - I haven't been able to perceive any experiential difference beyond that.

Don't know if they have them available easily down there, but if you can buy replacement foam earbud tips for a pair of earbuds, they work very well at blocking noise.

That said I have QC20s and I love them. I wear them on the bus too every day. And, they survived a full wash and dry cycle when I forgot to pull them out of my pants once .

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I would have to justify the additional expense, and personally I can't do so - I haven't been able to perceive any experiential difference beyond that.

Are you talking just audio? I find the additional justification for me is Bluetooth. If an infrequent flyer asked, I wouldn't just recommend them just for the convenience, but for me, they're worth every cent. I hate mucking around with cords and having them dangle around my neck. Mine work very well from an audio perspective, very well from a convenience perspective, very well from a noise cancelling perspective and pretty good from a comfort perspective which are the four things I wanted. Price wise, they were about $400. I bought the kids a pair of $80 noise cancelling, Bluetooth and they're OK as well but not as good on all four of my measures.

 

[SeatBackForward]

QC20's are great for sleeping, but i'll also use the QF supplied ones in J to save on battery juice. But this is less of an issue with seats that provide USB power, just run a 1m+ length of USB up around the seat to recharge phone or the QC20's.

 

[exceladdict]

I'm also a bose fan but two additional thoughts to add.

1: I do get nervous sleeping with $400 headphones on, my head is notoriously heavy and has cracked lesser headphones in the past. For this reason I bought the QC20 earbuds, which poke a little but I'm less scared of crushing

2: If travelling to the US, if the exchange rate is decent, the bose outlets sell them at significant discounts at your local outlet mall with the same warranty. Then stack your TRS on top of that for extra cashback.