Going on a cross-country flight (SF to NY). Headphones suggestions needed

[john dough]

I found out today that I am going to be doing some work in NY and want some headphones for the plane ride. I would like to spend as little as possible but am not averse to spending a little ($500 max) to get some great cans.

A client's wife is a higher-up at a large company and they want me to set up 2 Macs, set up wireless, coordinate install of a few TVs and do training on-site, rather than over the web. This is going to be a busy month!

[jdc]

noise canceling? or just regular comfy phones?

[clay]

are you hiring? :-)

[3d]

What's wrong with the headphones you have now?

[john dough]

Bottom line for me is sound reproduction. Noise canceling would be good but not at the expense of good quality. Comfy is good too.

I am not hiring as I am a one-person show and I am either scrambling or dead slow (this month is the former). I did try out an assistant but they were too preoccupied with surfing the web/tweeting when I needed them to do tasks for me; then business died off.

Nothing is wrong with them (apple stock earbuds), just want a better sound out of some headphones. I heard some FANTASTIC Sennheisers many years ago when I had more want than money; now that I have a gig that will pay for these phones and then some (this is truly found money) I am going to splurge.

[Fritz]

Senns kick butt in general.

I'm told the new Bose NCs as well as the ATH-M50s are quite good.

I have InEars for flying. They aren't NC, but they have pretty nice fidelity. IE6s, Senn. http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-IE-Ear-..._2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1259790934&sr=8-2

Sonys are too bright for me.

Personally, I'd stay with $200 street price max. You can find good choices there.

[dk62]

As long as you can find good-fitting ear tips, the in-ear kind are best for air travel. The ones that Fritz recommends are excellent, cheaper Shures are also an option.

If you really want noise-canceling, I found AudioTechnica to be at least as good as Bose, and a much better value (think how much money Bose spends on advertising). But I would still go with the in-ear type.

[jdc]

if you dont mind "big" headphones, then any $80+ senns should be fine -- but the dont really "hide" the sound from your seat mates

i have a set of HD465s for example, incredibly comfy and i love the single replaceable cable, but kinda "big" for travel use

i think if you spend $100 on just about anything, your should be pretty dang happy

[Bixby]

I can definitely recommend the Shure SE530 with push to hear. I use them personally and professionally (to mix audio in tight spaces). Noise cancellation is good, sound is great, and the push to hear is very handy. Not cheap, though. One step below custom-made.

http://store.shure.com/store/shure/en_US....105460100

Oh, and they come with a variety of tips for your ears. I prefer the black foam.

[Surfrider]

I know somebody will poo poo this but when I was travelling a lot with our fuel dragster I bought a pair of the $300 Bose noise canceling headphones.

For everything I used them for, music, NPR and stand-up comedy as well as the movies (!) that they have on the plane, they were excellent.

If you just want to sleep, the noise canceling alone was worth it, very soft roar in the background instead of the giant rush of noise you get on a jet.

Comfortable too.

Price is steep, to be sure but 5 years ago they seemed the best, still have them, still use them although I fly a lot less now...now I seem to be visiting hospitals and getting cut than I do going racing!