Best noise cancelling headphones?

[sorbetseason]

Just sitting here trying to work for an hour and dear child is watching Star Wars movie not that loud but house has shit insulation. Also hedge cutters AND scaffolders at work on our street.

Given energy crisis I expect I’ll be working in a lot of libraries etc, there’s two good ones around me with lots of space but one has (I kid you not) religious evangelists who preach with a megaphone on the street outside and the other just has a lot of the usual people who want to have 45 min conversations on phone, interrogate staff at high decibel, play YouTube vids etc.

I really hate wearing headphones - but what are the best, most effective, most comfortable noise cancelling headphones? Cost not an issue because I want to buy it for life (I mean not for life, but I bought inferior cheap ones in the pandemic but never wore them as they hurt the top of my head, ultimately a pointless purchase).

I am an editor so need SILENCE <insert sinister drum roll).

I am an editor who cannot proofread their own punctuation it seems, apologies to all pedants for the <) scenario.

Bose. Not cheap but they're the only ones that help me

Bose. I rate both of these:
www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/noise-cancelling-headphones-700.html#v=noise_cancelling_headphones_700_black

www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/quietcomfort-headphones-45.html#v=qc45_black

Sony WH 10000X.Very comfortable but I have to play white noise through them as just wearing them isn't enough to cancel noise for me. I bought them two years ago so it might be a good idea to sign up to Which to get up to date information.

I love my Airpods Max - they manage to reduce the decibel count on my daughter's unstoppable vocal cords.

Not noise cancelling but bear with me:
Panasonic Ergofit Worked EarBuds.

I suffer with severe noise sensitivity, also known as misophonia.
I've bought noise cancelling bids and over the head noise cancelling headphones etc.

What the noise cancelling elements do is takes a sound wave on via a microphone, matches that sound wave and plays a silent version of that sound wave into your ears. Which sounds all well and good.
But.
It works best when the sound waves are a constant. Say you have a fan on in your room. It'll pick the fan up, match the sound and cancel it out well. Or if you sit in a coffee shop and there's a murmur of people, the headphones takes the murmur, replicates the waves and cancels the sound as much as they can.

What they can't cancel is one off sounds, say someone hammers a nail or a car exhaust pops or a dog barks outside. They're not great at cancelling a TV as the waves are artificial and not as contestant.

I hope that makes sense.

What gives me the best and closest to silence is the ErgoFit Earbuds. They're shaped like your ear canal and come with 3 size tips so you can fit them to your comfort. They don't cancel in a fancy techy way, they just block everything out like earplug. Then the little speakers can play whatever and before you know it, pretty.much all sound is blocked out.
I wear mine almost 24/7 even when asleep.
Plus, they're about £10 so hardly breaking the bank.
Give em a try, you might be surprised.

*This post is in no way paid for by Panasonic... But if Panasonic want to send me some free Ergofit bids, please get in touch.. 😜

sony wh-1000xm4 work brilliantly for me. They are really comfortable and very effective. I can feel the tension drop from my shoulders when I put them on.
Impossible to sleep in though unless you sleep on your back.

Loop earplugs. £17 various decibels reduction. Selection of ear canal sizes in the pack. Game changer.
I work in an admin role in a busy bluelight service. Cant even hear a siren.

Another vote for the Sony mx whatever. Not cheap but they do the job for me.

The Sony WH.....MXs have been market leaders for years. I just upgraded from MX4s to MX5s and the sound is just phenomenal.

If you just want noise cancelling Bose sleepbuds are amazing. They're passive but play white noise so block out an amazing amount of ambient sound, and are comfortable and discreet to wear. They can't be used as normal headphones though so are no good is you want to listen to music or podcasts.

I just bought JBL earbuds. Noise cancelling is fabulous. I have noise sensitivity. I thought they only worked when you play music but they work with nothing playing too. Not necessarily silence..you get a bit of sound but massive reduction!

JBL Live Pro 2 TWS Earphones, In... www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B1SQNMCD?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Bose for headphones, they're super light, hold a charge for ages, and really comfortable to wear.

I have the Sony ones mentioned above and they're fab.

I've had the Sony ones for about 3 years now and absolutely love them. The battery life is amazing and they charge surprisingly quickly.

Another vote for the Sony headphones... I have the mx3 and they're really good.

Do you have a local Currys/PC world type place where you could go and try a few pairs on... comfort is going to vary, worth seeing which fit the best.

This is AMAZING, thanks so much. Going to digest it all. Vv good idea about going to curry’s as need to go there for something else.

Sennheiser got a great review in the Guardian the other day