OT?: Are Noise-Cancelling Headphones the 'Next Big Thing' for Public Transit Commuters?



J

Jay

Guest
My new noise cancelling headphones
http://www.amazon.com:80/gp/product/B000OMKR8E/ref=cm_rdp_product arrived
today, and you can probably tell, I am thrilled!

As a wage slave, I am in the public arena for several hours daily. Commuter
train and city bus, with my bike leg. I want to be in my own audio world on
the bus and train. I have just now worn these headphones at home, and they
do a good job at blocking my old PC noise. Let's see how they do on the
train and bus. And I have a couple of really loud servers in my office. I
expect that noise will be reduced to near zero. So the question becomes, how
comfortable are the headphones, for wearing hours on end. I don't know that
yet. If I need to step up to Bose QC2 or QC3, I will do that.

I really like the blue 'online' light on the headphones. Combined with the
over-ear design, I think this obviously projects a 'do NOT bother me' image,
to my fellow public transit riders. Combined with my forthcoming portable
satellite radio, I hope to be in my own personal cocoon.

Hey, leave me alone! I am just trying to get to work. This is only 'parallel
play' (for the psychology majors)!

....just trying to share the joy and excitement with my RBT friends.

J.
 
Jay wrote:

> My new noise cancelling headphones
> http://www.amazon.com:80/gp/product/B000OMKR8E/ref=cm_rdp_product arrived
> today, and you can probably tell, I am thrilled!
>
> As a wage slave, I am in the public arena for several hours daily. Commuter
> train and city bus, with my bike leg. I want to be in my own audio world on
> the bus and train. I have just now worn these headphones at home, and they
> do a good job at blocking my old PC noise. Let's see how they do on the
> train and bus. And I have a couple of really loud servers in my office. I
> expect that noise will be reduced to near zero. So the question becomes, how
> comfortable are the headphones, for wearing hours on end. I don't know that
> yet. If I need to step up to Bose QC2 or QC3, I will do that.
>
> I really like the blue 'online' light on the headphones. Combined with the
> over-ear design, I think this obviously projects a 'do NOT bother me' image,
> to my fellow public transit riders. Combined with my forthcoming portable
> satellite radio, I hope to be in my own personal cocoon.
>
> Hey, leave me alone! I am just trying to get to work. This is only 'parallel
> play' (for the psychology majors)!
>
> ...just trying to share the joy and excitement with my RBT friends.
>
> J.


I don't commute but I ride on some lanes where my safety in part
depends on hearing cars coming either from behind or from the front
around corners; in both cases I need to react appropriately before
they reach me. Chistmas before last I treated myself to a pair of STAX
electrostatic headphones. They came with a transistor amp of their own
but I'm big into tubes for hi-fi, so I designed and built a small OTL
tube amp to drive them. The sound, even with the transistor amp, was
so good, I started wondering about music on my rides. The thing about
electrostatic headphones is that they are acoustically transparent
(except for a few closed types which sacrifice some of the clarity of
the sound). You can hear what goes on around you through the
earphones. The ones I bought are standard over-ear models but STAX
also makes two in-ear models with a suitable battery-driven amplifier.

I was wondering if I could listen to music with such an acoustically
transparent earphone in safety on my bike, or is it a total no-no.

I'm also wondering now if on the bus or the train the dipolar nature
of these in-ear STAX electrostatic earphones -- the way they also
broadcast music outwards, would not perhaps be as good a warning-off
signal as over-ear phones. They do not broadcast ourward loudly, but
enough to be noticed by someone who is turning to speak to you, or
rudely enters your space.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Amps at http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/
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