Noise cancelling earbuds that really work.

[Tony Ramirez]

I am looking for a pair of noise cancelling Bluetooth earbuds that block out the noise mainly the chatter of other people. I mean not just when listening to music which is fine. I mean the annoying silent parts between songs or when you are watching a show or movie then I have to hear them swearing.

Not just that they need to be able to pair with two devices at the same time. The last three earbuds only would pair with one device which meant disconnect from one device then connect which meant a pause where I can hear people talk. Thanks

 

[thejuice]

It might be hard because the noise needs to be a consistent drone to be successfully cancelled out.. I'm not sure chatter qualifies but maybe it will at least cancel out some of it?.

 

[Raggamuffin]

No such thing as noise cancelling headphones that remove 100% of noise.

From a 2024 article:

If you haven't used noise-cancelling headphones before, you need to understand that they don't fully eliminate noise and are notably less effective at eliminating inconsistent noise.

As such, you'll need to work on your negative reaction/overreaction to hearing people talking.

Ed

 

[Tony Ramirez]

That sucks.

 

[FayetheAspie]

Are there any noise canceling headphones that do not play music but rather just minimize the background noise?

 

[Tony Ramirez]

Like to know too Faye?

 

[FayetheAspie]

Like to know too Faye?

Yes, I think it might help in some places but don't really want the music feature that goes with the ones I saw for sell.

 

[MNAus]

There's a lot of devices that essentially block the noise passively. Loop seem to be a popular brand, though the website is a bit cool and try hard, so not clear if they perform or are style statements. For active noise cancelling (where an inverse of the sound is played to cancel the original sound) I have a pair of Sony WF-1000xm4 and they are GREAT. The active noise cancelling is superb and doesn't need you to be playing music. Quite often I'll put them in to play music and enjoy the quiet so much I'll forget to press play. The newer xm5 are supposed to be even better. They're not cheap though, but the cheaper WF-C700N are also well reviewed. If you are less bothered about any music you might ever play and really want to focus on active noise cancelling, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are accepted as best.

The issue with these for your use, Tony, is that they reduce volume overall, which means to an extent you'll still hear what people say and, as others have noted, they do best with consistent noise. That said the technology has gotten a LOT better over the past few years so voices are pretty well blocked now.

ETA: On pairing with two devices at once, most newer buds do this multipoint Bluetooth. The Sony I mentioned above do, the Bose don't, I think. Check before buying. The handling can be weird though. I used to have my laptop and phone connected to mine, but that can lead to annoying things like the laptop error chime stopping playback of a song from my phone. It is cool though.

 

[Judge]

Why Noise Cancelling Headphones Don’t Block Voices and What You Can Do About it - NoisyWorld

 

[Rodafina]

noise cancellation feature + low volume white noise does the trick for me.

Spoiler: i like this one

 

[Pink Jazz]

I like Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC. I have a pair in pink.

 

[Judge]

With these kind of threads I usually mention that there are times when I need to concentrate so much that I want to shut out as much sound as I can, reduced- but not entirely eliminated at the same time. Which is when I use my ear protectors that cover my entire ears (supra aural) like conventional headphones and not ear buds.

Ones rated with noise reduction ratings in the 30s range. Not sophisticated noise cancelling headphones at all though. Just the same ear protectors one would use at a firing range or on the job with power tools. I might add unlike headphones or earbuds these are quite sturdy. To adjust how tight they may fit (while still being comfortable) is just a matter of stretching their thick metal wires.

Cheap, but effective for me when it comes to limited noise suppression. Though as they tend to be bulky, I don't wear them anywhere but inside my apartment.

Amazon.com : ear protectors

 

[AuroraBorealis]

What I did so far when I REALLY wanted to shut out as much noise as possible (for example when I was super overwhelmed at an extremely crowded museum), was that
- I wear my Loop Quiet earplugs (can recommend them, they're good for me),
- over that I put on my SONY WH-XB910N noise-cancelling headphones with the noise-cancelling function on,
- and then play some calming instrumental music over them.
That really did the trick at the time. I couldn't hear anything apart from the quiet instrumental music.

That doesn't really answer your question, but maybe it helps you anyway. At that time, I also wanted to tune out people's chatter.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I just got my new hearing aids because of more advanced features. It has active noise canceling as well as wind noise muting. I like them and the noise reduction features works well, especially when combined with the speech clarity feature. I picked them up at Costo and the price is very reasonable. My only disappointment is that it it uses a proprietary low power Bluetooth protocol and so I can't connect to my other transmitters.