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Comment by _bxg1 | Hacker News Reader

> I am not in the market for anything like this, since I have the high-end spectrum covered w/ some Sony over the ear noise cancelling cans but if I was I would give these a shot in a new york minute.

Like the first-gen AirPods, I think having noise-cancelling in this form factor is a game-changer. All other noise-cancelling headphones, as far as I know, are either bulky on-ears or earbuds with a brick that dangles at the end of the cable.

Being able to block out the world with a device like the AirPods that just fades into the background is a dream. Especially for someone like me who has to wear noise-cancelling headphones to sleep at night.

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There are a few high-end in-ear headphones in a similar form factor with active noise cancellation.

Echo buds: https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Buds/dp/B07F6VM1S3/ Sony WF-1000XM3: https://www.amazon.com/Sony-WF-1000XM3-Industry-Canceling-Wi...

There's probably more, but this was my simple amazon search. Lots of manufacturers are calling their earbuds noise canceling with cVc 6.0 or 8.0, but those are only for phone calls, not for other audio.

From what I've heard all other fully-wireless earbuds are a terrible user experience WRT connection quality/disconnects, battery life, etc. Of course noise-cancelling doesn't require connection to a phone, but for this price range I want both parts of the experience to be excellent

I think the sony ones have been generally well-received in reviews with respect to connection quality and battery life. I don't think anyone knows about the echo buds, since they haven't shipped yet.

I think that if you're not in the Apple ecosystem, it wouldn't be a bad idea to check these other options out. Of course, if you are in Apple's ecosystem it's almost a no-brainer to go with Apple's earbuds.

All active noise cancelling headphones just hurt my ears after extended periods of time.

I have this problem, too. I can't wear my beats noise cancelling headphones for too long or the pressure starts to hurt.

The Apple web site states that the new AirPods have an internally-facing microphone, as well. I wonder if that will help. They're touted as being unnoticeable.

I agree. Thankfully the Bose app allows that to be turned off when it gets to be too much for me, though the office is worse without the Bose cancelling, at least it stops killing my brain.

Do they physically hurt your ears, or is it just some personal discomfort you can get used to?

It's somewhere between a headache and physical discomfort. Hard to describe because I've only ever experienced it with active noise cancelling (over the ear) headphones and I gave those up 5+ years ago.

Do you have a recommendation for sleep headphones that don't hurt your ears or fall out? I'm a side sleeper, so I've always found the ear I'm sleeping on to get irritated.

Search "Sleep phones" on Amazon. However, these don't offer active noise cancellation.

Should have added that I tried the headband approach, but my head ends up too hot for me to keep them on.

I use these (don't know why it says "Apple"; mine just use a headphone jack): https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/qui...

Sleeping on my side isn't 100% ideal but they don't prevent it, for me. My biggest problem is turning over in the night and getting tangled up in the cord, then waking up slightly when I try to adjust it.

That one says Apple because it has the volume up, volume down, and middle button attached to the headset, rather than just wire.

I h ave these, too, and they're pretty great. I don't sleep with these in except on an airplane, but even then never on one of these. They're a little big since they stick out of my ear.

I toss and turn, a lot, so the wires aren't ideal for me, but I used to use my wired Apple headphones without the wires being too preventative. These are a bit pricy for my use case, but good to know that they might not hurt my ear as much.

Should note that I don't need noise cancellation, I just listen to audiobooks until I fall asleep on nights that I am having trouble getting to sleep, but have a partner who is a light sleeper and can't just play them on a speaker.

FYI sleeping with earbuds could damage your ears long-term; not certain on that but very much worth investigating / confirming.

From what I've read it's not so, e.g:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4280735/

At worst, you can have some minor earwax buildup (if you also don't ever wash your ears)

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