Hacker News Reader

Noise canceling wireless earbuds. I’ve had both a Jabra and a Beats… very happy with both. Nice for blocking out noise. No messy cables, can use with any device…

I was skeptical, I liked my corded headphones fine. Just turns out these sound better and are way more useful for me.

View on HN

I've had noise canceling headphones for a while now, and I love using them in flights, but somehow I could never get to use it all the time to focus like some of my friends do. I am definitely not an expert in this area, and I have no evidence to argue for this, but somehow it feels like actively producing sounds to cancel out the noise and blasting it into your ear all day (i.e., when noise cancellation is on) can't be good.

Theoretically the sounds they produce cancel out the noise before either sound wave reaches your ear. I know some people experience some discomfort due to pressure changes, but the volume of the noise cancellation shouldn't be an issue by itself.

For people who dislike the "plugs", I can recommend Huawei FreeBuds (base version, not Pro). They are open design, very comfortable to wear for long periods. They have ANC, due to open design, it's not perfect, but still quite noticeable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com