Headphones for train

I need to have some headphones for when I travel by train and my fellow passengers should preferably not hear what I am listening to. I was thinking about Meze Classic if they could be a good idea?

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For traveling I am very partial to cans with noise canceling, e.g. Sony WH-1000XM4, Sennheiser PXC 550-II Wireless, or Sennheiser Momentum 3 wireless. There are also others, both over-ear (like the ones listed) and in-ear. The features and behaviors of the noise canceling and wireless connection differ between manufacturers and models, and it pays off to look for those that one wants. (E.g., does the noise canceling continue to work if no music is playing; are there differences in behavior between wireless and cabled modes). On pure SQ they are not comparable to dedicated hifi ones, but the noise cancelling removes much travel stress for me

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Coincidentally I took the train up to London this weekend and so took the only pair of sealed back headphones in my collection, a pair of B&W P7s. These are more ā€œon earā€ than over, but they do fold up neatly into a half-moon hardcase and also isolate enough from the general train noise to be effective. I prefer this to any form of noise cancelling, but then I think Iā€™m quite sensitive to any obvious processing. The lambskin ear pads are lovely tooā€¦

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The Mezze 99 Classics bleed little sound and is a very good headphone. It is also very easily drivable.

If you donā€™t want noise cancelling this will give you something you can enjoy at home as well.

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in ear does not work for me. They fall out of my ears and have just lost my Dynaudio / Oppo buds

The Sony noise cancelling are excellent on public transport.

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If you search for the Sony wf1000xm3 youā€™ll find a very good deal at present, like almost too good to missā€¦

Whilst the 4s are an excellent refinement I have the 3s and they remain excellent.

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I have had the Sennheiser Momentum 3 for two years and am still very satisfied with them. Noise cancelling works great for listening to music on trains and planes (having a phone call with noise cancelling is a different topic, canā€™t stand it).

I almost bought Sony wf 1000 3s because of their cool price but finally got 4s. What a great piece of equipment! I love them.

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Using my wf1000xm3 as I type whilst cleaning my recently passed fathers Prince collection. Even the project vcs isnā€™t too bad with the NC on :slightly_smiling_face:

Will see if the Sony WH-1000XM4 is something for me

I donā€™t like headphones much - especially in-ears - but bought some Momentum 3 (over-ears - there are also in-ears and on-ears) this year and have found them very comfortable and good at shutting out aircraft noise on longish flights. And they do sound good too.

I, I use a pair of white Denon AH-GC30s and they are spectacular.

I have them and find the noise cancelling very effective for travel. Given the black friday promotions this weekend, Iā€™d be very tempted to go for the previous xm3 model - the price gap is huge and I seriously doubt youā€™d notice the difference in a travel scenario.

Peter

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Iā€™m a fan of the old skool Sennheiser HD251-iiā€™sā€¦sound great, indestructible, closed - not noise cancelling but definitely good for closing out noise (just look at the broadcasters who use the microphoned version at US football games - you know it has to be loud where they are).

Another favourable view of the Sony WH-1000XM3. I got them bundled with a new phone, which was much appreciated. Not sure if other noise cancelling 'phones do this, but the option to pipe in ambient noise is really useful, in addition to the noise cancelling and ā€˜normalā€™ modes. Decent battery life too.

Main thing is you have lots of really good choices. I wouldnā€™t diss a single suggestion on this thread. They are all excellent. The Sony wins on battery longevity though. It really does do 30 hours.

Daughter2 uses the Bose noise cancelling jobbies. She does an hour each way, mon-fri, on the train. She reports that they work sufficiently well enough.

Mine are Sony WH1000s are even older: XM2s. Perhaps not ā€œhifiā€ as this forum understands it but theyā€™re fine for making long train journeys a lot more bearable. My son liked them enough to pick up a pair of XM4s as heā€™s doing more travelling now.

Roger

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