The Mandelbear's Musings

Headphones to Shut Out the World - New York Times

PANASONIC RP-HC500 The pleasantly smushy-edged earcups on this new model do an excellent job of isolating your ears. That may be one reason the noise cancellation works so well; all but the highest frequencies are subtracted. Better still, the music reproduction is stellar, especially in the crisp, clean higher registers.

I waited to look up the prices for these products until after I’d tested them. So I was astonished to discover that you can find these online for $100. You get quality that’s nearly indistinguishable from the Boses — for a third the price.

The Panasonic phones look like the best of the lot for the price. Pogue seems to like headphones that sit on your ears instead of around them. I can't stand them, which eliminates his other low-cost favorite, the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7.

Since there's air travel in my near future, ...