The constant hum of an airplane’s engines is one of the causes of jet lag; your brain is on overdrive trying to tune out that annoying noise. Of course, the constant chatter of your seatmates can be equally annoying and sometimes even more difficult to tune out.
Thank God for headphones.
A helpful column in USA Today reviews the various noise-cancellation headphones that are on the market. Edward C. Baig checks out the Voyetra Turth Beach ANR-20, the Bose QuietComfort 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones, the Sennheiser PXC 250, and the Shure E500PTH Sound Isolating Earphones.
I was hoping for a clear-cut winner, but only half a star separates each of the headphones. The Sennheiser and Bose both capture 3.5 stars (out of four) just narrowly beating the other two models.
So what does this mean? The headphones were rated in five different categories; each had its different strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I feel that the most important category is undoubtedly Sound Quality. And it was here that the Shure model “boasted the richest sounds.”
At $499, the Shure is rich indeed.