Headphone Heights

ANC phones for long flight; Bose QC45 or Senn Momo 4

67.204.154.49

DWPC

A

I was surprised to learn that Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) headphone reviews rarely mention or test for effective aircraft noise cancellation.

I tried Skullcandy ANC earbuds on my last flight to Euro and they did virtually nothing to quiet the loud engine/airstream noise in the cabin; I returned them. Now looking at over-the-ear phones under $300; Bose QC45 vs Sennheiser Momo 4 seem the best rated on Amazon, but I don't have much faith in the musical assessments considering I lean toward classic rock and classical/opera. These phones will also replace my ancient Grados for home listening so sound quality is important too.

Hoping there are some frequent flyers on AA with first-hand experience with these ANC phones when flying.

Follow Ups:

RE: ANC phones for long flight; Bose QC45 or Senn Momo 4 - pbarach 13:07:05 02/05/23 (2)
I don't have either of those models, but I have used Bose QC25 and Sony WH-1000XM2 headphones on plane trips. Both did a pretty good job of blocking much of the engine noise, and nearby conversation, but neither did much to block crying babies or pilot announcements. You can see graphs and measurements for the headphone's you are considering at rtings.com. The Bose QC45 have better noise cancellation than the Senns, but the Senns may do better with music.

By the way, I have a pair of Apple AirBuds Pro 2 (latest model), and the noise cancellation doesn't begin to compare to that of my 3 year old Sony headphones. I can listen to chamber music with the Sony headphones while mowing the lawn, but the AirBuds are next to useless in that situation. Over the head ANC devices are always going to be better than earbuds.
- RE: ANC phones for long flight; Bose QC45 or Senn Momo 4 - DWPC 16:19:39 02/07/23 (1)
  Coincidental with my interest in ANC headphones, Costco put the Bose QC45 on sale for $250 (no hard case) so I grabbed them. They sound better than I expected after some EQ adjustment via the Bose Music phone app. ANC is impressive; I cranked up the volume on an AM radio tuned to static until it sounded like an Airbus cabin and heard nothing but the music with the Bose phones.
  - RE: ANC phones for long flight; Bose QC45 or Senn Momo 4 - pbarach 05:12:00 02/24/23 (0)
    There are YouTube videos with many hours of quiet (meaning no screaming kids or announcements) airplane cabin noise from various plane models.
    I just came back from a trip on a Boeing 737-900. The SPL app on my phone measured a C-weighted 90 dB from where I sat just forward of the wings. My Sony headphones did a pretty good job of suppressing normal cabin noise. They did nothing to suppress the sound of a wooden block repeatedly being pounded on the tray-table by an infant across the aisle.
    
    Edits: 02/24/23

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