r/mildlyinfuriating • u/BiteInfamous • 10h ago

I'm slightly vexed Taxi driver wearing noise cancelling headphones while driving in the city

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Look I’m PMSing so I’m admittedly in a very nit picky time of my life. But. Don’t love weaving in and out of traffic in a major city while the taxi driver has noice cancelling headphones on. The sound is loud enough I can hear whatever (moderately funny) comedy show he’s listening to in the backseat. This is ill advised, yes?

ETA thanks to everyone who taught me about transparent mode today :)

ETA2 : Okay, I’m the asshole, comments have shown me there’s lots that could be going on with the driver to make him need to use these and there’s way he could do so safely. Mea culpa. That’ll teach me to knee jerk react.

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35

u/Literatelady 10h ago

Is this is the right time to mention I am disappointed by my premium headphones lack of ability to block noise? On the subway I feel like the background noise is competing with my audiobook or music. However I don't blast music.

14

u/ItStinksItStinksItSt 8h ago

Noise cancelling works by recording the outside world, then flipping the audio 180 deg out of phase and playing it back which results in destructive cancellation with the original sound. Because this processing happens in real time, there is some latency, and so it really only works well for very stable, regular sounds like an air conditioner or something. That's why it sucks at things like cancelling voices, loud clanging, or any other unpredictable, irregular noises.

8

u/yrthegood1staken 8h ago

For those learning from this comment, this is specifically about "active" noise canceling. Passive noise canceling happens through insulation and sound-dampening materials (like your traditional ear plugs or workshop earmuffs).

2

u/DiegesisThesis 3h ago

And then you have electronic ear muffs for shooting that are basically inverse ANCs. They muffle all sounds (especially gunshots) using passive noise canceling, and use the microphones to pick up and passthrough all the audio below a certain decibel threshold. That way canceling the loud sound isn't delayed, but rather the safe sounds are delayed (not enough to notice, obviously).

1

u/mymotherthemountain 7h ago

Any ideas on the best passive noise canceling headphones? Active noise canceling is apparently not what I'm looking for, lol.

1

u/yrthegood1staken 7h ago

Whatever is comfortable. If you look at gear meant for workshops or shooting ranges, they'll often have number ratings. If you want something for music, just get something with large "cans" (over the ear cups) that have good reviews. Personally, I like my Sony WX-1000X M3 headphones which have both active and passive noise canceling, though there are probably better ones out now since these are several years old.

1

u/Empyrealist Does this look blue to you? 6h ago

Good passive requires big cans. The only other thing close are earbuds that plug into your canal tightly, but that comes with its own issues

1

u/mymotherthemountain 6h ago

Thanks, I'll start paying more attention to the actual design of the headphones versus features! I have earbuds in now at work, but I sleep with ear plugs in so I try not to put things in my ears during the day (because I'm crazy). 

•

u/Johnny-Virgil 57m ago

You’re not crazy! Look at some of the studies they’ve done about the amount of bacteria in your ears when they can breathe and when they can’t, and how fast it multiplies when you have earplugs in.

1

u/HunBunYum 6h ago

OoOO, look at smarty mcsmart pants over here /s

Thanks for that knowledge transfer!

7

u/mymotherthemountain 9h ago

Yes, I hate my Bose Quiet Comforts. The noise canceling blocks nothing. 

5

u/Eqmuraj 7h ago

Are they broken? I bought a pair of QC Ultras for a long international flight last year, and the difference between Quiet and immersion vs aware is massive.

2

u/mymotherthemountain 7h ago

No idea, I can hear the difference between the modes, but none seem to actually block/cancel sound. I can hear keyboard typing in all modes. I feel like they block sound purely by the volume of the music. 

3

u/costinmatei98 5h ago

You are 100% doing something wrong / don't have them on your head properly.

I have had my Bose QC35 IIs and QC Ultras for quite a bit now and they are absolutely amazing at blocking out everything. To a point where my friend was shouting at me from my doorway and I was 5 meters away completely unaware.

Though it does work A LOT better when you are playing music / a podcast. Just having them on doesn't work that amazingly, but they still block out most repetitive sounds.

2

u/raybreezer 6h ago

IDK, I literally put mine on without playing sound just to drown out noise sometimes. I would get them checked.

1

u/MC_Naparm 3h ago

They gotta be broken, access the app and play with the settings on the modes and put the noise cancellation to 100%

1

u/mymotherthemountain 2h ago

I've done this before and I can hear the sound mode change, but it doesn't really seem to actually have a meaningful impact on the outside sound levels. I'm kind of at the point where the Bose headphones were just an expensive experiment that didn't work out.

1

u/MC_Naparm 2h ago

I’m thinking yours are a defective pair, when you have the cancelling on max and in a quiet room, snap your fingers, you should barely be able to hear it

1

u/Johnny-Virgil 1h ago

Generally the way they work is to pick up whatever external ambient noise there is in the microphone, reverse the waveform and play it back in your headphones so the waveforms cancel each other out. The more droning the sound you are trying to block, the better they work. A jet engine, a lawnmower, an air conditioner will be blocked easily. Random noises, traffic, horns, gunfire, etc. are all really fast and percussive and when there are a lot of them happening at once, reversing the sound waves quick enough to cancel them is difficult so you still hear them.

3

u/Xenrutcon 8h ago

My bose QC2 are incredible. Could block out a war

3

u/Polamalu4Prezident 7h ago

Disagree. Just bought my fourth pair in ten years. Bose QuietComforts are incredible, and have only gotten better. 🤷‍♂️

7

u/TheMellerYeller 9h ago

They fell off, the new ones are kinda mid but the old ones are still crazy good at blocking out and cancelling noise

3

u/Polamalu4Prezident 7h ago

Disagree. On my fourth pair— they’re just as amazing as the first. 🤷‍♂️

1

u/AccomplishedCake53 PURPLE 6h ago

I’ve been buying them for ages and upgraded to the new model last year. They didn’t “fall off” it’s still the same good quality as always.

1

u/TheMellerYeller 4h ago

To each their own ig, I’ve always been unimpressed with the new ones as opposed to my qc25s

0

u/BackgroundAncient174 9h ago

Mine are bliss on an airplane. IYKYK.

2

u/OilMeDaddi 8h ago

Yeah I have the QC 2 and it’s amazing. Just had a flight and had to recharge halfway. The 5mins without them was pain.

1

u/DontHaesMeBro 9h ago

I'm a pretty big fan of the anker sport x20s. they have a nice flexy earhook that doesn't interfere with glasses and they have a decent noise cancellation and an ok transparent mode. really securely in place for how unobtrusive they are.

1

u/Shantotto11 7h ago

JBL user here. It doesn’t cancel the noise, but it definitely dampens it.

1

u/I_think_Im_hollow 5h ago

I have the Bose QuietComfort and use them at work (I paint with a spray gun in a booth that gets very loud) and I can't even tell if the extractor is ON when the quiet mode is enabled. There's a dude using the sandblaster (the big ones) 30 meters away and I can't even hear that. I guess it's more efficient with regular and stable noises, then.

0

u/TriiCop 9h ago

Biggest mistake I did was buying Bose instead of Sony

3

u/Unique_Persimmon9454 9h ago

I have the Sony MX5’s and they’re so good

2

u/Morlanticator 8h ago

I'm still rocking my mx3 from many years ago. They usually stay at home with my electric drumset but are super crucial when I need silence out in the world.

1

u/Unique_Persimmon9454 8h ago

Mine are pretty much exclusively for planes
The drone of the airplane exhausts me and these help so much!!

3

u/Michael_braham 9h ago

AirPod max has impressive noise canceling can’t even hear my kid screaming when I’m wearing them

1

u/virtuousdeliverer 9h ago

I think I have this taxi driver’s headphones (Sony M5 I think) and I spent like $350 on them. They work OKAY but I feel my AirPods cancel more.

1

u/Stahlios 9h ago

In-ears will always be better than headphones for that. They literally plug your ears on top of the active noise cancelling.

1

u/justtolearnsomething 9h ago

You’ll always find me recommending this but consider bone conduction headphones. I find you still get the necessary sound you may need while still having an idea of your surroundings. It takes a lot for other people to hear your music unless you’ve chosen to vibrate your literally head

1

u/Mindless-Baker-7757 8h ago

I have a whole argument that noise canceling headphones don’t really work. Some ear buds with real over the ear hearing protection is far better. 

1

u/autofill-name 8h ago

Have you tried wearing them whilst riding a bicycle down the middle of the road, no hands?
I've seen them appear to work perfectly in that situation

1

u/Difficult-Bicycle119 6h ago

I put on a demo pair of the Apple Airpods Max headphones at a busy Apple store and it was like stepping into a library. Give those a shot if you're able. I immediately bought a used pair from eBay and have not been disappointed.

1

u/OrangeCuddleBear 9h ago edited 8h ago

The only reason I tolerate using public transit for work is because of my noise cancelling headphone. 

I remember one time i was listening to my book and noticed everyone seemed upset, i briefly removed my headphone and there was a baby screaming and losing it's mind. Worth every penny.

1

u/Nazgog-Morgob 9h ago

because of my most cancelling headphone

Did you mean moist or noise with that spelling mistake?

1

u/OrangeCuddleBear 8h ago

Noise cancelling, thanks for that. I fixed my typo.

Im very curious what moist cancelling headphone do.

1

u/Nazgog-Morgob 8h ago

Okay cuz I was looking for recommendations for some nice moist cancelling headphones. I hate moist ears. The search continues!

0

u/Mr_McMuffin_Jr 9h ago

“Premium” is a joke. Nothing but marketing. If you want the best headphones stay out of the big box stores

1

u/Serious_Not_Surely 8h ago

Honestly, the best headphones I’ve ever had are a brand called Soundcore by Anker. They are over the ear with great noise cancelling. Bluetooth (if you like that). I have never had a single problem out of them. $40 on Amazon.

1

u/mymotherthemountain 7h ago

Randomly, I have a pair of cheap Soundcore by Anker headphones that I sometimes wear not even turned on because they really help with noises. They were so decent that I thought shelling out the big bucks for Bose would really bump up the noise canceling level, but nope. 

0

u/FrigginRan 9h ago

yep. I recommend to people this chinese brand called “moondrop”. Their “space travel” buds have very good ANC.

1

u/Mr_McMuffin_Jr 8h ago

https://www.status.co/products/pro-x

1

u/FrigginRan 8h ago

that price is pretty steep. Moondrop is also a reputable IEM brand and their buds are 40$

0

u/Mr_McMuffin_Jr 9h ago

Its status for me. ANC isn’t the best in the world but they are basically IEMs for everyday

-1

u/OperationHot6180 8h ago

My QC25s leave me in silent bliss.

You DO know how to turn on the noise cancelling, right?