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Comment by the_pwner224 | Hacker News Reader

You can measure the dB of noise reduction on a headphone test bench.

Under the Isolation section here they have leakage (sound spilling out to others) and isolation (noise canceling). Keep in mind that dB is nonlinear, and the test results depend a lot on how well the testers fit the headphones on the head - so I would only consider these to be approximations within 1-3 dB of the real value.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare

Rtings hasn't (yet) done a pre/post update comparison for the AirPods but you could use the same methodology.

The HyperX Cloud II are a good (isolation/leakage-wise) set of 'normal' over-ear headphones which you can compare the numbers to if you've never used ANC and are curious. And the Sony WH-1000XM3 / Bose 700 are the leading noises canceling over-ear headphones.

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The Sony XM3s are an awesome piece of hardware. The noise cancellation is top notch, the ear cups are the most comfortable and large enough to not put too much pressure (specially for folks like me who wear specs) and are extremely lightweight with ample cushioning.

Best 25k INR (was around 30% of my monthly salary == monthly rent) I ever spent.

Could only dream to have rent that is 500$! ;)

But that rent is 30% of my monthly salary. Between the rent, expenses, investments and credit card bills, I can't save more than $150 per month.

And that rent is for a single room in a 4 room apartment. :(

The rent for the entire apartment equals my monthly salary.

Bombay or somewhere posher in BLR?

Gurgaon.

I use Sony XM3s every day on the way to and from work, and a lot of the time I am there too. They're great.

The only thing that would make me happier is if they made a model with more passive sound isolation / insulation. The noise cancelling is awesome, but it can only do so much. I would gladly pay for this in increased size and weight. The amount of outside noise I want to hear is zero.

Yeah, really impressed with them myself. The noise cancellation is really impressive compared to my Bose QC20 (which I was very impressed with at the time, and I still hold on to as a really portable pair), music sounds amazing on them, and I can wear them all day without discomfort.

There are a couple of small things I’d change, primarily making it easier to connect/toggle between multiple Bluetooth devices (right now I either have to disconnect on the first device then connect on the second, or turn the headphones off and then on in pairing mode). Also it would be nice to have a clearer visual indication of whether they are on or not and what the battery level is - the battery life is great, but it’s quite easy to not realise they are low and/or leave them on by accident.

I’d highly recommend them anyway. Great for an office environment. Personally I did find a slight discomfort to the noise cancelling at first but very quickly adjusted, so this seems to be a very personal thing.

I bought it on Amazon in a daily deal for ₹15K but I had to return it as the box and headphone were damaged. They didn’t replace, just refunded citing the end of the deal.

I like mine but I wish they were more breathable. Of course that's hard with a closed design which probably is necessary for noise cancellation, but as someone who gets hot easily I have to take them off for a while every 30 minutes or so. No way I can use them in summer out in the open and even on the train I get sweaty fast.

But apart from that they're very comfortable and the NC is awesome.

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