A Better Way to Cancel Noise • Hacker News Board

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#21

Post by ketralnis » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 4:52 AM UTC

nordsieck wrote: post #20

peatmoss wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can sometimes pair a decent in-ear pair of headphones with shooting / construction earmuffs, depending on the clearances. That’s the best of both worlds IMO. Also, don’t worry about looking derpy; I give you blanket permission to not care :-)

A great alternative to your setup is a set of plugfones [0]. They're an earbud that's an earplug first and a speaker second, which means they have an NRR rating and are generally pretty good earplugs. [0] https://www.plugfones.com/

I've tried these for motorcycling and have found that the foam style is enormous and won't fit in my normal-sized ears :(

(They also have a baffled style that won't stay put while I put on my helmet but of course that won't affect you in an office)

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#22

Post by ketralnis » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 5:03 AM UTC

puranjay wrote: post #17

steve19 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. My QC20s are probably hands down the best electronics purchase I have made. A gadget that has significantly increased my quality of life, and they last a long time.

I was on the fence about them. I had the Sennheiser BTNC 4.5 shortlisted since they're cheaper. Is Bose's noise canceling significantly better than Sennheiser's?

I can't rate Bose vs Sennheiser, but I can tell you that my $300 Bose QC35 II is far, far more effective than either my $100 Creative HN-900 or my SO's $100 Audiotechnica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7. I have a friend with both the Bose QC35 II and the $300 Sony WH-1000xM2 and he rates them about on par for noise cancelling, but puts the audio quality on the Sonys a little higher.

The two cheaper models are garbage by comparison, to the point that I'd say to just skip the noise cancelling altogether if it's only as good as the cheaper ones.

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#23

Post by wumms » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 5:10 AM UTC

twtw wrote: post #18

i dream of cars with an array of speakers around the wheels to cancel the road noise.

Assuming road noise is nowadays mostly low frequency noise - BOSE's car suspension [0] might do the trick: "It does for motion what noise-cancelling does for noise" [1].

[0] https://youtu.be/3KPYIaks1UY

[1] https://www.clearmotion.com

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#24

Post by kachurovskiy » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 5:30 AM UTC

I have some of the best noise cancelling headphones (Sony MDR-1000X) and the thing few people realize is that active noise cancellation actually increases perceived pressure on your ear. For me it's like being underwater. I'm only really using them while flying.

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#25

Post by esturk » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 5:40 AM UTC

peatmoss wrote: post #14

raindropm wrote: post #7

That aside, I found that construction earmuff is quite good for blocking sound and gain focus — with just about 5% price of top noise canceling headphone in the market. It took a bit getting used to though(and took quite some times to 'stretch' the earmuff in order to make it not clamp too tight to your head, but it works quite well and very cheap alternative. It looks derpy though so I can't wear it in the office —…

You can sometimes pair a decent in-ear pair of headphones with shooting / construction earmuffs, depending on the clearances. That’s the best of both worlds IMO. Also, don’t worry about looking derpy; I give you blanket permission to not care :-)

You mean having construction muffs over earphones? Professional gamers have been doing that for years in 1v1 matches.

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#26

Post by Ricardus » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 5:51 AM UTC

The MUTE solution sounds interesting, and is certainly worth some research, but I see it having some problems. One obvious one is that the receiver might stay in that guy's window, and you might be in the apartment, say 15 feet away, so within that distance you can overcome the latency issue that was mentioned (because radio waves travel faster than sound waves) but the fact remains you're 15 feet away from the microphone in the receiver, and by the time the sound reaches you, it has changed dramatically. It has reflected off of 1000 surfaces by then and looks a lot less like it did at the receiver. So creating a waveform that's 180 degrees out of phase would be a gigantic challenge. I suppose you could do some work with Impulse Responses to solve this. You could take an IR of the room where the listener is and probably account for a lot of the changes and use some DSP to modify the waveform to make it more correct. But then if you move somewhere else in the room, everything changes and needs to be recalculated. Interesting idea though.

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#27

Post by therein » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 6:58 AM UTC

anonu wrote: post #13

I live in NYC and I'm a longtime user of the Bose QC20s. They are probably the best commercial noise cancellation devices. I even sleep with them. The article promises some significant leaps in the technology. No doubt as processing gets faster and smaller we'll have even smarter noise cancellation. Looking forward to that...

> I even sleep with them

I used to do that with my QC15 first and then after it broke twice, with my QC25 replacement. Sleeping with them on is really tough on them, though. After the third replacement device, I decided I couldn't keep on doing it no matter how much I actually enjoyed putting it on at night and hear that soft static. The slight pressure actually felt pleasant.

Quitting using them for sleep was hard, though. I certainly felt the urge to buy a new pair but now I sleep with a pillow on my head if I'm sleeping on my side, or a puffier pillow put sideways under my head positioned in a way that it will cover my ears if I am sleeping on my back. It is no perfect replacement but I think the reason why I do that is because I am still seeking that QC20 feel.

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#28

Post by therein » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 7:01 AM UTC

ape4 wrote: post #3

t0mbstone wrote: post #2

So... There's a concept, but no actual product. Got it.

But a cool idea

I'm with the GP on this.

It isn't that novel either because of a failed product trying a similar concept:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCW5HUkrr-o

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#29

Post by kmonsen » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 7:22 AM UTC

therein wrote: post #27

anonu wrote: post #13

I live in NYC and I'm a longtime user of the Bose QC20s. They are probably the best commercial noise cancellation devices. I even sleep with them. The article promises some significant leaps in the technology. No doubt as processing gets faster and smaller we'll have even smarter noise cancellation. Looking forward to that...

> I even sleep with them I used to do that with my QC15 first and then after it broke twice, with my QC25 replacement. Sleeping with them on is really tough on them, though. After the third replacement device, I decided I couldn't keep on doing it no matter how much I actually enjoyed putting it on at night and hear that soft static. The slight pressure actually felt pleasant. Quitting using them for sleep was hard,…

They make a pair for sleeping with if what you want is white noise: https://www.google.com/search?q=bose+sleepbuds

Re: A Better Way to Cancel Noise

#30

Post by kmonsen » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 7:27 AM UTC

ketralnis wrote: post #22

puranjay wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was on the fence about them. I had the Sennheiser BTNC 4.5 shortlisted since they're cheaper. Is Bose's noise canceling significantly better than Sennheiser's?

I can't rate Bose vs Sennheiser, but I can tell you that my $300 Bose QC35 II is far, far more effective than either my $100 Creative HN-900 or my SO's $100 Audiotechnica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7. I have a friend with both the Bose QC35 II and the $300 Sony WH-1000xM2 and he rates them about on par for noise cancelling, but puts the audio quality on the Sonys a little higher. The two cheaper models are garbage by comparis…

There is a new Sony coming out now they is supposed to be the best until Bose release their next I guess.

https://www.google.ch/search?q=sony+noise+cancelling+headpho...