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Noise Cancelling Ear Buds?


Fat Jeff

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Wondering if anyone has tried Bose Noise Canceling Ear Buds?  I have the headphones which I use when traveling, tried it on my tractor and was amazed at how much quieter than ear plugs they are, so now wondering how the Ear Buds would be for riding.

Anyone tried it?

Jeff

Edmonton, Canada

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Love my Bose ANC buds particularly for commercial flights. They fit in the helmet just fine but would want to thoroughly test if the noise cancelling would deter hearing emergency vehicles. Also, my model (not the latest) has a proprietary rechargeable battery that if I'd need to charge periodically. For now sticking with my Etymotic MC-5s.  

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Are you looking specifically for noise-canceling earbuds, or are you interested in listening to music while riding without having to turn up the volume to drown out road noise?

I prefer sound-isolating earphones to noise-canceling earphones. The Shure SE215 blocks up to 37 dB of outside noise, and they have very good audio quality. They block road noise so well that you don't need to turn up the volume very high. They come with either wires or a Bluetooth receiver. 

The wires loop over your ears to keep them in place, and they fit inside a helmet.

SE215-K-BT1_main-01.jpg

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2015 red FJ-09: Cal Sci screen, Sargent seat, ECU flash, slider combo, cruise, Rizoma bars, Matts forks, JRi shock, slipper clutch

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Interesting...not sure if I'd want to listen to music, maybe on a long hwy trip, mostly interested in canceling out the wind, road noise etc.

With my Bose headphones, the drone of a jet engine is gone but i can hear conversation, etc.

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Unless I’m instructing, I always ride with music. I have a carefully curated playlist of songs that have similar volume levels, not too shouty (irritating in traffic) or too much bass (gets lost in the background noise at high speed). It’s one of my joys of riding, on my own, concentrating on riding well, with a soundtrack of music I really like.

I use a Sena 10u bluetooth via my phone and Play Music as the app. Set to downloaded music only and it doesn’t eat battery much and doesn't need a data connection. I still wear earplugs, but they let music through nicely, cutting out the high frequency hiss of road and wind noise. I can confirm that it is easy to hear emergency vehicles with this setup, but your observation skills should pick them up too.

Red 2015 Tracer, UK spec (well, it was until I started messing with it...)

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I had not considered using my Bose for this since my previous experience with ear buds was hit and miss (and they are illegal in my state). I use my Sena 20S. So, I went and tried my QC-30. One fell off while wearing my Shoes Hornet X2.  The other stayed nicely but then prevented the helmet from coming off. The one that fell off was also stuck inside causing some pain. Had to spend some time carefully extracting each ear bud before removing the helmet. And one of the silicone insets fell off in the process.  

 

My QC-20 have custom ear molds. They are larger, will probably not come off, but will likely prevent the helmet from coming off too. I did not risk those. YMMV.

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1 hour ago, cbr600 said:

My QC-20 have custom ear molds. They are larger, will probably not come off, but will likely prevent the helmet from coming off too. I did not risk those. YMMV.

Thanks for the feedback as I was considering the QC20 and didn't realize they stick out that far...guess I'll get some custom ear plugs.

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 2/15/2019 at 11:32 AM, chitown said:

Love my Bose ANC buds particularly for commercial flights. They fit in the helmet just fine but would want to thoroughly test if the noise cancelling would deter hearing emergency vehicles. Also, my model (not the latest) has a proprietary rechargeable battery that if I'd need to charge periodically. For now sticking with my Etymotic MC-5s.  

I prefer er6i's, if my stock is ever gone I'll be lost.  

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Bose are quieter than Howard Leight 32 or 33 dB foamies. The only problem is you.can get popping when passing large trucks at extra highway speeds.

With or without music, I love my Bose. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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