Are the UC headphones any good?

Are the head phones handed out in UC any good. From some posts it appears they are noise cancelling headphones. Is this true? Can you keep them?

Thanks

I don't recall them being very good and certainly not noise cancelling. I could still hear the wife asking me to mind the little un:D

Iain

[preiffer]

They have a green LED on one of the earpieces, and CLAIM to be noise cancelling, but no - they're not that good at all. There is power fed into them from a second jack on the connector, but it's not doing a lot.

You'll see a LOT of the J cabin with their own headphones (Bose/Sennheiser/etc).


The crew will collect the headphones at the end of the flight. I've never asked to keep them, but I dare say they'd let the odd one or two go walkies. Assuming you'd WANT to keep them... [:0]

I've had noise cancelling on HKG/SYD/SFO, but not on MCO in Upper Class.

Cant compare them with Bose etc, as I have never purchased my own (yet)

The UC headphones serve a purpose depending on how long you want to use them length of flight etc etc ..... however they are not really any good as noise cancelling headphones go !!.... they are not really worth keeping to be honest.

If you travel a lot I can highly recommend a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones..... some would say expensive but it depends on how much you value a little quiet and good quality sound on a long flight [y]..... I think if you search you will find that Bose and others have been discussed before.

Kind Regards

Mark

[Scrooge]

Use the search button and do a quick search,you will find a few threads where this has been hammered out before.

They're better than those given in economy but still not up to much IMHO - my Bose QC2s are simply in a different league.

To confirm pretty much what has been said above, the LGW routes do not have Noise Cancelling, but the LHR routes (at least the ones I travel on) do. However even these are not great.

Both the Bose and Sennheiser have been given good reviews from people using this forum.


Paul

Funny, my trip to MCO (from LGW) on the 5th June had noise cancelling ones. However, not on the trip back on the 19th. I didn't think they were that good though having said that!

[fozzyo]

My experience of the UC ones, better then the economy ones, do help to cut out some of the ambiant noise - I found it easier to get to sleep with them on then using ear plugs.

Of course they are never going to be as good as the Bose ones, nothing is and no airline will give them out - but they are a step in the right direction. As for sound quality - I could hear my TV / iPod perfectly well so I was happy. )

Mat xxx

Originally posted by fozzyo
Of course they are never going to be as good as the Bose ones, nothing is and no airline will give them out.

Do you mean to say that no airline lets you use the bose headphones in flight? If so, AA does. I thought the VS ones in UC were actually pretty good. I forgot my pair of bose head-sets and wore the UC ones while sleeping, i thought they blocked out a lot of the noise.

Matt

[Decker]

Matt - welcome to V-Flyer! I think Mat was saying that no airline gives Bose away as noise cancelling headphones! I don't know of an airline who says that you can't use your own headphones and VS are no exception to that .

I would suggest a decent set of closed cans provide a better experience than the UC headphones without the massive cost of the QC2 and other high end active noise cancelling solutions.

I never leave home without my trusty 25 quid Sennheiser HD-201 pro's. The are closed cans, and find that if you want to block out the back ground noise to sleep, slapping the provided earplugs in and then the 201's to be a very good solution. And you can remove the cable so you don't run the risk of getting yourself caught up in it.

Originally posted by fozzyo
Of course they are never going to be as good as the Bose ones, nothing is and no airline will give them out - but they are a step in the right direction.

Mat, American Airlines give you Bose QC2 in biz and first, and I believe some of the Gulf airlines also do. It would be a good thing for Virgin to do this, there are really good Sony ones too (tried them in the new, fab, Apple store in New York last week) which I think are just as good as the Bose, and also as bulky! But at half the price of a pair of QC2 perhaps Virgin could look at these?

How many of those Bose headphones go "walkies" do you think?

[fozzyo]

The problem i have with Bose etc is that I think they are fab and would be really good to make it easier to sleep, but I can only sleep on my side and having them stuck on the side of your head makes it a bit awkward - maybe I should make a pillow with a small hole and take that onboard.

Interesting to know other airlines to indeed use them.

Mat xxx

Originally posted by fozzyo
The problem i have with Bose etc is that I think they are fab and would be really good to make it easier to sleep, but I can only sleep on my side and having them stuck on the side of your head makes it a bit awkward - maybe I should make a pillow with a small hole and take that onboard.

Interesting to know other airlines to indeed use them.

Mat xxx

Mat,

I'm exactly the same and would love a pillow that would work like this, kinda like a small inflatable ring I guess!

The other option is the new Bose QC3 which is ( apparently ) substantially smaller. I'm looking to get some at the Bose store next time I'm in New York.

Also, my view on the headphones in UC : Rubbish compared to the Bose's, not in the same league at all.

Thanks,

David.

Originally posted by David_Doyle

Originally posted by fozzyo
The problem i have with Bose etc is that I think they are fab and would be really good to make it easier to sleep, but I can only sleep on my side and having them stuck on the side of your head makes it a bit awkward - maybe I should make a pillow with a small hole and take that onboard.

Interesting to know other airlines to indeed use them.

Mat xxx

Mat,

I'm exactly the same and would love a pillow that would work like this, kinda like a small inflatable ring I guess!

The other option is the new Bose QC3 which is ( apparently ) substantially smaller. I'm looking to get some at the Bose store next time I'm in New York.

Also, my view on the headphones in UC : Rubbish compared to the Bose's, not in the same league at all.

Thanks,

David.

I just remembered that a friend of mine has a set of Shure 'in-ear' noise cancelling headphones. I am personally not a fan of in-ears however he says they are comfortable and pretty good. Perhaps that would be a solution...

[ChuckC]

Originally posted by fozzyo
The problem i have with Bose etc is that I think they are fab and would be really good to make it easier to sleep, but I can only sleep on my side and having them stuck on the side of your head makes it a bit awkward - maybe I should make a pillow with a small hole and take that onboard.

Interesting to know other airlines to indeed use them.

Mat xxx

Mat, Totally agree. You can't sleep on your side with the QC2 but otherwise they are great.

Originally posted by David_Doyle

The other option is the new Bose QC3 which is ( apparently ) substantially smaller.

The new QC3 is "only" $50 more expensive than its larger sibling. I really can't justify spending the money as I already have the QC2 but would love to hear reviews from our members.

Chuck-