I bought a pair of Phillips noise reducers for about 80 bucks not too long ago, I wish I would have heard the bose ones first, but didn't look into it cause I was feeling cheap. There's really no comparison. http://www.bose.com/controller?event=VI ... index&ck=0 is the model a friend has, and they're fantastic.

The Phillips are better than normal headphones, and they do reduce outside noise, but not as much as the bose, and the sound quality isn't nearly as good either.

Lee

DONT YOU EVER SPEND THAT KIND OF MONEY IN A BOSE HEADPHONE!! JUST DONT DO IT!

There are cheap headphones out there that cancell outside noise. What is your price range/limit?

What you mean with earplgs making it worse? You dont mean the noise, do you?

Are you going to be using your headphones with a portable player?

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD555 that are simly amazing for their price, but they prolly isolate 0.000012dB, so they are not good for you.

I have a $200 pair of Sennheiser headphones that I used for about 6-8 months. They were pretty good, but retardedly large and a bit uncomfortable after a while. A couple of weeks ago I got a pair of Bose QC3 headphones for $350 - they are a million times better. They're smaller, more comfortable, easier to travel with and the sound quality is better. When it comes to noise cancelling, there really is no comparison. I personally don't think they're overpriced given that they're so good.