I'm in your boat and found that Bose are great and I am more about price than shiny so the last 2 pairs of noise canceling headphones I bought were off eBay.

I did the QC20's which were the earbuds, Nice but I didn't use them as much around the house and more just for flights only. Then I sold those and got the last model before, the QC15 around the ear and really like them. They have wires and take a AAA battery but for $70 when other comparable ones were $200+ I'll take it.

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Is you?

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

I was in audio biz for over 30 years. I personally would not spend a dime on Bose. You can usually find much better at much lower price. That said, I am not an expert on headphones, but if I was in your shoes I would certainly try the Monoprice noise cancelling phones. I'm a cheapskate, so I'd wait until they had a 15-20% off coupon and pay $72-$75. Money back guarantee so if they don't cut it, you can send them back. I'm sure there are other good options under $100 bucks out there as well.

THAT.

Don't spend a dime on Bose. What's their motto better sound through engineering? HAAH. They must have read Sun Tsu. The motto should read "better sound through marketing". They convinced everyone they are a premium brand. Their products make mediocre sound. They aren't horrible. But they aren't good either. Better sound is actually cheaper! No reason to ever buy Bose.

Also for the love of everything, don't buy Beats. They actually are horrible. People just have no idea. It's like drinking bad coffee or bad beer. People keep doing it and have no idea they are drinking swill. Until someone makes them try something different.

Sennheiser. Audio Technica. Even Sony. Like I said, passive noise cancelling: around the ear, closed ear design. Closed ear makes the stage sound small and the music more basey, but you got to go that way if you want to keep external noise out.