Thomas Gerlach wrote:
What we need is someone to invent noise-cancelling headphones that don't block out voices nor the sound of cars, bikes etc. Actually, if they could actually enhance those sounds that is the best route.
A lot of the 'noise cancelling' is simply blocking the sound. The other part is where sound waves are generated that are an inverse of what's coming in. That would be pretty tricky to cancel some and not others.
If being able to block sound when you want to and being able to hear ambient sound at other times is desired, it's hard to beat the
Jabra Elite 65t, especially since they are down to $100. The best noise blocking of any in-ear headphone I have used. Two taps on the right earbud and you hear everything around you like you're not wearing anything in your ears, but you can still hear what's playing as well. Absolutely fantastic for running and just about anything except cycling. They pick up wind noise in pass-through mode and I wouldn't ride with anything that blocked the noise around me. It's crazy to me that every mid range and high end earbud with a microphone doesn't have some sort of pass-through mode like the Jabras. They are perfect for listening to what you want and being able to maintain situational awareness.
The bone conduction 'headphones' just didn't work for me. They were okay for running, but not too great since I mostly listen to books and podcasts. I tried them on the bike, but I had to crank them all the way up and would get something akin to a headache before long. I didn't like them enough to try a pair of the swimming ones.