noise cancellation plus music?

[skids]

Our agency once had a sales tech come in tp push their product. I was a set of ear muffs with controls on the side to allow more of the outside noise. It was all done electronically by sending a waveform opposite to the outside noise wave form. I believe there was some way of using a built-in tuner. Now think about it...less bike noise and you could turn the music down and hear it clearly. My MP3 player just isn't loud enough to overcome the bike noise and even it it did, it would contribute to hearing damage. Does anyone use a noise cancelling unit like this that allows plug-ins to music devices??? I wish there was a helmet with a built-in device like this. Earbuds hurt me under the helmet!

[Pat Kelly]

I personally don't want to cancel outside noise (sirens, rod knock, Bubba with a shotgun... etc). Music would be secondary priority for me.
I used a personal CD player routed through my ChatterBox on my Big Is. Deuce trip. Worked fine.

[bkr]

MP3 Player

Hey Skids Your MP3 is telling you to enjoy your bike noises. Leave it on the kitchen table and ride your bike like you stole it. That's one reason i ride a bike ,solitude in a crowd... To each his- her own. bkr

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Skids,

I was using an MP3 player on my long rides to the rally, before I made my trailer! The regular type earbuds hurt my ears also. I found some nice soft foam cone shaped buds at Radio Shack, they fit and felt like noise reduction earplugs, so didn't experience much if any pressure from the side of my helmet squeezing against my ears, with the buds in! The snug fitting buds kept a lot of the LOUD bike noise out, but still allowed hearing other sounds, and I was able to keep the music volume to a decent level.....no ringing in my ears after several hours of riding!

Isn't this noise cancelling technology what BOSE is promoting in their new earphones?? I've got a pair of 20+ y/o Pioneer full coverage earphones that work just as well, and I'm sure a darn site cheaper than the BOSE! People will buy anything nowadays!
T.C.

[thumperjsa]

I use an MP3 player on rides. I took apart a pair of radio shack headphones and kept the wire attached to the little speakers. There is a little plastic cover for the speakers that I kept on them as well.

A little bit of velcro tape and I placed them into the ear area of the helmet. It fits in a nice little cubby spot near the ears and does not press to hard into the ears. Also since the speaker cover is about 1.5 inches round, it does not put pressure in one small area to cause irritation. I run the wire down the back of the helmet and into my pocket or tank bag into the MP3 player.

Since it it not an ear bud, it won't block out most of the outside sounds so i can hear things like cage brakes, horns and other things I should be listening for.

I just turn it up and go.

[Dragonrider]

Gotta have my tunes. Currently a cd/mp3 player . . . piped into my J&M CB/Headset. Sometimes I use earbuds instead....the kind with the hook over the ear are great.

The form fitted foam ones can work too (I liked the hook kind because if I caught a cable or such they don't pull out).

Looking real hard at the IPOD shuffle now....tiny and cheap . . .

[MAXIMAN]

I vote soft type ear buds too. These definitely cancel noise.

Koss makes some and so does Radio Shack. (about $20) They are built like Foam ear plugs. You squeeze/roll them between your fingers and insert them in your ears. No pain for me inside a full face helmet.

I know a lot of guy use straight foam plugs to cut the road/wind noise anyway. These work same except they let music in. I use a Motorola M25 mp3 player. I've never had any trouble hearing traffic noise over the ear buds unless I've got it cranked too loud.

[skids]

The soft ones, I haven't tried yet. They are definately worth a try!

Originally posted by MAXIMAN
I vote soft type ear buds too. These definitely cancel noise.

I've never had any trouble hearing traffic noise over the ear buds unless I've got it cranked too loud.

[Pat Kelly]

I know I commented earlier about (loud) music and blocking traffic noise.
It's really no different than in a cage with the windows up, all the sound-deadening insulation, heater or A/C cranked, and a 1,000 watt stereo playing.
You still won't hear the sirens or horns or motorcyclist yelling at you for cutting in front of him. At least you're surrounded in metal and feel invincible to the outside world.
I leave insulation for the car. On the bike I'm free of all that and can make my own music.
note:
If using a ChatterBox refrain from singing along with the tunes .

[chevy45412001]

music

ok here goes.My dad had a goldwing,ya ,ya i know, It was a fairly older version,but the helmets plugged into the bike. The speakers were actully little tubes that came just into the helmet,(didn't interfear with ears or such), they were the size of a #2 pencil earaser. They had mure bass punch and cristal clear highs than i've heard on most top end home units. But the thing is this,when you sped up on the bike the stereo vol. went up accordingly to keep the same sounding vol as you were sitting still.And of coarse when you slow the vol went down the same way. Does any of this sound like i'm XSplaining it right?But isn't that what you guy's are looking for? just a thought.

[thumperjsa]

Chevy,

Sounds like that is no difference than many car stereos. Many have a feature that as the car speeds up, the volume gets louder so you can hear it over the additional road noise. I can't recall what the feature is called.

[MAXIMAN]

I think in my tahoe it was AMC or some such...automatic volume compensation.

It's basically audio compression.

Does anyone know a headset that is stereo with a mic for intercom that has only a 1/8 TRS plug?

All the ones I've found have dual mini plugs....one for the ears and one for the mic.

I found a Nady Motorcycle intercom stuffed up in my closet I had forgotten about. It sounds pretty good but it only came with single ear headsets w/mic. The input for driver and passenger are a single 1/8 inch plug reciever. I'd like to find a dual ear headset w/mic that uses only one 1/8" plug for mic and ears so I can monitor my mp3 player in both ears and use the intercom too.

[Materi]

Noice canceling headseat

You are correct about the electronic headsets. When I used to fly for a living, bose had just come out with their noice cancelling headsets, and a rep let me demo a set. These are pretty cool units, you can actually dial in how much outside sound you want to let in, and I'm talking about 0.0 decibels if you desire. It was kind of eery, but very effective. Like all of Bose's stuff they were severely overpriced then, (975 bones in 1992) and remain so today. The main problem on a bike is that the headphones are the large earmuff types which you could not fit under a helmet, though David Clark made a special helmet for aerial applicators (crop dusters) which would accomodate head sets. Also, and I could be mistaken on this, but the headset was alwasy plugged into an audio source, i.e. aircraft comm radio, and I think they recieved a little current from the audio jack, though they may have had on on-board battery (also?). Anyway,...cool?...yes. Expensive?..horribly...