[PabloR]

I knew about the Bose models but did not know about the Sony MDR-1000X. As you mentioned, none seem to completely stop voices, although your experience is very good at least at lessening them.

I was actually thinking of wearing earplugs and headphones at once. Thanks for the info

[geoelectric]

The 1000X is bleeding new. It's been out in Europe for a few weeks, and is just now coming out in US I believe.

After having gone through a number of pretty expensive NC headphones, I can say confidently that up until now nothing matched late-model Bose for NC specifically (music sound quality is another discussion). Parrot came closest, but everything else was way behind and really only blocked airplane/subway/bus-type loud hum, nothing more random or higher-pitched.

However, the initial reviews for the 1000X have all been pretty adamant that the 1000X matches and possibly beats the QC35 for NC. That's an amazing accomplishment for Sony, no lie.

At any rate, you're welcome. I have really bad noise sensitivities that make productivity hard in shared spaces, so your question is near and dear to my heart.