HEAVEN ON EARTH
Well, that may be a bit of an...




...exaggeration, but these Sennheiser PXC 250 noise-cancelling headphones are the cat's meow. Some say the Bose are better, but they are big and clunky, and cost $250+ compared to $125 or so for these Sennheisers, which are smaller, lighter and fold up into a neat little travel package. Top-rated by a number of the tech sites and mags. Forget about the Sony's and other similar headphones -- they pale by comparison.

Bought these in Singapore a few weeks back on the good advice of Brian Gong, my "infotech," (these days I figure everyone needs a doctor, lawyer, accountant, banker, travel agent and infotech) and for all the flying one does am wondering why I didn't get them years ago. They are terrific in a plane, bus or other environment with a steady roar or similar background noise, and are fine in a normal environment, too. They use circuitry to "hear" the background noise and generate the "opposite" sound -- cancelling out about 75% of the noise.

Weekend before last I survived a 6.5 hour bus ride from Amsterdam back to Hamburg with 50 of Meg's ISH schoolmates -- four basketball teams -- thanks to these headphones and my MP3 player (Palm T3 with a 1-gig SD card loaded with 14 hours of my favorite jazz).

If not heaven on earth, then at least heavenly peace and quiet.


Granda Jan taking the Sennheiser-Palm combo
for a test drive when I was in Michigan for her
birthday in late January.