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I would like to have recommendation for a good noise cancelling headphones, while the main use will be for Piano connected via digital cable, would like to have BT options for traveling, like in a bus or airplane.

Thanks.

Are you sure you mean 'digital cable?' It's my (perhaps limited) understanding that most digital pianos only have analogue output...

Hi curates_egg!

Congratulations for your first post after almost twelve years on this forum.


Most digital pianos have a MIDI output, which is digital. Midi output is actually rather fantastic, because you can save every single thing you have played without it taking much place.

I have an earlier version of Sony's WH-1000XM4. They are wireless, but there is a supplied headphone cable. When my husband bought them for me, he tried every brand there was in the store, and these were the best.

I would just like to warn against the dishonest name "noise cancelling". AFAIK, noise cancelling headphones do not exist. They are all noise reducing. It is a shame they get away with this.

With digital cable, do you mean a USB-C cable?

What piano do you have? I'm not aware of any models that support sound-output over USB-C the way that current smartphones do.


By my understanding, the midi output would also mean that he needs a midi to headphone converter in the middle which will have its own sounds rather than using the ones integrated with the piano. I don't think that's what JackQ89 is looking for.

Oh all this confusion! However, by my understanding, all digital pianos also have anologue output - that is, they don't only produce a midi file, but you can also hear the sounds that you make. Any ordinary headphone will do for hearing that sound.

My vote also goes for the Sony WH1000 headphones mentioned by Animisha. My son has a pair and they are very good.

The noise reduction is excellent and you can plug them in with a cable into an analog output (ie the headphone socket on your piano).

Some people are giving confusing information here.

There are definitely headphones that cancel (almost) all noise.

Listening via Bluetooth is ok for music, but not for piano playing - too much lag.

There is no such thing as a MIDI to headphones converter. You cannot listen to MIDI as such.

@OP: I don't know what you mean by 'digital cable'. If you mean USB - digital pianos generally don't support USB headphones. Almost all DPs have an analog jack connection for headphones. Also, what is your budget?

Well I think it not dishonest but reflects that inside there is tech that attempts to cancel outside noise actively by measuring with a mic, estimating, and generating a counter-signal. Active cancellation is indeed not effective for all kinds of noise.
Non-cancelling ones (closed-back and in-ear) also achieve certain reduction passively.

Active noise cancelling can work extremely well for some types of noise, generally where its repetitive, think of a plane engine. They're not as effective when it's more random.

Noise cancelling headphones are designed for noise reduction in high noise environments and are specific in their capabilities. Whereas a pair of David Clark passive noise reduction headphones reduces some noise by 23dB in a very narrow frequency range, DC active noise cancellation can achieve up to 30dB noise reduction at 150Hz. Great in my airplane cockpit, not so great on my DP.

Choose carefully. I have a pair of active Bose earbuds and used them when my wife was teaching voice and simultaneously accompanying on piano. They were fabulous at reducing essentially all the sound to a barely perceptible and completely ignorable level allowing me to concentrate on reading or studying or whatever. They do add a bit of noise (white or pink, I'm not sure which) but not bothersome.

I had my Sony so called noise cancelling headphones on when I sat next to a man who was literally screaming with anger into his mobile phone. I could still easily hear every single word he screamed, so I had to switch seats. And that was before I had my hearing aids!

Bear in mind that MIDI has nothing to do with sound. MIDI just contains information about key presses and pedal movements. It can contain a lot more, but never the actual sound.

You are quite right! MIDI entered the discussion as a response to the thought that "most digital pianos only have analogue output".

I'm not any headphones would subdue a proximal angry human. It was fortunate you could distance yourself.

Turning down one's hearing aids might be a welcome respite from the cacophony that forms much of our aural experience these days.

Ah, blessed silence.

'Hi' back and thank you - what can I say, I'm a slow mover! MIDI is indeed great - I'm a big Pianoteq fan

I don't think it's dishonest. I never know anyone who expected 100% complete isolation, and moreover I'm quite sure the name derives from the physics. Destructive interference of any kind of wave is sometimes called cancelation, and that's precisely what the headphones do =]

They are also far more effective at certain frequencies than others.