someone give I a cheap pair of noise cancel headphone from Radio Shack , and I figure I could do better , so I buy these JVC headphone . the retractable cord be a big selling point , and I do like that feature a lot , although it be very hard to find the switch when you be ready to retract the cord . I also want smaller earphone , and several people mention these be good for smaller ear -lrb- which mine be -rrb- . I find these to be very uncomfortable . they be bigger and clunkier than the Radio Shack headset I have , and they be really tight . they really pin my outer ear down -- I could not find a way to adjust they that make they feel any better . the noise reduction feature do work pretty well . no complaint about that . I play a dvd on the plane and could hear even the softest dialogue just fine -lrb- with the volume turn all the way up -rrb- . however , they be not significantly better than my cheaper headphone in that regard . because of the discomfort and overall `` clunkiness , '' I be return these headphone .