I buy these for a long plane ride to St. Thomas . I use they with my ipod and I be very happy with my purchase . the volume level be great . I never need to raise the volume past 2\/3rd 's on my ipod . I try several headphone include my friend 's qc2 's and even though he sound quality may be slightly better , I could not get the volume on the bose to go high enough to enjoy watch a movie on my ipod . however , the sound quality on these Sennheiser 's be far better than anything else I have try in the past . also , even after use they for 3 hour , my ear do not hurt and they never get hot or sweaty . as far as the noise cancel part , BOSE win hand down . but it be still ok . it do a fair job of reduce jet engine noise , but do not cancel out voice around you . the main reason that I even buy these be because Consumer Reports rate they as a best buy overall . I can definetely see why .