Having been in the consumer electronics business for the last 7 years I can honestly agree with trpnmonkey. For the headphones, the BOSE "Quiet Comfort" (noise cancelling) headphones are quite nice. I hate BOSE equipment as a general rule. And the BOSE phrase is "No highs, no lows, must be BOSE" if you wanna get technical. If I were after a set of noise cancelling headphones I'd consider the BOSE. Lightweight, comfortable, and reasonable sound for a noise-cancelling set (compared to the others from sony, jvc, harmon, etc). I personally wouldn't go for a noise cancelling set, however, I'd just get a intra-aural set like the Shure e2 but different strokes for different folks.