Philips SHN2500 Travel Earbuds Noise Cancelling Headphones

Can't say that agree with some of the other reviews. Physical fit cuts out alot of noise, but I've found the electronic noise cancelling does work. Admittedly there is a hiss when no music is playing, but once the track starts it appears to disappear. True the volume does seem to go up - but I just turn it down. I used them with my Nokia E63 to listen to mp3's on a plane journey to Corfu and found it knocked out the annoying engine noise. I also found that when the stewardess leant across to talk to the passanger beside me I could not follow their conversation! They also worked well plugged in (adaptor included) to the onboard movies. Also blocked out the noise of the room fan in my apartment when I was using them with a portable dvd player. On the downside the box with the battery in is not so compact and weighs a bit - I tend to put it in my shirt pocket rather than let it hand down.

I've had these for a year or so now and agree with the other review on this site. The fit is very good, I use them on the tube and you can keep the volume down protecting your ears and not much sound leaks in from the outside world. That said I always use them with the ANR off. It really does nothing more than increase the volume and hiss.
In summary they're good as just normal passive earbuds but the noise cancelling does n't work at all.

Bearing in mind the price, I bought these headphones more in hope than expectation. Sadly, my hopes were soon dashed. The headphones look like they're well made, fit comfortably within my ears, and conveniently came with an airline attachment. Unfortunately, the active noise reduction (ANR) did not work at all, as far as I could discern.
Switching on the unit generated a significant, but strangely varying amount of electrical background noise- they sounded a little like a poorly-tuned AM radio. I tried them out at home, on the main road, and in an aircraft, and was always able to hear the electrical noise, but never able to discern any reduction in ambient noise.
I am a pilot, and use an ANR headset daily, so understand that these units will naturally create some noise of their own- my Sennheiser set does, as well as a colleague's Bose. However, not as much as the Philips, particularly considering that the Philips 'phones do not reduce background noise!
Having said that, this product did reproduce a good sound from my MP3 player.
By the way, full marks to Play for processing my return promptly.