Thanks for all the extra info. It made it clear that noise-cancelling was not the right answer for my needs, so I went and explored sound-blocking options.
After making the sales guy at the local rock shop crazy by making him unpack every pair of likely headphones in the NZ$50-$400 range (not really, he was incredibly helpful when I explained exactly what I wanted), I now have a pair of AKG K518 DJ headphones.
They are a compact, closed headphone with good padding. The sound attenuation compares very favourably to a pair of inexpensive 24dB hearing protection muffs I have. Once a bit of something is playing, the outside world pretty much disappears.
They sound really nice with both ordinary music and entrainment sounds. The bass is spectacular for such compact phones.
The only downside is that they have a split cable, entering at both sides. The cable is lightweight and of generous length (which can be a good or bad thing).
Retailing at NZ$130.00, they'd probably sell at US$40-50, so I'd rate them excellent value. They include a nice little drawstring pouch and an excellent screw on, goldoid plated (it's gold color - who knows what it really is) 3.5mm to 6.5mm plug adaptor.
I still prefer open headphones when listening in a quiet location, as I feel the hearing is less forced.
Cheers,
Craig
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