I had Bose for a long time but now bought a much cheaper pair on Amazon (TaoTronic brand, £35). They work surprisingly well, without music voices are already much quieter and with music (on low volume), I cannot hear someone calling my name even when they're close to me. It's by far better than the 3yr old Bose NC headphones I had before (I can imagine today's Bose are at least on the same level though).