Not a bud choice to help out the poster who revived the thread, but I thought I would update it with what I ended up with after also asking advice in this thread regarding upgrading to a 'relatively' inexpensive, noise canceling model for travel.
While I was on that particular trip I ran across the Shure 110s for only $65.00 in a closing out sale for Music World in Ottawa. They are the lower end Shure models in the ear canal category but I figured from what I learned here, that they would be better than anything by the more 'household' brand names that live in that price range.
I had some initial disappointment when I tried them on the flight home. The passive (ear canal blocking) noise canceling worked very well on a noisy plane but I found them to be dull, kind of distant almost.
However, I am happy to say that when I got them home and I experimented with the different ear pieces that are included, that the smaller foam covers totally cured that problem. I am now VERY satisifed with them. I think maybe the medium foams that came installed just ended up being too squished in my ear canal and the openings were maybe partially or completely blocked by the squished up foam.
I can now report that they are not only more comfortable but I am also enjoying my MP3 player a lot more than I used to. Much like when I upgraded my HT to Axioms, I never truly realized just how much I was missing with my old stock ear buds.
