Noise-Cancelling-Headphone Reviews

I just bought this thing from Amazon and all I can say

is WOW!!!!

This is probably the best purchase I have ever made.

This thing is everything I ever expected and more!! It's

very easy to use as well!

I have bought other brands before, and this one just

blows everything else out of the water! I have to say,

everyone out there who is thinking of buying this, stop

thinking. I bought it and I am extremely happy with it

the moment I powered this thing on. YOU ABSOLUTELY

POSITIVELY CANNOT GO WRONG WITH THIS PURCHASE! I

GUARANTEE IT!!!

Noise cancellation is adequate considering the price.

Positives:
Handy retractable cord
Decent battery life
Comfortable

Negatives
Noise cancellation uneven between earcups

This is the second pair of these headphones I have tried. I returned the first pair because it seemed as though the cancellation was not equal on the left side. I even flipped the phones around and sure enough, one side sounded different. My second pair behaved in the same way and I concluded that the microphone on the top of the earcup must have been obstructed by the headband.

Overall, a good entry level setup however my next purchase will be the Sennheiser PXC 250. They offer better cancellation abilities and music reproduction. Or, if you really wish to go all out, there are the Bose. . .

I bought these to use with my Ipod, especially on long haul flights. They fold down to a compact size so are excellent for travel. Sound quality is excellent when listening to music. The full shell earphone is comfortable and the noise cancelling function cuts out a lot of low frequency sound. Priced in the middle of the range I think these are great value.

Overall these are very good headphones. I'm no audiophile but *I* like the sound quality. It's not too hard to make the bass distort on these if you turn up the volume and bass in WinAmp. However I've found that if you don't turn up the equalizer's bass much at all, the bass on these headphones really is well reproduced. Just don't overdo it on the equalizer, and the headphones will take care of replicating the bass just fine.

The microphone seems very solid and well constructed, as does the whole headset. The microphone's audio quality on TeamSpeak so far as I've heard from my friends hearing me, leaves nothing to be desired. The microphone has a wide swing range so that you can swing it out of the way completely or position it in ideal relationship to your mouth.

At first when I bought these headphones they hurt my left ear quite a bit after about an hour of wearing them. After poking at the headphones a little bit I noticed that the left earpiece wasn't swivelling like the right earpiece. This was causing the headphone to press my ear back to my head, as the headphones have quite a snug fit. After some very strong "wiggling" on the left earpiece I heard a "snap" and the earpiece began to move freely (like the right.) Annoying that I had to do this, but the headphones no longer hurt my ear and really are quite comfortable (the most comfortable mid-size headphones I've owned.) So I'm happy!

Amazon's labelling of this product is a little misleading. It is not the headset that is noise cancelling, but the microphone. The headset is just a normal binaural headset. However, the noise cancelling microphone will be much appreciated by your TeamSpeak / VOIP friends!

The only gripe I have about this headset is that the inline volume control seems to dim the volume more out of the left ear than the right. This is a *slight* difference and only the most sensitive ears can hear it, but it is definitely there. For me, this makes the inline volume control only really useful for lowering the volume so that I can hear things going on around me. This is nice at work, where I have to talk to cooworkers throughout the day. In my opinion a headset in this price range should really have the impedence on inline volume figured out perfectly, but hey -- you can't have everything, especially not at this price!

That said, the inline mic mute works like a charm ;-)

Overall I am very satisfied with the PC150.

I am using this headset for gaming, music and watching movies and if satisfies all my needs. This is a high-quality sound product, designed smart and with superb technology inside.

The headphones sound very good, the sound is a tad off perfect, but most people won't hear any difference between these and $1000+ studio speakers. The bass is low, deep and energetic, the highs are sharp, crisp and very detectable, the midtones are almost identical to the real sounds.

The noise-cancelling mic is very good, my online buddies in Unreal Tournament 2004 kept saying how well I sounded over voice chat, my voice was like in real life, crystal clear and no ambient noise at all. Great!

Ergonomics are very well done, the headset doesn't bother you, even when playing for a few hours. The long cable is a great idea, it's so refreshing to be able to stand up and grab something three feet away from your seat and not feel your headset cable pull you back like a dog leash. The clip-on volume control/mic mute is also a very smart addition.

These headphones aren't cheap, but well worth the price. This is a great headset for serious gamers, the only (very minor) issue that I can see as negative is the fact the headphones don't cancel noise, so if you turn up the volume above 80% (abnormal level) others can hear the sound coming out of them.

PC150 is the only way to go for serious gamers looking for a high-fidelity headset.

I was looking for a good headset to use on my PC. I had a real cheap one, but everyone was always saying how horrible my mic was. Not only that, but the earphones sounded horrible. I did some reasearch and saw allot of positive reviews on this headset. I'm glad I listened, becuase it's great. The sound in the earphones are amazing. Not only that, but they're real comfortable too. When you're not using the mic, it retracts out of your way. Excellent product!

I recently got the Sennheiser PXC 250 after a lot of research. This specific product has been very positively reviewed in many technical publications. When it arrived I was impressed at the packaging of the headphones and latter I really enjoyed the sound quality, especially with the noise cancelling active that actually amplifies and colors the sound. The sound cancellation on the other side is minimal....of course mainly in the lower frequencies. What put me off is really the fact that in my third day of use the headphones started having a bad noise when active cancellation is activated. Very annoying! I was hoping for better quality control from this quite expensive headphone that got broke in my third day of use. Yes, they are going for repair....but needed repair so soon??? I wonder how long are they going to last. The design appears cool but the fit and finnish does not appear solid. They make you feel they are going to get damaged soon and not last long.

Plus, the cord is VERY short and definitely limits your listening distances. While the sound quality is really good indeed, it definitely does not justify the retail price these babies are being offered for. If you can get them discounted give them a try... otherwise full retail price is not what they are worth.

I like this unit, it was a real help on a trip with some very inconsiderate people in the vicinity. With noise-cancelling on, it really helped pick out movie dialogue- it completely enhances your enjoyment of films on a plane. It also really improves the sound of music too, although on the flight I was on even the lowest volume setting was way too loud is some cases. This unit could use an on-board volume control to combat this. The cigar shape noise cancelling thing is kind of a pain, particularly when someone wants out in the aisle and you have an extra cord to fiddle with. But it's not that bad.

The unit isn't perfect, and it doesn't seal out all noise by a long shot, but when you turn on the music or movies it goes a long way toward helping you forget that you are surrounded by a hundred strangers. You also aren't battling engine noise to hear dialogue. It makes a big difference and it will be going with me on all future flights. I had no problems with pressure or ill feeling, even after wearing it for 4hrs at a time on an int'l flight.

I purchased these headphones about 2 weeks ago primarily to get some peace and quiet at a highly noisy environment at work. I am surrounded by heavy duty computer equipment, printers and a noisy break room. Sennheiser pxc 250 really reduce all the noise to a very manageble level and make it possible to concentrate on my work.
I also used them while waiting in line at the major DMV office (renewing my license). I was really surprised how loud the enironment was, once I took them off.
These headphones are very light and comfortable, there is no ear fatigue at all. The feel a bit light and I was somewhat afraid that I will break them, however, they appear to be very well made. They neatly fold into a supplied case.
I definately recommend them to anyone.
I shopped around, and Amazon has them at the best price.

The subway here in Milan (Italy) is very noisy, especially in the Summer when windows are opened. Before getting these headphones, I just could not listen to my Audible audiobooks even with my hands on my ears. They proved to be very effective in this environment.

Do not have the wrong expectations, this device does not "create" silence. It lowers the level of ambient noise, allowing the sounds you wish to listen to from your player to come out better. Some noise remains of course.

If it was not for the quality of the rubber (the two pieces actually entering your ears), I would have given this product 5 stars. After a year of daily use, my left earplug unglued itself from its support and was difficult to glue back. It would be great if the rubber pieces were available as spare parts.

Sony could also consider making the cable shorter, or allow you to customize its lenght by adding/removing a middle cable extension.

This is thus a good product, smaller physically than others on the market. The battery life (1 AAA) is excellent.

I compared these to the Panasonic over ear ones and although I like them, I like these "in ear" ones better. Because they fit in the ears like ear plugs, they blocked out a lot of noise without turning on the noise cancelling device. I tried turning on the device without plugging it into my iPod/airplane seat and with it turned on, even more sound was muffled. It doesn't make it so that you cannot hear the airplane noise, but it is so muffled and reduced that you really don't notice it and you do not have to have your volume blasting to hear it over the surrounding flight noise. I thought my 3yr old would prefer them to the overear Panasonic ones to watch his video, because I thought it would be less cumbersome, but he didn't like the "in ear" feeling. I think you need to adjust them yourself to get the right fit, it is difficult to get the fit/feel right for someone else e.g. child.

I originally bought these ear phones before a plane trip with the sole intent of *SNICKER* returning them when I returned home. However, they worked SO effectively I kept them. I thought anyone would be crazy to shell out [the price] for ear phones. But after using these little guys, I was blown away.

I used them on a plane and they did an incredible job of blocking out the droaning roar of the engines. That was before turning on the noise cancelling. The noise cancelling circuitry made a slight difference. It was noticeable enough for me to keep it on. But the majority of the noise cancelling came from the ear plug type design. Watching the inflight movies with these guys was an absolute pleasure. With the engine noise significantly cut down I could clearly hear the voices in the movie.

I didn't have the slightest problem with the ear buds slipping out of my ear. The default size fit me perfectly, I didn't need to even bother trying the smaller or larger size.

If the idea of ear plugs is foreign to you, you may or may not find some discomfort with these. However, I frequently use the soft, roll up type ear plugs to help me concentrate and as a comparison, the Sony's were much more comfortable.

I can't give an honest opinion about sound quality. I am not a audiophile and my main purpose in trying these out was to block out side noise. However, they sounded great to me and I had no complaints to sound quality what so ever.

The manual is important. Don't avoid reading the manual, or you'll be confused and possibly void your warranty.<br /> <br /> The manual is made up of pretty small pages. Page 2 of the manual tells the parts of the earphone. The last item on the list is a "wax guard," referring to page 9. Page 9 is the last page of the verbose area of the manual, describing the wax guard.<br /> <br /> The earphones ship with the smallest conical sleeves installed, without any wax guard. You have to take the sleeves off, install the wax guards, and put a sleeves back on, or else you void the warranty. I found that to be the weakest part of the process.<br /> <br /> Otherwise, they seem fine. These are essentially earplugs with earphones attached. I must have small ear canals, because I find only the smallest foam earplugs to be comfortable. The sound is good; the cord seems to be an appropriate length for a hip-mounted monitor pack or personal sound player.

I got these as a present and was initially unhappy with the quality of the output - until I read the manual and realize the special position of the headphones (wiring curled over the ear and behind the head). The tighter the seal with the sponges/earbuds, the more the isolation factor and the better the quality sound. But this puts the speaker tunnel deeper in your ear canal.

Pretty good on the train and helps the 2 hour daily commute - blocks out most conversations. But certain voice pitch will permeate (bad) and the conductor annoucements are heard clearly (not a bad thing).

Excellent in the work place but it is a pain to take the buds out then put them back in.

Overall good for a city person/commuter warrior who is a minimalist and wants to block out the world.

The first set of these headphones i got from amazon did not work, but i sent them back and the replacement was here in no time. The headphones have very good sound for this particular style. And the on cord volume control is very handy. The cord is very long and because it attaches to only one side of the headphones it does not get caught up easily which is great for using them with a computer. The think i like most though, is that the headphones are very comfortable. They are very light and do not get in the way of my glasses.
They also reduce noise but do not cut you off from the rest of the world - important in many office settings. Finally even if i have them up quite loud my officemates still cannot hear them.

All in all a really nice set of headphones

I purchased the Koss QZ-5 Headphones.
THESE ARE NOT ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES!!!
I was duped. I believed these were active noise cancelling headphones, but they reduce noise by adding a ton of padding. These headphones are HUGE. The picture displayed is very decieving, only showing you the profile of the headphones. If you wear it and look in a mirror, you will look like a geeky mickey mouse. They stick out of the sides of your head making you look like a weirdo.

In addition to that, the sound quality is extremely poor. At the moment I am listening to the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack, and any bass makes the headphones crackle. Bass performance is absolutely poor. Do not get these headphones, they are a waste of money. Do not get these headphones!

The Koss QZ-99 is a very nice product, for certain things. I would never recommend this type of product, without knowing the context. I use it for listening to books on tape, on the street or in a gym, on an old portable tape player. Since I am just listening to narration, I care much more about outside sound being blocked out than I care about sound quality. If you use Bose headphones in this context, you are going to get much better sound, but that is a drawback: you will hear the crackles and rattles and pops on the your 8 year old Walkman and the 5 year old library book-on-tape. Noise reducing headphones can be too good. If I were listening to classical music on a CD player, in an airplane, a higher quality, and/or active noise reducing product would be better. But for my situation the Koss is very nice. I did not realize, until recently, that I could swivel the ear pads as well a lengthen and shorten the band between the pads. It works very well.

Overall I enjoy these headphones. I love the way the look and feel, the weight of them and the comfort factor. I have only a few complaints; One, they are not as sound proof as I was hoping they would be. Random noises still manage to creep in and disturb the your listening. Two, Although they don't hurt at all to wear for long periods of time, if by chance, someone knocks on the ear piece your in for a world of hurt my friend. Three, I bought a [less expensive] pair of headphones for [a few] dollars and noticed the bass and treble are slightly better than in the KOSS pair. At times I wondered if too much bass would blow them out or if they were really designed for music at all.

I'm not saying KOSS isn't a great headphone maker, but if your looking for something soundproof avoid these headphones. If your looking to block out ambient noise and the majority of sounds then these are definitley yours all the way. Very comfortable and well made, KOSS is an amazing company I was looking for total soundproof protection though. In the end I kept them and still use them for my music. I very much enjoyed this product and highly recommend it to anyone out there.

Be careful with this product! The headphones are not bad quality, and though these headphones do provide some degree of noise reduction, there are some serious drawbacks -- at least for me. These include: (1) When you engage the noise reduction, noise is reduced, but so is the frequency range of your recording! (2) Either the headphones are relatively insensitive or there is an insertion loss even with noise reduction switched out. I assume the manufacturer assumes you'll be listening to heavy metal from a powerful amplifier. Well, I'm listening to classical through a flea-power anplifier. With ordinary headphones/earbuds, things are "adequate". With the Maxell, the volume is inadequate. And (3), with noise reduction switched in, the volume is even more inadequate. For my use, unusable. I wouldn't buy these again.

I have now used these headphones on a few flights and have found the following:

1. They help versus not using them, i.e. they make a difference
2. Battery life is very good
3. Price is great!
4. They are *not* very comfortable. My ears hurt after wearing them for the whole flight (longer than 5 hours)

Overall, if you don't want to spend a lot of money on such gadgets, get this one. If you want the best, get the Bose one!

These relatively inexpensive noice-cancelling headphones really does its job well, remarkable how it reduces the cabin noice on a Boing 747 by at least 50%. It's actually possible with these to follow a movie being shown and understand all that's being said without too much concentration. As for the sound quality, they're probable nothing fancy but they produce a good deal more bass than your standard in-flight headset. My only problem with these is the comfort issue. After 1-2 hour of wearing my ears gets red/annoyed. This is because they rest on the ear itself where I would've preferred an over-the-ear solution. I am happy I got them however, great value for the money, the Sony solution is way WAY more expensive and I just need them for an occational movie in flight.

First of all, there is a hiss when the noise-cancellation feature is turned on in a quiet room.

2. It only reduces, and not cancels, external sounds in the lower mid-range. Bass sounds get through.

3. The noise reduction seems to work on the music being listened too; when it is on, the bass and the mid-lower range sounds "mushy," and there's a reduction in volume.

4. Headphone quality is not really that great.

5. The volume/AAA battery holder has an on-off switch, a volume control, a small indicator light and a max/normal noise cancellation switch. The noise-cancellation has no discernable function. I don't think it's even connected to anything!

6. It is comfortable and the "foldableness" of the headphones is good.

I plan to return these headphones and will go shopping for something maybe a little more expensive, but would actually reduce the noise without reducing the music quality.

These were pretty much the lowest priced "noise-cancelling" or "noise-reduction" headphones (with active circuitry) I could find for my trans-pacific flights. I didn't expect much out of them, but now feel I got well worth what I paid.

Noise reduction:

This is the first and only pair of noise-cancelling headphones I've ever used. I'm sure they don't even come close to the "legendary" Bose. Nevertheless, it still helps substantially when riding a jet. I can finally hear the in-flight movie dialogue comfortably without cranking up the volume all the way. Classical and jazz music becomes listenable, too. They also makes it much easier for me to relax or nap, even when not listening to anything. I ended up having them on all the time.

They do introduce some white noise (mid-to-high-range hiss) when noise cancelling is on. The over-the-ear design and noise-cancelling circuit combined is effective only to certain frequency range (Panasonic admits so on the package), meaning a crying baby will still be a crying baby. Jet engines, on the other hand, will be much more tolerable.

Comfortness:

I was able to wear them on trans-pacific flights all the time (except when dining, of course.) That was up to 14 hours non-stop! They sure feel nice to me. Nevertheless, no two persons' ears are of the same shape. Your mileage may vary. I wonder if they let you try headphones on in brick-and-mortar stores.

Conclusion:

If you pay five bucks on your flights for the crappy headphones that used to be free, think again. A very little investment may make your flights much enjoyable. As for hi-fi listening at home/work, better look elsewhere.

I flew 14hrs from Chicago to Hong Kong with them, I flew regional propeller planes with them, I rode subway and bus with them, and I worked in a computer lab (with nowadays 3 whirling fans per computer) with them. They perform superbly at cancelling noise with a recurring pattern, such as jet engines, car engines, etc.

Please don't expect them to be studio monitor handphones, just look at the price. Sound quality is not very good, especially with the Noise-Reduction on, but it's sufficient for casual listening. They are quite comfortable even in long duration (the 14hrs flight). However, the hinge for collapsing the headphone might caught hair (not fun if you try the take off the headphone quickly) but with proper practice hair-pulling will becomes rare occurance.

To let other not to have false hope about noise cancelling system, I must spend some time to explain how they work. These headphone works by listen to the noise, find its pattern, then generate that pattern at a +or-180 deg. or +or- 1Pi radian phase angle. Therefore, the noise from the background and the "noise" generated by the headphone's will add up to zero, thus the noise is cancelled, or reduced in the least. Also you would be dreaming to have a headphone that cancels human noise because human don't talk with a recurring pattern. Only way for cancalling human voice is to predict what he/she going to say and I don't think any headphones can do that.

The white noise (the hiss) is noticible but tolerable. I know higher end headphones (like Bose QuietComfort II) has managed to pretty much eliminate that but they cost few times as much.

One complain is the control box and all the wirings. It's very awkward wearing it while your iPod or Discman is in a backpack. I ended up "dreadlock" the wires couple of times in one day of subway commute. It would be real nice if there's a belt clip at the back of the control box because I don't know where to place it so I can have easy access to the volume control.