Denon AH-NC732

Who's It For

Audiophiles

While audiophiles will be impressed with the data behind the AH-NC732s’ distortion score, these headphones have far from perfect audio quality. This being said, these are the best headphones we’ve reviewed to date with active noise cancelling (partially because you can turn it off).

Portable User

We’re unsure how to call this one. No, they’re not as portable as in-ears. They are, however, a lot more portable than other on-ear or over-ear headphones due to their foldability and secondary, shorter cord. The active cancellation is also nice for keeping the sounds of your commute out of your music. If you don’t like in-ears, then the Denon AH-NC732s get a big thumbs up from us. If you could go either way, we’d probably recommend the Sennheiser MM 50 iP headphones since they’re a bit more portable and have a microphone button, which will help you skip from song to song provided your media player supports this feature.

Airplane Traveler

Airplane travelers should like these headphones. They block out a good amount of noise, could let you fly around the globe with only two AAAs to support the noise cancellation, and are more portable than the average non-in-ear.

Home / Office Use

The AH-NC732s don’t have a particularly long cord, which might make hooking up to your stereo a problem. Also, although they have a very low distortion score, overall their audio quality isn’t that great. They have a closed back, which would normally rule out an open soundstage, but the active cancellation feature means they’re basically semi-open. Still, the AH-NC732s don’t even really benefit from their closed backs, and leak enough sound to preclude them as an o when someone else needs quiet. We think you should consider them if you’re looking for versatility, but if you’re looking for a straight-up pair of in-home cans, there are better options out there for you.

Conclusion

The Denon AH-NC732 headphones are a step in the right direction. They’re still a bit expensive, and their audio quality overall isn’t the best, but they do have a few strong points. Their cancellation, although still inferior to a set of analog ear plugs, is some of the best we’ve seen (although that ‘99% noise cancellation’ selling point is essentially meaningless). They also have very low distortion when the active noise cancellation is turned off — and simply being able to turn off active cancellation is great in and of itself.

The real strength of the AH-NC732s, like the Bose QuietComfort series, is their versatility. They are portable for a set of non-in-ears and have decent isolation, which means they’re fine on the go. You can also switch off the cancellation for some distortion free playback at your home. Assuming you’re looking for active cancellers in this range and think they look good on you, the AH-NC732s are a good pick.