Noise Cancelling

Noise cancelling headphones are becoming more and more popular for users who travel often or are sensitive to ambient noise. By reducing noise in the environment, sound cancelling headphones prevent outside noise, such as loud airplane engines, from reaching your ear. There are two types of noise reduction headphones, and it’s careful to note which type you’re purchasing.

Passive Noise Cancellation
Beware of headphone specs that claim “passive noise cancellation,” because passive simply blocks outside noise from reaching your ear. In other words, stuffing cotton balls in your ears could be considered “passive noise cancellation.” All headphones have passive noise cancellation to some degree because they are covering your ear. If you’re not terribly concerned with heavy noise reduction but still want to block some noise, go with in-ear headphones – they’re like ear plugs with speakers. On-ear headphones do the worst job blocking outside noise, and over-ear is only slightly better.

Active Noise Cancellation
If noise reduction is what you’re looking for, seek out active noise cancellation headphones. These headphones measure and analyze background noise, then emit “antinoise” of the opposite polarity through a small microphone near the ear to cancel the sound out. This makes it possible to listen to music at lower volumes without the sound being drowned out by ambient background noise.

Noise-cancelling was first developed by Bose in 1986, with Sony, Panasonic, and Sennheiser following later. A number of models are currently available, including Sony’s in-ear headphones, the first earbuds to feature active noise cancellation.

Who Should Use Them?
Noise cancelling headphones are best for frequent travelers, especially those who travel often by plane. Noise reduction headphones work best in environments where there is a consistent background noise, such as the low hum of an airplane engine. The noise reduction isn’t perfect, though – some ambient noise is still bound to slip through, and there is no headphone on the market that claims 100-percent sound cancellation.

Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones Review

The Beats are a set of over-ear headphones created by Monster, with collaboration from renowned rapper, Dr. Dre, and are currently available for $349. The headphones feature active noise cancellation and detailed audio. They also come with a good set of extras, including multiple adapters and two cables, one of which has a microphone. These cords are detatchable, which allow the Beats to easily connect to a home stereo system, providing the user has a long enough audio cable lying around. For those who like portability, the Beats can fold up to minimize the amount of space they take up.

Added on
2008-08-02 19:04:00

Creative Aurvana X-Fi Headphones Review

The Aurvana X-Fi over-ear headphones are Creative's entry into the world of active noise cancellation. Unlike many competing noise-cancelling headphones, the Aurvana X-Fis allow you to switch the noise cancellation on and off, and will let you listen to music even if your batteries are dead. The Aurvana X-Fis also feature a few filters that change the way your playback sounds. Despite these extra features, the X-Fis manage to be priced at $300, which seems to be the average rate of noise-cancellers these days.

Added on
2008-07-21 17:55:00

Sony MDR-NC500D Headphones Review

The Sony MDR-NC500D headphones are a set of noise-cancelling over-ears. With the noise-cancelling feature and premium price ($400), it certainly appears the NC500Ds are Sony's answer to Bose's QuietComfort series. Even the carrying case looks identical to the one Bose offers. Like the Bose headphones, the NC500Ds are comfortable, don't move around much when your head does, and come with some good cable and adapter options. Unlike the QuietComfort headphones, however, the NC500Ds offer multiple levels of noise cancellation, which are catered to three different environments: airplane, public transportation, and office.

Added on
2008-06-25 15:03:00