noise-canceling headphones

Remember when expensive headphones, let's say anything over $100, were never big sellers, and only audiophiles bought them?

That's no longer true--judging by the number of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones I see on the streets and subways in New York--pricey headphones have reached the mainstream. That's radical. Bose did pretty well with its QuietComfort noise-canceling headphones long before Dre jumped into the headphone business, but the Beats stand out in a crowd.

The reasons for Dre's success aren't purely based on sound quality, it's more that the other manufacturers' headphones sorely lacked any sense of street style. … Read more

I have to admit I never really bought into noise-canceling headphones.

The name was a turnoff, they don't really cancel or eliminate noise, they reduce noise--and that's great--but so do most in-ear headphones. Better yet, those headphones don't need batteries and don't run the music signals through the noise-canceling electronics. My favorite isolating headphones sound better than noise-canceling headphones, but I haven't tested a noise-canceling headphone for a long time.

So I borrowed a pair of Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones ($299) from CNET editor David Carnoy. I headed down into the New … Read more

I'm always looking for cheaper alternatives to Bose's highly regarded but expensive Quiet Comfort noise-canceling headphones, which is why Creative's new HN-900 headphones caught my eye.

In the past, Creative's noise-canceling headphones have been pretty decent, and the nice thing about this one is that unlike the Bose and many other noise-canceling models, the HN-900 has an integrated microphone for making cell phone calls. One AAA battery gives you about 40 hours of active noise-cancellation.

At the same time Creative released the HN-900s, it also announced the impending arrival of a higher-end model noise-canceling model, the $… Read more

Have a peek at AKG's two new pairs of noise-canceling headphones, the $349.95 K 495 NC and $249.95 K 490 NC.

AKG is highlighting that these both are on-ear models that fold flat and have built-in rechargeable batteries that charge via USB. Unlike a lot of noise-canceling models, including those from Bose, these can play sound when the battery dies or if you simply want to turn off the active noise cancellation.

The marketing line on the higher-end K 495 NCs is that they "deliver high-quality audio defined by a clarity of sound across all ranges, from crisp highs to deep lows." They feature brushed-metal parts, leather earcups, and an adjustable leather headband, and ship with a small carrying case, two audio cables, a USB charging adapter, and a flight adapter.… Read more

If you're considering Sony's MRD-NC200D noise-canceling headphones, the first thing you'd probably ask me is whether they're better than the Bose QuietComfort 15 or Bose QuietComfort 3 models.

The short answer is no. I found the Bose headphones slightly more comfortable to wear, and they effectively block out more noise than the Sony headphones. On top of that, I'm more partial to Bose's sound.

That said, there's a lot to like here. Excellent design, flavorful sound, and the NC200Ds cost $100 less than the Bose QuietComfort 15s. At $200, they're not cheap, … Read more

Able Planet makes a number of noise-canceling headphones, and the NC1100Bs are the Colorado company's highest-end model with a retail price of $299.99.

Let's start with what's good about these guys. For starters, they're comfortable and appear to have a sturdy design and a nice soft-touch black finish. While the earcups aren't quite as soft as those on the Bose QuietComfort 15, the fact that they're a bit thicker and firmer doesn't hurt their comfort level and may be more appealing to some.

Aside from their black coloring, the NC1100Bs look similar to the QC15s (and QuietComfort 2s), with the same over-the-ear design and earcups that swivel and fold flat to fit in a simple black case. The resulting package is slightly bigger than a CD wallet, which makes it easier to tote, though it's still not terribly compact. As you'd expect from a set of headphones designed for frequent travelers, Able Planet throws in a two-prong in-flight adapter.

Like with Bose's active noise canceling, the earcups' cushions effectively sealed off our ears from the noisy environment. Flipping on the noise cancellation dampened the noise even further. While the NC1100Bs aren't as effective at canceling out noise as the QC15s, they did noticeably muffle the sound of a very loud air conditioning that this reviewer has in his office (it isn't quiet as loud as the inside of an airline cabin, but not too far off).

Read the full review of Able Planet's NC1100B headphones.… Read more

I live in New York, N.Y., a place that's never quiet. It's not just traffic noise, people noise, music in the streets, or the cumulative effect of all the buildings' air conditioning exhaust fans. There's a low, deep hum that always throbs to the beat of a city of 8 million people.

Judging by the number of folks wearing headphones on the subway, I'm not the only one using music to mask the noise. The subway may be one of the loudest places you can be in this town, but restaurants can get painfully loud, … Read more

It's a noisy world and getting noisier all the time. No wonder sales of noise-canceling and noise-isolating headphones are booming.

Dwight Garner's New York Times article, "Meditations on Noise" reports on three books covering the impact of sound and noise on our lives.

Noise is usually classified as unwanted sound, but one person's noise is another's bliss. I've always been fascinated by electric guitar distortion, which can sound beautiful. Musicians such as Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, and Jonny Greenwood mastered the art of noise. Why humans like such unnatural sound is a mystery to me, but it appeals on a primitive, strangely organic level. That, or it's noise, ugly, nerve-wracking, unwanted sound. Indulging in loud music can be risky business; if you occasionally experience "ringing in the ears" after exposure to loud sounds or concerts, you may be losing your hearing.

Garner looks at three books: Garret Keizer's "The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want: A Book About Noise" (PublicAffairs); "Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence" (Scribner), by George Michelsen Foy; and "In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise" (Doubleday), by George Prochnik.

I never thought about it until I read the article, but noise exposure has social and political aspects. Garner put it this way: "You can judge a person's clout--his or her social and political standing--by witnessing how much racket he or she must regularly endure." Right, money can buy whatever degree of solitude you need.

Technology may be the source of much of the aural bombardment, but it also offers remedies. We can block out some of the din with our iPods and such, but using music to mask noise can be dangerous. When earbuds and other headphones don't hush outside noise you have to turn up the volume louder than the noise to hear the tunes, so you're compounding the problem. That's why noise-canceling and noise-isolating headphones are such a good idea; they let you turn the volume down and still hear more of the music.

Reducing background noise, in and of itself, lets you hear more deeply into the music. It's not a small, audiophiles-only distinction. Noise masks the subtle stuff, so you can't hear the reverberation surrounding a singer's vocal, or the gentle strum of an acoustic guitar. When the background noise level is high you only hear the louder sounds in the music. Listening "through" noise is stressful and fatiguing; mute the noise and you hear more and feel better. … Read more

Frequent fliers have a special challenge when it comes time to pick out headphones. Finding 'phones with a travel-friendly design, but that are also comfortable and provide great sound with some capability to block out ambient noise can be tough. Now add in a budget of $100 and you can forget about getting all those features in one package...or maybe not. Audio-Technica's ATH-ANC1 QuietPoint headphones may have an MSRP of $130, but they can be found online for $100, and they solidly address all of the above considerations.

Read the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC1 review.