Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 Headphones,Wired

First of all, I must say these are my first noise cancelling headphones and I went for them after months of research.
I'm quite happy with the noise cancellation feature and the music is very very clear and crisp.
However, any and everyone around me can hear what I'm listening to...and they can hear it very clearly. Obviously, this is a bit of a problem(at least I think so) as my intention was to use it on the train and on flights. It would be highly in considerate of me to subject everyone around me to my music.

I wouldn't recommend it I'm afraid.I'll start to save for the Bose.

I recently decided to make a purchase of some higher quality headphones due to the extreme imperfections of my standard iPod ones!

I chose the Audio Technica ATH-ANC7's mainly because of the noise cancelling features but also on a few previous reviews I had read. I'm not much of an audiophile but to me they sound brilliant. The quality and detail is exceptional and due to the on board battery they don't seem to drain my iPod as much as I presumed. Plus the volume on the iPod can be lower so maybe this has an effect too!

The case they come in is nice and a useful storage companion, with space for an mp3 player in there too! The inner pocket shown on some pictures is Velcro-backed and removable so if you don't need the adaptors you don't have to take them with you. The only down side about the case is that if you adjust the headphones, they have to be reset to the smallest size to fit back in.

The headphones themselves are very comfortable. The pads on the ears are replaceable and cover each ear entirely. I think they are made from a memory foam / rubber type material and are very soft. The headphones can be adjusted and fit me well, even though some might say I have a large head, with enough room for larger heads. When I shake my head there is a little movement but not much! When adjusting them there is a nice clicking sound which not only gives a feeling of quality but also helps to remember the size you used last time (10 notches on the left, and 10 notches on the right for me!). This also means that when I pack them away and have to make them small, you can remember where you had them set last time.

Performance wise the switch is satisfying to use and the headphones have a nice quality feel to them. One downside which I have found is the interference from mobile phones. When sending a text message from a nearby area I get the "dit du du dit" sound. This could be quite annoying, especially if you were planning on using on a train / bus or public location regularly. Bear this in mind if you send a lot of texts whilst wearing headphones! The noise cancelling feature is amazing and works well with annoying repeating sounds. It doesn't work so well with things like people talking but when combined with music and the noise cancelling feature it's hard to hear anything else.

To me, the quality of my music has now been upgraded to `better than real life'. If you're looking for a quality set of headphones and don't use your mobile phone much then these are an excellent purchase. I paid £85 (US Import), but im not sure I would stretch to the £130 on Amazon or £199 RRP.

5 start due to the clear quality and superb design, almost got a 4 so watch the price and mobile phone interference.

I am not a Hi-Fi maniac, but I don't like noise and I do like silence, and quiet music. I have previously tried Tevion noise-canceling headphones from Lidl (16gbp). For that price, I was very satisfied with them. Blessing on crowdy airports and during flights, and also a good isolator if I want to focus in the office. You can really forget about all this nosie around you. I still have them but I decided to see how much better can it get if I pay some serious money. After extensive search and reading the reviews, I have decided to go for these.

First impression - the plastic could have been better - I mean - it's not too bad, but I have seen tougher-looking ones. Second impression - the faux leather ear cup cushions are of very good quality. The bridge is very sturdy and gives a good impression. Contrary to what other reviews say - I find the ear cups rather moderate in size, which is positive. They are definitely not "Huge" - or that other person probably compared them to open-air headphones. The Tevion ones are bigger and I have seen many even bigger ones not even claiming to reduce outside noises.
The whole set-up, including battery, is surprisingly lightweight. That also explains my initial impression of the cup plastic not being tough. It does come with a pretty massive protective case to store them in. It's not too heavy, but in terms of protection it is truly looks like a tank and gives impression that it would sustain long years of use. In other words, the message is clear: if you are not using the headphones - store them in that case, not in the drawer.
They are comfortable to wear, however, You do need to make breaks sometimes, because, unavoidably, ears are completely enclosed by the ear cups and they may sweat. Myself, I easily go for 2 hours of listening without discomfort, before feeling like to take a break.
Onto the sound.
Sound is really crisp and deeply detailed. I can risk to say that, unless you are in a studio or other well-prepared listening enviroment, no ordinary headphones can get close. Simply because of the external spurious sounds. Noise reduction indeed works great, and, as for my initial worries, it works much better than with the 16gbp Tevion ones. I can actually hear the difference in mp3 material encoded with 128kbit and 192kbit. All the subtleness of the recording comes out. I am satisfied.

I was worried that, at least in terms of noise reduction, they may be only marginally better than cheap headphones. But now I can say that they do deliver and the difference is big and positive.
My previous Tevion headphones produced an audbile hiss when not connected to the audio source. As an automatic control engineer myself, I can say that this is understandable (this is normal in high-gain zero-stabilising circuits, and noise-canceling circuit is exactly that). With audio-technica, the hiss is still there but is much quieter, and is completly inaudbile when connected to even quietest music source. If used in a noise-reduction mode only, the internal hiss is still much quieter inside than the outside noises, and to me, that only proves that the circuitry works as expected. As an engineer I can tell that it would be impossible to eliminate the noise completely.

I am going to use them in the office and during flights. I would not take them to tube or for a walk tough. The bridge itself looks sturdy, and won't break easily, but nonetheless it's more of a hi-fi design rather than heavy-duty. They don't look like they can take any rain either (I live in Scotland).I'd rather use my old Tevions for that purpose.

It may be so that other companies have launched a negative comments campaign against this model, because virtually none of the negative comments I have seen so far about these headphones are true.
For example, It does not appear that they leak sound (i.e. nobody can hear what I am listening to), even at highest volume setting (which I am not going to use anyway, what for?). If Your headphones do, you are either overloading the NR circuitry, or the headphones are faulty themselves.
Secondly, the fact that they change their frequency response after switching the NR circuit off is also normal - to say simply, they are designed for the active mode operation, and their ability to transmit sound even with battery depleted is only a secondary feature.
If I didn't want noise reduction for any reason, I would use open-air headphones anyway. The same goes for listening to the music very loud.

Now, for a nearly 100gbp they aren't cheap, even tough the BOSE ones are three times as expensive. But I can certainly say that they do what they promise to do.