Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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73 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent product, 15 Dec 2006
I was a bit confused by the range of reviews of previous reviewers, so trying a bit of a summary:
Noise reduction comes from two sources: 1) Passive noise reduction from closed design, i.e. the fact that they sit tight on your ears. This reduces mainly higher frequencies (say clicking noise from someone typing on a keyboard or a shrill sounds from power drill used in the same room). 2) Active noise reduction circuitry. This reduces the lower frequency noise (plane noise, train rumble, air condition in office buildings, etc). This low-frequency noise is mainly responsible for the fact that you need to turn up the volume of standard headphones to listen to music.
What makes this product good:
-- The noise cancellation in almost any open environment. You will be surprised by how big a change it is to wear these headphones. I wore them yesterday on a train, in the London tube, on busy shopping streets, in department stores and in the office. It is an unbelievable difference. I was able to listen to music (incl classical) in all einvironments at a medium volume setting. The world is litterally locked out. An big redution in stress I had not anticipated. Fantastic.
-- The combination of features. A lightweight, foldable headphone with a very useful hard cover case for the traveller with excellent noise reduction at an affordable price. If that's what you need, then this product is great.
A note on sound quality: some have said that it was somewhat disappointing. I think it is good and enjoyable (although not excellent, compared to the studio-quality headphones I have at home). And yes, there is a small hiss, but this is not audible unless you are in a quiet room (where you don't want to use those in the first place). The point is, however, that you are able to listen to music in noisy environments at all. They will be much better than any alternative "regular" headphones.
If you buy full-sized closed headphones as suggested in one review (i.e. the ones that make you look like Mickey Mouse), you can reduce the noise levels for both high and low frequencies as well, however active noise cancellation will be still be as good or better for low frequencies.
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Noise Reducing - Not Noise Cancelling. , 23 May 2007
Faced with the prospect of a flight half way round the world, and back again, I decided that I needed something to reduce the omnipresent and oppressive noise of a 747 economy cabin. After much reading of specifications and reviews, I plumped for these headphones by Sennheiser, being unwilling to pay the premium price charged by Bose for their QC `phones.
The first thing to bear in mind with these, is that they are `noise reducing' NOT `noise cancelling'. They will not, for example, block out the sound of other people talking, children screaming, dogs barking etc. But, they will do a good job of reducing persistent low-frequency sounds such as fans, air conditioning units or jet engines. I must admit to being a little disappointed that when using them, I could still hear the AC / engines whilst in flight. However, the background noise was greatly reduced and it certainly made listening to music and film soundtracks more enjoyable and less tiring than without. I found then comfortable enough to wear while attempting to sleep, blocking out a significant portion of the omnipresent `roar' associated with jet travel.
These `phones are small and light, being foldable for easy storage. The downside is, that the `noise reducing' electronics are contained in a cylinder a little larger than 2 AA batteries end to end. This has a clip to enable it to be attached to your shirt / top. Otherwise you can leave it to sit in your lap. This is a little fiddly and a bit of an annoyance, but the alternative is to have the electronics attached to the earpieces which would naturally make these more bulky and less comfortable. Also, the unit is permanently wired in, so you cannot detach if you wanted to listen without the NC bit. Haven't tried them on the train yet, but imagine they would work very well there as well.
Sound quality is very good, definitely a big improvement over the headphones supplied by most airlines. Comes with an airline standard connector so you can plug straight into the sockets provided with your in-flight entertainment system. Also comes with a handy travel case, but takes a bit of patience and practice to fold them back up and stow along with the cable, after use.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty darn impressive, 11 Feb 2006
Though the ear pieces do not totally surround the ear the active noise canceling is pretty darn impressive, though the passive attenuation of sound by the earpieces alone does not seem to be very high.
The active noise canceling can cope with quite noisy environments (ratling along in a tube train) and does not generate any apparent hiss while in quiet environments (unlike my previous noise canceling headphones) When enabled the noise canceling also seems to provide a slight bass boost to the sound.
The only reason this does rate a 5 is because of the box of electronics - it's just a little to large to easily fit in a shirt pocket.
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