Noise Cancelling Headphones Buyers Guide and Review Index

Surprise - the most expensive noise reducing headphones are not necessarily the best, with a product less than one quarter the price meeting or beating the specifications of the highest priced product.

Use this guide to make a better informed decision about whether you should get noise cancelling headphones or not; and if you feel them to be right for you, use the reviews to choose the model that best meets your needs.

Many readers will choose to read from the top down on this page, but if you want to skip straight to the review summaries and links, click here.

Active noise reducing technology uses 'opposite noise' to cancel out the undesirable sounds around you.

Sound is made by a series of pressure waves traveling through the air. A sound is made up by equal numbers of high and low pressure waves that travel from where the sound is made to your ear where it is heard. With very low frequency sounds, you can even feel these pressure waves in your stomach.

Normally, the only way to quieten the sound of something is to put something that would block the passage of these waves to your ear. Ear plugs are the simplest form of achieving this; big heavy bulky ear muffs are another method.

Active noise cancelling headphones use a different approach. They have tiny microphones alongside each earphone, and a very fast reacting amplifier.

The amplifier takes each sound's high pressure wave and creates an equal but opposite low pressure wave (what they call 'anti-noise', and vice versa for the low pressure waves. The two pressure waves simply cancel each other out. The net result is a reduction in background noise.

The technology works best at mid/low frequencies, and does not fully cancel out all noise. Its main advantage is that instead of requiring bulky heavy layers of sound insulation, a set of headphones can use this noise cancelling technology to end up with similar levels of quietening.

Noise cancelling headphones will provide moderate amounts of noise reduction among mid and low frequency sounds.

These sounds are typically prominent in airplanes, and so active noise reduction works very well in airplanes. Although our minds work so as to automatically tune out some background noise, our ears are still hearing it and our minds are having to work harder with their automatic noise filtering. For these reasons, background noise can be surprisingly tiring; you'll definitely feel more refreshed at the end of a long flight if you've been wearing noise cancelling headphones during the journey.

But if you're seeking to cut back on the noise of your co-workers in a moderately quiet office, you'll find that the frequencies of human speech generally lie outside the range of best noise cancellation, meaning that the headphones don't work so well in such cases; indeed because they selectively cut back on other noises, they can make the sound of voices more noticeable than before.

If you're wishing to use your headphones outdoors, you may meet with mixed results if the headphones' noise sensing circuitry picks up 'wind noise' and tries to cancel this out. We generally prefer not to take our somewhat delicate headphones outside and confine their use to indoors.

If you need major reductions in noise (for example, on a firing range) you'll probably need to use some type of passive noise blocking device. Active noise cancelling typically reduces sounds by about 15dB over a narrow frequency range, whereas passive noise blocking can reduce sounds by over 30 dB and over a wider range of high and low frequencies.

Simple earplugs cost less than $1 for a pair, and probably provide better noise insulation. But they don't allow you to hear music or movie soundtracks at the same time.

Traditional ear muffs/hearing protectors cost perhaps $20-40 and also provide greatly better noise insulation, but again they don't have speakers inside. Plus they're usually big, bulky, and heavy - not well suited for travelers wanting to carry them on board a flight.

But if you don't like sticking things in your ears, or if you want something to conveniently share with other people (without also sharing each other's ear wax) then you're probably going to need regular noise cancelling headphones.

There are two different design styles commonly in use - some headphones fit around your ear, while others rest on your ear. Generally the on your ear headphones are smaller, but don't offer quite as good a seal against noise and may not be quite as comfortable when worn for a long time.

Which brings up one of the most important factors - comfort. Chances are you'll be wearing your headphones for many hours while on a flight, so be sure to get headphones that remain comfortable for extended use.

Obviously the underlying ability of the headphones to actually cancel out the noises you're seeking to block is vital. Manufacturers seem to consistently provide totally unrealistic claims for how well their headphones work - don't believe these claims at all. Only trust your ears (or perhaps our ears, too).

Music reproduction quality is a factor, but we generally rate this as an unimportant factor. You're just not ever going to get a highest quality music sound in a noisy environment, and with the extra signal processing applied to the sound going through the noise cancelling circuitry, there will invariably be some sound compromises introduced. Of course you want as good a quality as possible, but don't expect sound stage/studio realism with noise cancelling headphones.

Price is obviously a consideration, although we generally feel it to be the least important of the factors to be considered.

These reviews have been written over time, dating back to October 2001. Some of the earlier reviews have been kept online for reference purposes, or because the model reviewed can still be found available for sale; other reviews have been deleted.

Here is a quick list of reviews and comments on what they contain; this will hopefully save you from needing to read through all of them to get to the information you need.

Currently the best headphones are the Bose Quiet Comfort 2 (about $300) followed by the Sony MDR-NC500D (about $400) which perform almost as well, but due to costing $100 more fall into second rather than first equal place.

Bose Quiet Comfort 3		$349 +	reviewed August 2006
	Small and compact, but generally a disappointment in all respects. Not recommended.
Bose Quiet Comfort 2		$299	reviewed September 2003
	Excellent high quality headphones, but the Solitude headphones are better value and comparable quality.
Bose Quiet Comfort 1		n/a	reviewed December 2001
	Good in their day, but now definitely obsoleted and superseded by the much better Quiet Comfort 2 and Solitude headphones.
Solitude with Linx		$199	reviewed December 2006
	Now discontinued. Similar to the Solitude 2 below which they have now superseded, and with extra audio processing and slightly improved passive and active noise cancellation.
Solitude 2		$199	updated review May 2006
	Now superseded by the Solitude Linx headphones above. Excellent high quality headphones at a good value price point. Recommended.
Plane Quiet Platinum		$100	reviewed Oct 2008
	A return to Plane Quiet's earlier design with over the ear cups. But disappointing noise cancellation and not recommended.
Plane Quiet NC7		$80	reviewed August 2006
	Now discontinued and replaced by the Plane Quiet Platinum. Small, compact, excellent performer at a great price point. Recommended.
Plane Quiet NC6		~ $55	reviewed October 2004
	Discontinued in Aug 06, this product was an interesting change in product design philosophy and was widely imitated in the marketplace, although many times the look-alike competitors did not perform nearly as well.
Plane Quiet earlier models		n/a	variously reviewed
	It is now primarily of background interest only to read about the five previous models of Plane Quiet noise cancelling headphones earlier released and all no longer sold. Plane Quiet had to withdraw these headphones after the threat of legal action from Bose over alleged patent infringements. But being as how that spurred Plane Quiet to subsequently release the NC6 and NC7 and also Solitude headphones, it is definitely an ill wind that blows no good.
Noisebuster NB-FX		$70	reviewed November 2004
	The best of the Plane Quiet NC-6 look alikes, and unlike the NC-6, they have yet to be superseded and are still for sale. The Plane Quiet NC-7 is probably a better choice however.
Noisebuster earlier model		n/a	reviewed November 2001
	One of the earlier models of noise cancelling headphones. A good performer in their day, but now long since obsoleted by better and newer models.
Sony MDR-NC500D		$400	reviewed December 2008
	Very expensive, with their claim to fame being the use of digital rather than analogue noise cancelling technology. Very good headphones closely comparable to the Bose QC2, but they cost $100 more than the QC2 and so we prefer the Bose for their better value.
Sony MDR-NC60		$135	reviewed December 2008
	Around the ear style headphones with good (but not the best) performance at a good (but not wonderful) price point. However, at present (Dec 08) these are our recommended 'best buy' headphones.
Sony MDR-NC11A		$100	reviewed January 2007
	Earbuds rather than regular headphones. Good passive noise blocking, very little active noise cancellation and obtrusive hiss. Not recommended.
Altec Lansing AHP712i		$150	reviewed March 2006
	Terribly over priced with no special features to justify their price. Not recommended.
Koss QZ5		$35	reviewed March 2004
	Warning - these are not noise cancelling headphones. Don't buy.
Coby CV190		$15	reviewed May 2004
	Apparently now superseded by the CV192 which sell for under $30 on Amazon.
Brookstone		n/a	reviewed Feb 2002
	These very disappointing headphones originally sold for $102, but were judged inferior to units costing less than half as much. They've now been superseded by another model which we've not yet tested.

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