I was unimpressed with the noise cancellation on these headphones. I could still hear quite a bit of external sound when it was switched on, without playing music. When I switched them on there was a continuous crackling static sound which was only drowned out by high volume levels uncomfortable to my ears. I found the noise cancelling put pressure on my eardrums, particularly when changing tracks, and set up a strange out of balance sensation with the various elements of the music in a track. For example on one track the vocal in my right eardrum was overbearing to the extent that it was uncomfortable. It felt as if the noise cancelling was continually struggling for a kind of balance that it never achieved. I also found that the only way I could have a decent full bodied sound was if I turned my ipod volume up to max, and then used the volume control on the headphones. I found when I plugged the headphones into my hifi, the crackling-static sound acquired an additional low level rumbling drone. I am now considering shure, etymotic and bose, without the noise cancelling technology. I think if the isolation is good enough, it's all you need and makes for better sound quality.
Comments
I was unimpressed with the noise cancellation on these headphones. I could still hear quite a bit of external sound when it was switched on, without playing music. When I switched them on there was a continuous crackling static sound which was only drowned out by high volume levels uncomfortable to my ears. I found the noise cancelling put pressure on my eardrums, particularly when changing tracks, and set up a strange out of balance sensation with the various elements of the music in a track. For example on one track the vocal in my right eardrum was overbearing to the extent that it was uncomfortable. It felt as if the noise cancelling was continually struggling for a kind of balance that it never achieved. I also found that the only way I could have a decent full bodied sound was if I turned my ipod volume up to max, and then used the volume control on the headphones. I found when I plugged the headphones into my hifi, the crackling-static sound acquired an additional low level rumbling drone. I am now considering shure, etymotic and bose, without the noise cancelling technology. I think if the isolation is good enough, it's all you need and makes for better sound quality.