Best Noise-Canceling Headphones

[colin007]

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-noise-cancelling-headphones/

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-noise-cancelling-in-ear-headphones/

Others disagree.

so i guess im not comparing apples to apples, because the Audio Technicas arent active noise cancelling,

the thing with Bose that many audiophiles dont like is the "color" that they add to the music.  youre not really hearing an unbiased representation of the artists music, just like the "coloring" thats added with BEATS.  the audio technicas are a much more accurate headphone for a great price.  the closed design adds a noise cancelling dimension to them that many find sufficient.

edit - a quote from the first link:

"Sound quality is not at all the main reason why you would buy these kinds of headphones."

so theyre saying that active noise cancelling phones are going to compromise the sound quality.

[Ernest Jones]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iacas

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-noise-cancelling-headphones/

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-noise-cancelling-in-ear-headphones/

Others disagree.

so i guess im not comparing apples to apples, because the Audio Technicas arent active noise cancelling,

the thing with Bose that many audiophiles dont like is the "color" that they add to the music.  youre not really hearing an unbiased representation of the artists music, just like the "coloring" thats added with BEATS.  the audio technicas are a much more accurate headphone for a great price.  the closed design adds a noise cancelling dimension to them that many find sufficient.

edit - a quote from the first link:

"Sound quality is not at all the main reason why you would buy these kinds of headphones."

so theyre saying that active noise cancelling phones are going to compromise the sound quality.

There is a saying among pro sound engineers, "it's got no highs, it's got no lows, it must be Bose". Whether or not there is any merit to that is unknown to me.

[iacas]

Quote:

You can get better-sounding headphones for less if you don’t need noise cancelling

Well duh.

But that's not the point.

I don't care if you have top-of-the line headphones… if they played a consistent airplane sound, or a snowblower sound, or whatever while playing back your music, you'd rightly think they were crap.

The review says that the guy switches to non-noise-canceling headphones when he gets off the plane.

[colin007]

then its really just a matter of preference.  i like closed cans with better audio reproduction that make a decent seal around the ear, providing a good amount of noise cancelling w/out the drawbacks of active NC.  the Bose/Beats/Monster stuff isnt bad, its just theres better sounding stuff for less.  JMHO.