Intrigued by Ten… noise-cancelling headphones I spent all of last night combing through the internet looking for the headphones for our family. Lots of things surprised me, like open vs closed design etc. Now that I am (marginally) smarter here are the choices that seem to fit the bill (and knock you dead with the price tag):
- AUDIO-Technica ATH-M50
- cheap
- Sennheiser PXC 450
- lots of control and function
- Bose Quiet Comfort 15
- very Apple-oriented and won’t function without noise cancelation. Cheaper than PXC 450
Looks like noise-canceling properties is something really personal as I read two independent pilot accounts about **the same** phones claiming opposite results (ultra quiet vs utterly useless). Also audio qualities are contested for every single model. Noise cancelation comes in two forms – low pitch is handled by all sort of doo-dads while high pitch is handled by… snug fit.
Out of non-cacleling crowd sounds (nice punt, eh?) like those brands deserve closer inspection:
- Monster Beats by Dr. Dre
- Denon
- AKG
- Shure SRH-940
Some brands fell off on “sturdy” factor – if those are going to be used by kid – they better not be flimsy.
Some interesting resources are:
- Headfonics reviews
- Amazon (look at the feedback)
- Canada Post which provides similar function as:
- Shopbot
- TestFreaks