Noise-Cancelling Headphones: Best Outside Of Bose

In doing this summary of reviews on the best noise-cancelling headphones there were clearly the 3 reviewer's favorites, Bose Quiet Comfort 3 and 2, then the Sennheiser PXC300. There were also contenders to challenge Bose in the top spot. Playlist and OnHeadphones both chose a non-Bose headphone for their #1 pick. Playlist had the Audio Technica ATH-ANC7 and OnHeadphones chose the Sony MDR-NC50 as their #1 choice over the Bose Quiet Comfort 2. [see my post Noise-Cancelling Headphones-Best for $50-$150 for prices, pros and cons]

So who are the challengers with the high ratings? Apart from the names above, here are some of the other names that may be knocking Bose off the #1 pedestal in the future:

Able Planet NC1000CH Clear Harmony

MSRP: $299
New on eBay: $149.99 [very few listings on eBay]
Amazon Price: $299.99

These headphones received a rating of 4 out of 5 from OnHeadphones and a 7.6 out of 10 from CNet Reviews, clearly making them a future competitor to Bose.

Pros:

• Noise reduction works well
• Music pass-through even if battery dies or noise-cancelling is disabled [not so with Bose]
• Lightweight
• Built-in volume slider [Bose has no volume control]

Cons:

• Music quality not good at high volume
• Not well known yet. For such a competitive price, people may just opt for the better known Bose name

Shure E500PTH/SE530PTH Noise-Isolating Earphones
MSRP: $499.99
New on eBay: $336
Amazon Price: $349.94

The E500PTH have been discontinued by Shure and have been renamed/replaced by the SE530PTH. For this reason you can still find the E500s at a much lower price now. The E500 earphones received an excellent 8.7 out of 10 rating from CNet Reviews and top marks of 5 out of 5 from PC Mag Reviews. The reviewer from PC Mag actually wore them for an entire 8.5 hour workday and felt no discomfort.

Pros:

• Very good noise-blocking
  
• Very comfortable
• They have a detachable Push-To-Hear (PTH) button
• Come with a set of ear adapters and accessories

Cons:

• Price
• CNet noted that the PTH controller felt cheap
  

Creative Aurvana X-Fi
MSRP: $300
New on eBay: $199.95 [hard to find on eBay]
Amazon Price: $299.99

PC Mag gave these headphones a high 4.5 out of 5 "Very Good" rating and CNet Reviews also gave them a very good 7.7 out of 10.

Pros:

• Advanced sound enhancement - better than Bose QC2
• Excellent noise-cancelling
• Good bass
• Output more powerful than Bose QC2s
• Comes with extra sound features - X-Fi Crystallizer and X-Fi CMSS 3D
  
• Has an iPhone compatible extension cable

Cons:

1. Price - same as Bose QC2 and hard to find price breaks on this unit
2. CNet noted that the sound leaks out so others can hear
3. Not as comfortable as Bose QC2
4. X-Fi 3D effect not that great (PCMag)
   

TO BE CONTINUED...