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...

Noise-Cancelling Headphones-The Best Under $50

This is a simple summary of the top review site's picks for the best noise-cancelling headphones, or earphones, which you can probably pick up for under $50. The following is based on reviews by CNet Reviews and PC Mag.

JVC HA-NCX77 [Earbuds]
MSRP: $79.95
New on eBay: $22
Amazon Price: $34.64

These noise-cancelling earbuds were given a high 8 out of 10 on CNet Reviews. PC Mag recommends that if you are on a tight budget and don't necessarily need top of the line noise-cancelling, that you will probably be happy with something from JVC or Sony.

Pros:

• Good sound quality
• Very lightweight - 1.9oz

Cons:

• Noise-cancelling unit is bulky and does not disconnect from the headphones

Logitech
MSRP: $150
New on eBay: $48
Amazon Price: $64.00

CNet gave these headphones a 7.3 out of 10 for the Logitech headphones.

Pros:

• Adjustable earcups for personal comfort
• Good sound quality

Cons:

• May be uncomfortable after an hour or so
• Noise-cancelling feature affects music quality

JVC HA-NC100
MSRP: $79.95
New on eBay: $34.99
Amazon Price:$40.99

CNet Reviews gave these headphones a 7.7 out of 10 rating.

Pros:

• Affordable
• Comfortable
• Good sound quality

Cons:

• Noise-cancelling only seems to work on lower frequency sounds
• Bass is a bit weak

JVC HA-NC80
MSRP: $59.99
New on eBay: $24.50
Amazon Price: $35.44

While these headphones are not meant to be for audiophiles, they received some pretty good reviews from CNet and PC Mag when you consider their low price. PC Mag gave them a good rating of 3 out of 5 and CNet also gave them good rating of 6.3 out of 10.

Pros:

• Affordable
• They have a dual prong adapter for use in-flight
• Two modes of noise-cancellation
• Good sound quality

Cons:

• Ear cups are small and may become uncomfortable after a while
  
• Low hum when noise-cancellation is activated
• Noise-cancellation only works on low frequency noises

TO BE CONTINUED...

Noise-Cancelling Headphones-The Best For $50-$150

Continuing with the top picks in noise-cancelling headphones from six popular online review sites.
These are the reviewer's picks for headphones with a retail price between $100 and $150. They are listed with the pros and cons, MSRP, Amazon price and recent selling price on eBay for a brand new unit [it's always cheaper to buy used or refurbished but I want to show the price comparison for buying new]

Some of them are in-the-ear earphones, or earbuds. There is conflicting opinion about the effectiveness of the noise-cancelling quality in these designs. Some reviewers have said that they provide superior performance, some disagree and maintain that the over-the-ear headphones are the only way to effectively block outside noise.

Then there is the question of comfort. If you don't like having earplugs in your ear, then this may not be noise-cancelling product for you. The manufacturers have gone out of their way with the noise-cancelling earphones. Since it's hard to get a perfect fit and one size does not fit all, some earphones come with sets of ear tips so that you can choose whichever fits you the best.

Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7
MSRP: $220
New on eBay: $117.50
Amazon Price: $124.99

Playlist had this unit as their #1 pick over the Bose twins since they thought it compares favorably with Bose at a lower price, hence making it better value for money.

Pros:

• Good sound quality
• Good price and value for money
• Comfortable around-the-ear fit

Cons:

• Sound quality is muffled when noise-cancelling is disabled
• Ear cups may not adequately cover larger ears

Panasonic RP-HC500
MSRP: $200
New on eBay: $105.55
Amazon Price: $94.05

Playlist rated this just behind the Audio-Technica in value for money.
Weighs 6oz and runs on 1AAA battery which the company says will give 40 hours of use time.



Pros:

• Very comfortable, similar to Audio-Technica but the earpads are larger
• Good sound quality

Cons:

• Headband could be a bit tight on larger heads
• Sound quality is degraded when noise-cancelling switched off, but that seems par for the course on most noise-cancelling headphones

Sony MDR NC50
MSRP: $199
New on eBay: $75 [with warranty]
Amazon Price: $149.99

This over-the-ear unit received a 7.2 out of 10 rating from CNet [the Bose QC2 and 3 got an 8 out of 10 from them] and tied 3rd for noise-cancelling quality with the Sennheiser PXC300 on Seat Guru.

Pros:

• Good noise-cancelling
• Monitor button allows outside noise [saves you taking them on and off]
• Allows sound pass-through if battery dies

Cons:

• Larger and heavier [10.2oz] than the Bose. May become uncomfortable after a long time
• Weak powered MP3 players didn't perform well with this unit
• Plastic creaks when you move your head around

Panasonic RP-HC300
MSRP: $199
New on eBay: $51.00
Amazon Price: $94.85

This headphones were placed first in the price category by Seat Guru.

Pros:

• Adequate noise-cancelling
• Lightweight

Cons:

• Slight echo in headset
• No music pass-through if battery dies

JVC HA NC250
MSRP: $199.95
New on eBay: $75.00
Buy.com Price :$117.99 [not available on Amazon at the time of this post]




Photo links to Buy.com

These headphones were rated at 7.7 out of 10 by CNet Reviews.

Pros:

• Comfortable
• Good sound quality
• Headphones still work when noise-cancelling is disabled
  

Cons:

• Cable is not long enough for non-portable use

Sony MDR NC22 [Earphones/Earbuds]
MSRP: $100
New on eBay: $50.00
Amazon Price: $66.26



These earphones were recommended by PC Mag as a lower priced alternative to the more wallet-busting noise-cancellers.

Pros:

• Comfortable and secure fit
• Monitor button to allow outside noise in
• Can still listen to music with noise-cancellation disabled

Cons:

• Has a low-level hiss when noise-cancelling feature is on
  
• Noise-cancelling circuitry has to be clipped to your clothing or it is left dangling
  

Skullcandy Proletariat
MSRP: $99.95
New on eBay: $50.00
Shop.com Price: $89.95
Amazon Price : $69.99

PC Mag rated these headphone as very good for the price (4 out of 5), although they were not that impressed with the feature that allows you to connect your cell phone to headphones.

Pros:

• Good sound quality and noise-cancelling
• Work well without power
• Comfortable

Cons:

• Cell phone connection has some problems, e.g., if you have music on when using your cell phone, the other party can hear it.
  

The Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones: The Top 3

Looking for the best noise-cancelling headphones online is time-consuming and can be confusing. The following is a list of the top products as rated by some of the more popular and trusted review sites online, PC Mag, CNet Reviews, Playlist, OnHeadphones, Consumer Search and Seat Guru. The following lists are by no means exhaustive and more will be added over time.

I have not included customer reviews since they tend to be very sporadic, based on emotion or personal agenda, plus they are only based on the one product. The professional reviewers have been doing this for years and have the luxury of testing numerous headphones against each other, providing a more technical and objective result.

They are listed with prices and the pros and cons as noted by the reviewers. The prices are the MSRP and current Amazon and eBay prices for comparison.

There are three names that crop up more often than others across the six review sites. These are the Bose QuietComfort 2, QuietComfort 3 and the Sennheiser PXC300 and in 4 out of 6 of the reviews, the BoseQC3 came in at number 1 as the best pick. I will start with the top 3 reviewer's picks and follow up separately with the rest of the list.

Bose QuietComfort 3
MSRP: $349
New on eBay for: $285
Amazon Price: new $349; used from $330


Just because this was the best overall choice of the reviewers doesn't mean it is a perfect product. It just means that Bose beat out the other headphones in more areas. In fact, the reviewers noted room for improvement in both the QC2 and QC3.

Pros:

• Smaller and lighter than the QC2 while maintaining excellent noise-cancelling ability
• Sound quality better than the QC2
• Comes with rechargeable battery which lasts for 20 hours
  
• Folds up compactly for storing

Cons:

• Price
• When the battery dies, so do the headphones. There is no music pass-through when the battery runs out. That means you need to make sure the battery is charged before you take off on that long flight. You can buy an extra battery as a spare, but you have to buy from Bose and they are charging $50. Also you will need a charger, another expense if you want that spare battery.

Bose QuietComfort 2
MSRP: $299
New on eBay for $225
Amazon Price: new:$299 used:$279.99


Pros:

• Above average sound quality
• Comfortable around-the-ear fit
• Good quality noise-cancelling feature
• Good battery life - requires one AAA battery for 35 hours of use

Cons:

• Price
• Need to carry batteries around with you
• As with the QC3, no music pass-through when battery is dead or noise-cancelling feature is switched off
• A bit bulkier than the QC3 (weighs 7 oz.)
  

Tip: One reviewer, Seat Guru, liked both of the Bose headphones, placing them at 1 and 3 on their list. They even had a suggestion for anyone looking to buy the QC2: "With the next generation of these headphones on the scene, it might be a good idea to look for a bargain pair of these on eBay..", and from the looks of it, this is what most people seem to be doing.

Sennheiser PXC 300
MSRP: $199
New on eBay for $129.99
Amazon Price: new:$125.87; used:$119.99



This is an on-the-ear headphone as opposed to the Bose QC2 around-the-ear headphone. It uses 2AAA batteries for approximately 80 hours of operating time.

Pros:

• Good comfort level
• Good noise-cancelling performance
• Very lightweight (2.3 oz)
• Some remarked that the sound quality was slightly better than the Bose models
• Lets music pass-through even if battery dies
• Price
  

Cons:

• Volume is limited
• Noise-cancelling electronics are separate and cannot be disconnected from the headset
• Noise-cancelling performance was challenged on louder planes