Audio-Technica ATHANC7 Noise-cancelling Headphones
by AUDIO TECHNICA
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List Price: Our Price: $79.99 You Save: $139.96 (64%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Audio-Technica ATHANC7 Noise-cancelling Headphones
Customer Review: My favorite headphones!
Summary: 5 Stars
Having only ever owned cheap pairs of ear buds, the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 headphones were a giant step up for me in the audio-quality department. These have quickly become my favorite headphones, and they are particularly useful on trips (blocking out road / airplane noise).
As one might guess from the product pictures, the ear pieces on these headphones are large enough to cover your ears. This design passively reduces any ambient noise, even before the noise-cancellation circuitry is turned on. Another plus is that active cancellation doesn't need to be enabled to listen to music (unlike the mega-expensive Bose headphones). Passive mode works well enough that, in a quiet place like my office, I don't really need to enable the active cancellation. However, it's worthwhile to note that, when in passive mode, any music played through the headphones sounds slightly muffled.
Enabling active mode is done through the flick of a switch located on the left ear piece. When enabled, any sound coming through the headphones is amplified, in addition to the added noise-cancellation. The difference between music quality in the enabled and disabled states is startling. What once was muffled becomes crystal clear. You literally have to hear the difference to understand what I'm talking about. Again, in a quiet enough location, I can live in passive mode. But active mode is good enough that many people may prefer to leave it enabled all the time.
So how does the actual noise-cancellation stack up? On a recent family vacation, I used active mode the entire time to block out all the road noise. Needless to say, I was astounded at how well it worked. In the past, I ran my MP3 player at a volume level of 14 or 15 to hear the music over the noise. Now I can run the volume down to 7 or 8 and still hear amazingly well (even music with a high dynamic range). Great sounding music, and I'm saving my ears: win-win!
The headphones are surprisingly comfortable, and I find that I can wear them for an extended period of time without my ears hurting. The adjustable band at the top of the headphones also allows folks with a large cranium (like myself) to wear them comfortably, without having their brains squeezed out of their head.
The carrying case is built well, and rigid enough to prevent the headphones from being crushed. A little zippered pouch holds all of the accessories: the detachable headphone cable (5 feet long), a 6.3mm stereo adapter, an airline adapter, and a single AAA battery.
I cannot recommend these headphones highly enough. If you don't have a pair of these, you should definitely pick them up!
Customer Review: Good noise isolation, superior noise cancelling
Summary: 5 Stars
PROS: Good noise isolation, superior noise canceling, comfortable, can be worn for hours on end.
CONS: Pricey, small ear cups, ears get hot
Went on a quest the last few months to find a good pair of headphones/earphones for heavy library use. Even in the adult section of the library, the sounds of kids running, screaming, crying, adults yakking away on cell phones, and an ever present AC rumbing all prevent total concentration.
I tend to be cheap, and I never splurged on expensive eargear before. Read many sites and reviews - on-ear, in-ear, headphone, sound isolation, noise cancelling and wanted to see which were best.
Bought many different types of earphones and headphones, from over the ear, twist to fit Sennheiser (MX55), to in-ear noise isolation from Shure (410K), to noise cancelling earbuds from Sony (NC22) and Audio Technica (ANC3), and finally over the ear noise cancelling headphones from Panasonic (RP-HC500)to this one, plus many others. My wife noticed multiple packages and a severely drained bank account. Before that, I had some cheap, in-ear earbuds, and a Philips 'stereo' headphones.
I then judged them on ease of use, fit, sound isolation, and noise cancellation.
Sennheiser twist to fit - slightly cumbersome, ear feels weird, no sound isolation
Shure - extremely challenging to fit, easily falls out, wonderful sound isolation
Sony (earphones) - easy fit, poor sound isolation, loud hiss for noise canceling
Audio Technica (earphones) - looks almost like the sony, easy fit, poor sound isolation, even louder, annoying hiss for sound cancelling
Panasonic (headphones) - easy fit, bulky,decent sound isolation, mid level hiss for sound isolation
Audio Technica (headphone) - easy fit, bulky, good sound isolation, minimal sound isolation hiss - fans, AC, lights almost inaudible after isolation turned on.
Sennheiser PTH, Bose, etc - not considered, price unaffordable
To me, it boiled down to sound isolation vs. portability. The Sony earphones delivered almost the same performance than the Audio Technica's (yes, I saw the reviews saying that the earphones and headphones were the same in terms of noise isolation, etc., there are NOT). If portability isn't an issue, consider headphones. The Audio Technica headphones were superior in terms of sound isolation and noise cancelling, but the Sony headphones cost three times less.
If I had to do it all over again, I'd go with these headphones. If I only had fifty to a hundred dollars to spend, then I'd be satisfied with the Panasonics.
Customer Review: Former QC2 user: Perfect for iPhone 3G!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been using these headphones with the new iPhone 3G - yes, the headphones lack a microphone and call answer button for phone calls but I would look stupid wearing these around all day for that purpose anyway. What I have been using these for is listening to music and movies on cross country flights and working in noisy data centers. They are excellent for these purposes.
In the past I've borrowed the Bose QC2's from a girlfriend on numerous occasions and I really liked them, but not enough to want to pay $300 for the privilege of owning a pair of my own (we broke up, heh!).
Other reviews have claimed that the bass response is not as good as the Bose models and yes, the bass is not as *prominent* but Bose engineers the bass to be unnaturally prominent on all their products to make the sound appear bigger than the device producing it.
Ideally you want speakers to produce a flat response. The Bose type of bass appeals to many however so if you're using an iPod or iPhone, simply turn on the EQ and select either the "bass enhancer" or "flat" setting. I personally prefer the flat setting since the sound is very well balanced and offers increased bass without being too over the top. Overall, the sound these headphones produce is simply stunning and with the EQ turned on, I consider the "bass issue" completely irrelevant.
Noise reduction is on par with the QC2's and I would be very hard pressed to describe any difference at all. Anyone that says otherwise must have incredible ears or a sound studio with testing equipment!
Build quality appears to be very solid, attractively engineered, and made to last. The travel pouch and adapters are basically the exact same offering as Bose which I was very happy about since I can throw it in my laptop bag and go without worrying about the device suffering from tangled cables, scratches or getting crushed somehow.
The fit is perfect for me. The design is less bulky overall than the QC2's and the ear cup size seems to be right in between the QC2 and QC3 - a nice compromise of size and comfort while still fitting over instead of on the ears. I can wear them for long periods of time without sweaty ears or general discomfort.
These are like a version 3.0 of the Bose designs. Audio-Technica kept everything that was great about the Bose headphones, refined things further and then brought them to market at a price point 60% lower than Bose. You should not consider these a compromise vs Bose at all. I'm very pleased with mine and can whole-heartedly recommend them to you.
Customer Review: Great for dorm life...I don't know how I survived up until now without these.
Summary: 5 Stars
Living in the dorms it's constantly noisy and difficult to find somewhere to study quietly without interruption or just get away from it all and relax. I've only had these for one week, but it's the week of midterms and I've easily put in over twenty hours with them...not really enough to break them in, but plenty to say how effective they are at blocking out sound.
With something playing at a study-level volume (fairly quiet), they still block out a ton of sound...it feels like I'm by myself even in a room with 3-4 other people talking softly. If I turn the volume up high, depending on the song, I can even block out blasting external music to the point where I can only feel the other's bass and hear only my music from the headphones. It's quite shocking how much sound these can actually block.
The sound quality is amazing and they're very comfortable for long periods of time. They have a tendency to make your ears warm after wearing them for long durations, but it's easily ignorable and doesn't bother me. I've had them for over five hours a day this week, and so far no problems. They are built very sturdy and and are more compact then the old Sony MDR-CD280s that they replaced. I also LOVE that the headphones use a non-proprietary 3.5mm receiving jack, which lets me easily swap out a damaged cord for a longer 3.5mm double male cord if I needed to.
Overall, I'm very happy with my choice to go with the ATH-ANC7s instead of the Bose Around Ear headphones, which several people in the dorms have. With the Bose at almost the same price, even a tad more, these are a clear winner.
I should note, while these were the cheapest on Amazon, as usual, I still had a poor shipping experience with the vendor, with it taking twelve days to reach me after purchase. I suppose this is the price to pay for cost savings.
*EDIT - TWO YEARS LATER* 11-22-09
As a follow up to my review, I've now had these headphones for two years and they are still awesome! They've taken a ton of wear and tear and are in almost new condition after literally hundreds of hours of use. The cord is fine and has escaped damage (but it would be easily replicable had it not), which seems to be an issue with a number of other headphones...especially the Bose over-ear model, which my friend has replaced twice after buying his at the same time as I did mine. These have been the best headphones I've ever purchased and I'd happily buy another pair...IF they ever manage to die.
Customer Review: YES! They really ARE that good! Save your money and buy Audio-Technica instead of Bose QC2/3
Summary: 5 Stars
OK...like most reviewers, I've been wanting Bose QuiteComfort headphones for a long, long time, but never could pull the trigger due to the high price. Recently I began searching for something of similar quality at more reasonable price. I am very happy to report that the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7's are awesome. Right from the first time I put them on, I could tell they were going to be great. The fit is snug, which I prefer and with noise cancellation turned on they are definitely as good as Bose and way better than the Sennheiser PXC-250's. BTW, don't waste your time looking at the PXC's. They have no bass and the noise cancellation only seems to help create better sound...not reduce noise.
I find the bass of the ATG-ANC7's to be more than adequate for headphones and the mids/highs are crystal clear. I'm not an audiofile, but do listen to a lot of music and really appreciate high quality and great sound. I could not be happier. These headphones are very, very good.
Regarding quality, I have not had a chance to travel with them yet and beat them up so cannot speak to how well they will hold up under stress, but it appears they will do as good as anything else on the market. The case is well constructed and there is room for your iPod.
Some reviewers noted "sound leakage" and I have to admit that the headphones definitely do "leak" sound. However, in my opinion, it is not nearly as bad as they make it out to be. If I set the volume to what I consider to be loud and when I take headphones off you can definitely hear music clearly when holding them in your hands a few feet from your ears. When I lay them on my desk with earcups flat on desk as other viewers reported, I also can hear the music quite well. If that was my only test, I would say "leakage" was bad. However, when I do a more real world test and put the headphones on my leg or other soft surface that absorbs sound similar to wearing them on your head, the "leakage" is much less and a level I think you would not hear from a distance of say 10 feet or farther so unless you work in an office where you can hear a pin drop and have a boss who drives you nuts, in my opinion, "leakage" is of no concern.
So...bottom line is if you are the type that demands top quality, but likes to invest wisely, the Audio-Technica headphones are the way to go. Free shipping, no tax an only $125 when Bose are gonna cost you $300 to $350 plus tax and shipping...its a no brainer!