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"Huge disappointment from Sony" on by sharklover2
Pros: Pretty good noise cancelling
Cons: Very uncomfortable, Huge carrying case, poor battery life
Summary: I have been waiting to hear these ever since I read about them in January. When I finally received them last week I was very disappointed. Things that were very important to me were
Noise cancelling ability
Sound Quality
Comfort
Travel Size
Battery life
I have been using Bose QC1, QC2 and QC3. I was looking for something better. Well did Sony succeed? Absolutely not. I would not buy these for $100. Let me start with all the negatives. While the actual headphones are only slighly larger than the Qc2 the carry case is about 70% larger. You almost need a seperate suitcase just to carry the huge case. Sony states the battery life is 16 hours and 12 hours with the 2 AA batteries. Well according to the manual you only get 15 hours and 10 on the AA. I also found the headphones to be very uncomfortable. The cushion pads are very firm and they squeeze your head. At home I found the noisecancelling to be useless but I was still somewhat optimistic that they would be great on the airplane. Sony says they block out 99% of the noise. Well they did not do that. I could not tell any difference between the noise cancelation between the QC2 and these. The sound quality is pretty good but I could not listen to them for more than 5 minutes beacuse it was hurting my jaw. SO they cannot compete with the QC2 because the Bose are so much more comfortable, are smaller to travel with and the battery lasts 3 times as long. -
"THE best NC Headphones out there. No contest." on by hifibuff
Pros: Unbelievable NC quality and AI adaption to environment, excellent sound quality and extremely comfortable for extended wear. Battery life is good too..
Cons: Not much I don't like - perhaps the controls could be easier to find with non-Japanese fingers when wearing the phones, and high volume listening can distort - although I was pushing these almost to hearing damage levels when testing...
Summary: Firstly, this isn't some uninformed rant.
I have had, and been very satisfied with BOSE Quiet Comfort 2 headphones (still very good) and less so with the QC3 phones I bought in addition. The QC2 until now was the best NC headphone offering with the QC3 although more compact - in my view were inferiour to the QC2's.
All that has now changed. I think the effect of what NC headphone can have has just been re-defined by Sony.
Sony's digital NC technology just works. It really does do as it says and reduce 99% of background noise to zero. It's worth setting expectations to reality though, as the purpose of these and all NC 'phones is just to remove the annoying rumbles and general mush that accompany travel especially on a plane, but also in a train, a busy office or a 'noisy' hotel room. My BOSE phones were pretty good at this - removing I'd say 70/80% of the annoying noises.
NC headphones won't stop you hearing a screaming child sat next to you - nor will they stop you hearing the stewardess asking if you want another Gin & Tonic... they just cut out the rumble, hum and hiss of air travel and other general background din - and the Sony phones just do this very, very effectively. More so than any others I've tried. And I've tried a lot.
I like my P&Q (peace and quiet).
The Artificial Intelligence AI engine inside the 'phones automatically asesses the types of noise and adopts one of three NC 'patterns' - this occurs when you switch the 'phones on, or when you press the mode button. if you change environment, or the noise level /type changes.
My experience of these MDR-NC500D headphones has been for about 3 weeks now, and has included a 12.5 hr trip back from Tokyo, a 9.5 hr flight to Beijing, and a couple of flights to/from Washington DC. I've also used them in a hotel room with noisy aircon that I couldn't turn off (in China) and in our Tokyo office where the general level of hubbub prevented my concentration in writing some reports.
In all cases - the silence was serene enough to sleep, work or listen to music clearly.
Just how good are they?
Well good enought that I've now sold both the BOSE QC3's and QC2's... that should tell you something.
Worth every penny in my book. Well done Sony. -
"Great noise-canceling over-the-ear headphone" on by augieray
Pros: Terrific sound; great noise canceling; rechargeable batteries; loaded with features; comfortable
Cons: Battery life; size of traveling case; price; won't work without drawing power from rechargeable battery, battery pack, or AC power.
Summary: I previously owned a pair of Sennheiser noise-canceling headphones (PXC 300) and liked them quite a bit, but I hated the battery pack and extra wires; also, I wanted to find earphones that went over the ear for better noise cancelling.
The Sony Digital noise-canceling headphones are very impressive. They seem to cancel more noise than my Sennheiser, and traveling with these cans made the air trip so much more pleasant and enjoyable.
On my last trip, I was seated in the last row of a regional jet where the engines were right outside the hull from me--it was VERY loud, but with these headphones I was able to hear the quietest passages of the music. In fact, when I hit the "monitor" button (which turns of noise cancelling so you can hear announcements and the like), I was amazed at how loud the environment was and how quiet the earphones made it. (This isn't to say there was NO engine noise in the earphones, but it was obviously blocking 95 to 99% of the noise, as advertised.)
I noted some people complaining these headphones were tight or uncomfortable. I had the opposite impression: The over-the-ear design was extremely comfortable! I wore them for almost seven straight hours and never had any discomfort at all (which I cannot say for the Sennheiser headphones or any earbud I've ever tried.)
The earphones feature a swappable cord rather than one hardwired in. Two sizes of cords are provided--the longer one is a more typical length for headphones, while the shorter one was perfect for listening to my MP3 player in my shirt pocket. For me, it was almost as if the headphones were wireless, since there was no excess wire to get tangled or hooked on anything while getting through airports or onto planes.
Another great feature is the rechargeable batteries. I appreciate not having to replace batteries. The one (mitigated) drawback is that the battery life is modest--apparently about 15 hours. But, Sony provides a battery pack that you can use to power the headphones while on the move. Or, you can plug the things in and listen to them if you're near an AC outlet.
Another minor drawback is that the size of the traveling case is ridiculously large for a pair of traveling headphones. It may be tough for some people to fit the case into their briefcase along with PCs and other things one carries while on trips. But even this drawback is mitigated a bit, because the case is large in order to accommodate not just the headphones but the huge number of accessories. In the one case you can also carry the AC plug, battery pack, batteries (included!), two cords of different lengths, a jack that converts the mini to a 1/4" jack, and a two-prong airline jack.
While these headphones are expensive, I think they are worth the price in terms of performance, comfort, flexibility, and ease. I recommend the Sony MDR-NC500D Digital Noise Canceling Headphones! -
"I had to return 2 Sony headsets due to the same fault" on by scottashby
Pros: reasonable sound quality (when they actually work)
Cons: Poor quality control from manufacturer
Summary: I own a set of Bose QC2 headphones which my wife decided to 'comandeer' from me during a recent flight. During the layover I decided to purchase a set of the new MDR-NC500D's. During the next flight the left can started crackling and then proceeded to produce a sound like a broken boat motor. I returned the the faulty product during the return leg of my journey only to experience exactly the same problem on the right can.
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"Overpriced Garbage" on by US66WEST
Pros: The phones I purchased were deffective, cracking noise coming out of both ear pieces, I returned to the store and another set they gave me did the same thing, also the phones would not accept a charge or run off the batteries they provided.
Cons: Very poor quality control from Sony, I would suggest that you try the phones on first and push the ear pieces to see if they crackle.
Summary: Why waste the money!
Sony MDR-NC500D Digital Noise Canceling Headphones user reviews
