We had to check out the potentially miraculous sound of digital noise cancelling in the Sony MDR-NC500D's -- what can we say? They cancel noise. Our finely honed audiophile ears could hear the U2 over the din of the show floor pretty darn well. Was it $400 worth of well? Depends on your annual salary.

Got a third-generation iPod nano? Looking for a new set of earbuds, preferably with noise-canceling abilities? If so, look no further than Radius' new set, which plug right into the dock in order to extract all the juice they need to block out extraneous clamor. The radStrap canalphones are expected to ship in black, green and silver, and feature a neck strap, on / off switch for the noise-cancellation, an aluminum housing and frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz. Check 'em out next month for ¥8,980 ($82), but don't get your hopes up for a bonafide US release.

We first saw Sennheiser's noice-cancelling PXC 450 cans at CES, and while the company missed its March ship date by a couple months, it looks like it was worth the wait -- the first reviews are pretty positive, apart from the price. PC Mag says the sound quality "blows away" its Bose Quiet Comfort rivals, although the low-end is a little exaggerated for audiophile tastes. The Talk Through mic worked as advertised, and even the styling won praise -- rare for a pair of big cans. CNET felt the same way, raving about the crisp high end, excellent noise reduction, and passive operation capability. Overall, it seems like Sennheiser has a winner on its hands -- if it would just do something about that fat $450 price tag.

Read - PC Mag review
Read - CNET review
Read - Pocket-lint review

We've got Bluetooth headsets that cancel noise, amplify voices, and make you look good not entirely cockamamie, but Sound ID's latest iteration actually gives you one less reason to ever take it off. The minuscule earpiece sports compatibility with handsfree Bluetooth profiles, around eight hours of talk time and 72 hours of standby, auditory and visual low battery warnings, dual omni-directional silicon microphones, and a trio of modes to fit your situation. It also touts a NoiseNavigation feature that magnifies and cancels appropriate sounds automatically, and just in case you get tired of only hearing face-to-face conversations out of one ear, the "Environmental Mode" actually brings in ambient noise in order to make you forget about the critter hanging off your eyeglass holder. Notably, the $129.99 SM100 even features a One2One mode that enables "Bluetooth communication between two modules" without the use of a cellphone, which should definitely appease the anti-social social crowd.

[Via Slashphone]

Audiophile headphone and audio component company Sennheiser announced their new PXC 450 noise cancelling headphones at a little consumer electronics show you might have heard about. Its active noise reduction reportedly allows you to distinguish between the sound of someone speaking to you and the sound of an aircraft, enabling you to have a conversation without actually removing the headphones (although they don't address the social awkwardness of actually putting this into practice, wherein your new best friend in 17F starts shouting at you to be heard over your cans). The closed ear cup comes with plenty of padding and can be collapsed for more convenient storage. Convenience and audiophilia don't come cheap, though -- expect to part with $500 to offend people on planes with these come March.