noise canceling
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Bose's new QuietComfort headphones are $100 off right now
Bose's 2023 QuietComfort headphones are on sale for a low of $249 in every color.
Bowers & Wilkins debuts a redesigned version of its Px7 headphones
Bowers & Wilkins revealed an updated version of its Px7 headphones with improved audio, better noise canceling and an updated design.
Sony's new Linkbuds S get their first real discount
Sony only recently launched its $200 LinkBuds S wireless earphones with active noise cancellation, and we're now seeing the first serious discount.
Shure Aonic 40 review: Decent ANC headphones with impressive battery life
Shure’s latest noise-canceling headphones offer longer battery life than the company promises. However, inconsistent sound quality shows there’s room for improvement.
Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro offer ANC, 360 audio and more for $200
Samsung is poised to take on Apple's AirPods Pro with its $200 noise-cancelling Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds.
8410084100AirPods Max review: Expensive headphones with untapped potential
The AirPods Max offer great sound, handy features and a heavy dose of Apple design. But that price tag is hard to justify.
Razer reveals Hammerhead Pro earbuds with ANC and THX audio
Razer's latest true wireless earbuds offer active noise cancellation and THX-certified audio for $200.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds review: The noise-cancelling powerhouse
The QC Earbuds provide the best ANC performance you’ll find in true wireless on top of great sound quality.
Jabra's Elite 85t true wireless earbuds offer adjustable ANC for $229
Jabra's latest true wireless earbuds offer "advanced" ANC thanks to a dedicated noise-cancelling chip.
JBL's Club Pro+ true wireless earbuds offer ANC and more for $200
When JBL debuted its Club line of headphones back at CES, the company unveiled both on-ear and over-ear models. The one notable omission was a true wireless option. Inside the My JBL Headphones app, the Stage+ feature offers a collection of audio presets created by “the world’s top DJs.”
Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones arrive in mid-August for $350
Thanks to early details in a Walmart listing back in June, we knew the debut for Sony’s latest flagship headphones was imminent. With the M4, Sony is introducing some subtle tweaks to the design alongside several new features to make further improvements to the highly-rated 1000X noise-canceling headphones line. All of those tweaks make the M4 more comfortable than its predecessor, especially during longer listening sessions.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live review: Unique design, poor execution
Samsung’s latest true wireless earbuds have a unique “open type” design, but you have to sacrifice sound quality and the effectiveness of ANC. There are some attractive features here, but the company’s Galaxy Buds+ are the better option.
Surface Headphones 2 offer better sound and battery life for $249
Microsoft's new noise canceling cans, the Surface Headphones 2, sound even better and offer more battery life.
Skullcandy's trackable Crusher ANC headphones are $60 off
We had a lot of good things to say about Skullcandy's Crusher ANC headphones when we reviewed them last year, but the price was not one of them -- $319 felt a little too steep. But if you've been holding out on a pair in the hopes the price might come down, we've got good news for you: Engadget readers can now get $60 off on Wellbots -- so that's $259, including shipping and tax (except in NY state).
Sony's excellent WH-1000XM3 headphones are over $70 off at Amazon
If you've been patiently waiting for a retailer to put Sony's excellent WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones on sale, your patience has paid off. Amazon has discounted both the black and silver models by $72, making them $278 instead of their usual $350. According to price tracker Camelcamelcamel, that 21 percent price cut is the biggest discount Amazon has ever offered on the Bluetooth headphones.
Etymotic Music•Pro 9-15 earplugs bring high-end hush to audiences, lets us enjoy speed metal safely
Premium electronic earplugs usually find their homes with musicians eager to preserve their hearing at all costs; anyone within the crowd has more often been left to either use cruder plugs or cover their ears. Etymotic wants to bridge that difference with the Music•Pro 9-15. The combination of ER-9 and ER-15 earplugs matches its namesake not just through the choice of components, but through active noise cancellation that removes 9 to 15 decibels from the sound only when the rock gets too raucous: listeners can hear fellow concert-goers and even boost their volume without skewing the sound of the band. Pricing plays its own part in reaching out to the crowd, too. As high as the new Music•Pro set's $399 price might be compared to a typical pair of ear blockers, it's low enough that a dedicated fan of virtual Tupac can afford to go to the concert protected rather than voluntarily take on some hearing damage.
Nokia Reaction Bluetooth headset slips out: 'acoustic' design packs ear detection, noise reduction (video)
While it hasn't gone public on Nokia's own site, its YouTube channel has thrown up a video of a new Bluetooth headset. The device, like previous Nokia inventions, can be paired to phones through NFC and also automatically transfer and answer incoming calls when it senses it's near your ear. It packs in three separate mics, background noise cancellation and "automatic volume control" that aims to forgo screaming into the earpiece. We'll update with more details once we hear from Nokia. Take a peak at the device after the break -- and sigh at the sight of the ill-fated Nokia N9.
Audio-Technica unveils ATH-ANC9 noise-cancelling cans
Audio-Technica has been quiet on the noise-cancelling headphones front for some time, but today it announced a new set of sound-nixing cans, the ATH-ANC9. While earlier ATH models block out 85 percent of outside noise, the new version ups the ante to 95 percent. Also new are three Tri-Level Cancellation modes, each tailored to drowning out sound in a particular environment (airplanes, noisy office and libraries, for example). This over-the-ear set has 40mm drivers and an input sensitivity of 100 dB to make the music you choose to hear sound nice and clear. The ATH-ANC9 comes with two detachable cables, two adapters and an AAA battery. It's available now for $349.95 on the Audio-Technica website and at other retailers. Get the full details in the presser below.
Creative pumps out $99 HN-900 noise-canceling headphones
Fact: not everyone's willing to pay a premium to enhance their personal listening experience. Fortunately for those of you who like noise cancellation and a flush bank account, Creative's just taken the wraps off its $99 headset that'll do the trick. The HN-900 offers great features -- aside from the low price tag -- such as 40-hours of active noise canceling powered by some AAA juice (for the times when you feel like ignoring the world), 40mm Neodymium drivers, and a built-in microphone to help with making and answering calls, just to highlight a few. Naturally, with such a stout feature set and low price, the headphones are selling like hotcakes and are currently out of stock. That said, you can still head over to the source to check out the rest of the deets and be one of the first in line once the second batch hits Creative's virtual shelves.
Able Planet Clear Harmony headphones deliver top quality sound at a premium price (Updated)
One of the more widely-used accessories for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac is a set of headphones. Whether you're using that little headset that came with your iPhone or iPod touch, or you have moved up to another type of headphone, you know how important it is to be able to listen to your music or movies clearly. I recently had an opportunity to test a pair of Clear Harmony NC1100B noise canceling headphones (US$299.99), but be sure to look for the NC1100BA option that includes an 8 GB iPod touch at no extra cost) from Able Planet and found that they're outstanding for enjoying sound from any of your Apple devices. Updated: the Able Planet website no longer shows the free 8 GB iPod touch option. Updated: the free 8 GB iPod touch is back! Design As you might expect from the name, Able Planet builds audio products for people with all levels of hearing. According to the Able Planet website, their patented Linx Audio technology "creates high frequency harmonics that enhance sound quality and speech clarity of difficult to hear words or notes, and increase the perception of loudness without increasing volume." In layman's terms, you don't necessarily have to "turn the knob to 11" to be able to hear music or speech the way you want to. The company has won a bunch of awards at CES over the past five years for this technology, and it should be interesting to see if they continue that string of wins this week. When you open the box that these headphones come in, the first thing you see is a nice cloth-covered and zippered carrying case. Opening that case, you see the headphones, the cable, and adapters. The NC1100B comes with both 1/4" and 1/8" plugs for use with a variety of devices, and the plugs are all gold-plated. There's also a dual 1/4" adapter that works with most airline sound systems. The NC1100B headphones use an over-the-ear design that totally covers your ears. I'm partial to this type of headphone design, since earbuds have a tendency to fall out with movement and I can't stand the feel of in-the-ear designs. The padded headphones are quite comfortable, perfect for those long flights where you might want to watch a few movies and listen to some tunes. Noise canceling headphones require power, so the cap on the right ear "cup" slides off easily to accept two AAA batteries. The headphones weigh about 8.2 ounces with the batteries inserted, which is surprisingly less than the pair of custom V-Moda Crossfade headphones I usually use (9.6 ounces). Functionality I'll be the first to admit that I am usually a skeptic when it comes to claims of sound quality with high-end headphones. That's why I'm totally surprised with just how good these headphones sound. I listened to a wide cross-section of music in my iTunes library, from classic rock to classical, and for each selection I listened not only on the NC1100B 'phones, but also the V-Moda Crossfades. The NC1100B headphones also did a surprising job in getting rid of hiss and background noise in a number of older recordings that are in my collection (a lot of my tunes are older recordings -- hey, I'm an older person!). When I listened to music with the V-Moda Crossfades after listening to the same tune with the Able Planet headphones, the music just sounded muddy with a surprising amount of hiss. The NC1100B headphones made everything sound much cleaner, crisper and more "real" than any other headphones I've ever used. The noise cancellation capabilities are also impressive. In my office, I have a DroboPro that is constantly adding a level of white noise to the ambient sound. Turning the headphones on and off while sitting at my desk really showed me just how loud that noise is. As with other noise canceling headphones, the NC1100Bs don't totally eliminate background noise, but they do temper it to a tolerable level. My test here was to listen to music from my iPhone while standing next to a running washing machine and dryer, turning noise cancellation on and off. Again, I could still hear the background noise a bit with noise cancellation turned on, but the noise was largely filtered out. Since many TUAW readers may use headphones to listen to movies, I also watched several movies on my iPad while listening to the soundtrack with the NC1100B headphones. Once again, the sound quality was outstanding, especially in situations where there was a mixture of dialogue with background noises or music. One final note: years of listening to music has caused me to have a moderate level of tinnitus in my left ear which seems to be getting worse as I get older. With most headphones, I have to turn down the volume in order to listen without discomfort. The NC1100Bs are so distortion-free that I can listen to tunes at a lower volume while still picking up all the nuances of the music. Conclusion Considering the number of headphones I've tested over the years, I was totally surprised -- in a good way -- with the Able Planet Clear Harmony NC1100B headphones. As with all of the items that we review here at TUAW, these headphones will be given away to a reader at one of our meetups, but this is one situation where I'm going to personally spend my own money to pick up a pair. The sound quality is that good. While Able Planet certainly doesn't have the name recognition of Bose, V-Moda, Beats by Dr. Dre, or Skull Candy, the company should. The Able Planet Clear Harmony NC1100B headphones are my new gold standard for comparison to any other headphones on the market.
