Sony MDR-NC40 Noise-Canceling Headphone

I travel a great deal and have a drawer full of noise canceling headphones by Panasonic, Kensington, JVC and Sony. Each had limitations -- not enough high end, poor construction, poor noise reduction, or in the case of lesser Sony's I bought several months ago, pretty good sound, but rather inadequate ear cups and poor portability (they wouldn't fold up to occupy as little as possible space in my briefcase.)Always worried about losing or damaging something while traveling I did not go for the full kahuna and buy Bose.

So, having seen these around some local shops and taken a listen I bought the NC40 and immediately took them on a trip.

By and large they are fine. When turned on (don't even try to listen to them when off) the sound is rich and clean; lovely base and good high end, which is important to my tired ole ears. Plenty of mid-range. Nice volume. I'm not sure they are world beaters in terms of overall noise reduction, but they certainly take the edge off and from my same old seat near the rear of a Southwest jet, they provide a relaxing and easy to take listening experience. One WANTS to use this extremely comfortable headset, whether noise reduction is needed or not. I hear things I didn't know my MP3 decoder put in a file. Oh, I listen mainly to jazz and classical music.

Oh yes, they fold up neatly and I like the on-off switch/battery holder, which lives by itself on the connecting line and has an override button that works beautifully.

As a frequent business traveler, I was looking for some noise canceling headphones but did not want to spend the chunk of change on Bose. After reading some of the reviews on these Sony's here and other places, I decided to give them a shot. I'm glad I did! Now, I'm no audiophile, nor do I have much to compare these to from a noise canceling perspective, but they do their job well. Yes, you have to have them turned on for them to sound decent, but the battery life seems very good. I've made 3 trips to China and a few domestic trips with the original battery still in them. Probably 60 hours conservatively (I only use them on the planes). I can keep them on for a 13 hour flight with out any discomfort, and I am very pleased with the degree of noise canceling.

The Sony MDR-NC40 is ok, when it is turned on. When the power is off, it sounds horrendous. I thought it might be the EQ settings of my MP3 player, but these headphones, when it is turned off, sounds awful no matter what it is plugged into. The power switch activates the noise cancellation feature, but it is also needed for sound quality.

When the power is on, it truly comes alive! It produces deep bass and clear treble. I heard instruments being played in certain R&B songs that I haven't heard before with my cheaper Sony headphones. If these headphones did not have noise cancellation, it would still be worth the price for its sound quality.

These are the first pair of headphones I own that have noise cancellation, so I'm not a good critic to judge the feature. What I can say is that it works, and it works really well. When the headphone is one on, it will greatly reduce a lot of noise. I use it whenever I ride public transit, and now I can read or do whatever without getting distracted. The noise cancellation will not block out conversations; it will just "muffle" it. These headphones are designed to fit on the ear and, before I bought it, I was worried that my ears would be in pain after using it for a few hours. Fortunately, I was really surprised at how comfortable it fits. I wear these headphones when I watch movies, when playing my video games, and everywhere else when I'm listing to music. Not once have I ever felt uncomfortable and needed to take a break because of the fit. If it gives you a better image, I wear 7 ½ sized caps, and these headphones are perfect for my head.

Pros:
- Sound quality is exceptionally good for the price.
- Noise cancellation is great.

Cons:
- Sound quality relies on the power being on, so be prepared to have working AAA battery whenever you use the headphones. This should have been stated on the package.

I like Sony products, but this one wasn't up to expectations. It is very good in terms of noise canceling, but it is not comfortable and it usually cause me headaches.

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