noise-cancelling headphones

[MaryAnn]

I just picked up some JBL noise-cancelling headphones on sale at Costco. Brought them home, tried them out, and they don't appear to do anything at all. Good battery in them, switch on, etc. Plugged them into the stereo at low volume like they said to do, had better half talk to me, volume of his speech is no different with the switch on or off; ambient noise from air conditioner is same, on or off. I can hear an electronic beep when the switch goes on, little red light, yada yada.

Whass up? Anyone have a different experience? They're going back anyway because they are so damn tight they give me a headache, but what exactly is it they are supposed to do? Is this pair defective?

MA

[Rick F]

They may be defective if you hear no difference. There is supposed to be circuitry employed that takes samples (thru a small external mic) of the ambient noise and then inverts the phase so a lot of the noise will be canceled going to your ears.

CNET review and explanation:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3000_7-101 ... uote]First, tiny microphones, one on each earpiece, detect ambient noise before it gets to your ears. Then the noise-cancellation circuitry, usually housed in an external module, essentially inverts the captured signal, turning the noise's sound wave upside down. Before you know it, the noise-cancellation system adds the sonic opposite of the external noise to whatever you're listening to, thereby eliminating most of the pollution and leaving you with just your music.[/quote][/list]

[MikeMason]

I use the $50 sony ones available at Walmart.They work very well.I use them when i want to listen to classical music in the car.It really does make a big difference.I hear details i've never heard before in the music.I'm a fan,especially for listening in the car.

[TMurphy]

I use the $50 sony ones available at Walmart.They work very well.I use them when i want to listen to classical music in the car.It really does make a big difference.I hear details i've never heard before in the music.I'm a fan,especially for listening in the car.

Just to ease my (and I'm sure other people's) minds....please confirm that when you're using noise cancelling headphones in the car, you're NOT the one driving....

[MikeMason]

of course i'm the one driving.Please understand that the beauty of these headphones is that they cancel only "noise".you can still hear the world around you very well.In fact,you don't have to turn the volume up as loud to hear the same soft music which allows you to hear the world better and protects your hearing.I drive around 65-70k miles per year.I've been over 1,000,000 miles on the job with no accidents(2 deer,1 tree stump notwithstanding).Drivers have different skill levels.Use your own best judgement.

[EuphDad]

I just purchased a pair of the JBL noise cancelling headphones at Costco to replace my Sony ones that I've had to years. I like the response on the JBL better than Sony, less distortion in the bass, and the headphones are smaller. They claim to cancel 70% of ambiant noise. They worked just fine on the American Eagle flight I just took. You may have a defective pair.

[MaryAnn]

edit:

OK, I just put them on, turned them on, and started beating like all getout on a Remo Buffalo drum. I turned the switch on and off with my left hand while pounding on the drum in my lap with my right hand.

There is maybe a 10% to 20% noise level drop when the switch is turned on; I would not call this anything approaching the advertised 70%. I'd say the buffalo drum in the lap is a fair comparison, noise-wise, to being on a jet, for me.

Yes, if you're someone who likes to listen to music over headphones in noisy environments, these would be better for that particular application than non-noise cancelling headphones. However the term noise-cancelling appears to be advertising hype; they may be slightly noise-reducing, but to call them "cancelling" is a bunch of hooey. I don't know if the Bose ones work any better or not, and these JBLs do have a pretty nice sound quality, but I'll take them back, stick with my ear plugs, and go buy some over-ear, non-headache-inducing headphones for the applications I use headphones for, since the ones I have are wearing out.

Thanks for the commentary.

MA

[Mark]

I have the original version of the Bose headphones. The noise cancelling works pretty well, especially on airplanes. The sound quality for music listening is okay. If you didn't want the noise cancelling feature, then you could get better headphones for less money.

[MaryAnn]

Since we're morphing into studio headphone use: I use them the way bloke does. I want what I hear in the studio to be as much as possible like what I'd hear playing in the group that is recording, as it is recorded. What bloke said, pretty much. I haven't done any recording lately but have off and on over the years. Even home recordings require headphone use if you're going to multi-track them.

You can get some really amazingly good headphones from
http://www.hemi-sync.com/store/home.php?cat=31

However I sent those back too, despite the amazing clarity, because of the head-splitting pressure they put on. I don't know why headphone makers seem to think that you need an Inquisition level of tightness before you're going to want to wear their headphones; and they are never adjustable either....the metal strap has spring built into it that can't be changed. So I end up with cheap ones from Target or something.

MA

[Chuck(G)]

I did some recording editing recently, adjusting equalization, taking out sounds of the baby crying, etc. I used a good quality pair of headphones and was shocked by the way the music sounded when played back over speakers.

I redid the whole job using speakers to monitor my work and was much happier. I think that headphones can distort your focus on the sound too much--at least that seems to be the case for me.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?