Audio-Technica ATH ANC23 QuietPoint – Headphones ( in-ear ear-bud ) – active noise canceling – black
- Ultra-compact in-ear design is ideal for travel
- Advanced electronics cancel up to 85% (20 dB) of background noise
- Innovative ANC circuitry delivers an exceptionally pure audio signal in noise-cancelling mode
- Ideal for use with all audio sources, including MP3 & other portable players
- Soft interchangeable ear pieces (small, medium & large) provide a custom fit
Audio Technica Ath-Anc3Bk Active Noise-Canceling In-Ear HeadphonesAudio-Technica's ATH-ANC3 QuietPoint Active Noise-Cancelling In-Ear Headphones reduce distracting background noise by 85% while offering the superior sound that makes Audio-Technica a world-leading pro audio company. Engineered to create a comfortable listening environment in areas with high ambient noise, these in-ear headphones feature a miniature microphone in each earpiece that picks up ambient noise (such as traffic, air-hand
List Price: $ 169.95
Price: $ 43.95
Excellent noise isolation and cancelling – especially for bass response and clarity,
Update 12/Dec/2010 – Still going strong after about 200K miles of travel
I bought these to use with my faithful iPod which is full of music extending from:
* House, Electro, Techno (minus, Trapez, Traum Records etc), requiring a decent and tight bass response and good crisp uppers for all those 808/909 kicks and bass lines and tight hi hats
* Classical to new and old Heavy Metal (Gustav Mahler to Iron Maiden
* Indie/rock/acoustic (e.g. The Eels, 1980′s Ska bands, Punk)
* Abstract electronics (Venetian Snares, Luke Vibert, AFX, Mr 76 etc – lots of Warp records stuff)
I’m also a DJ and musician, so have experience with a wide variety of listening conditions, studio monitors, studio headphones, and my faithful Sony MDR-V700 cans when mixing vinyl techno/house. I’m also VERY careful with my ears and use custom fitted earpieces for sound management at gigs and shows.
I travel quite extensively so what I wanted was:
1. Earphones that are comfortable
2. Excellent noise suppression – block general noise – people coughing, babies crying, annoying people chatting whilst standing near your seat on the plane etc.
3. Excellent noise cancellation
4. Excellent dynamic range given the spectrum of my listening library
5. Not over the top pricing
6. Good enough to not need extra amplifier to get a decent dynamic range (like some of my Koss Studio Headphones)
7. No fatigue both physical and due to the characteristics of the drivers – too ‘brittle’ a high end and its over after 30 minutes – think cheap JBL monitors crushing the mids and highs into a distorted mush. I can’t stand that. Since noise canceling is an acoustic process, it was important that this didn’t mush up my choons
8. Sturdiness – nothing worse than a cable getting snared and having to “tie” it to get a proper contact. Nooooo !
I’ve had quite a few different pairs of noise canceling phones in the past – the very early Philips over the ear ones (both two recent models which i was quite happy with) being the ones I’d settled on and used for about 5 years due to value and meeting most of the above. However, since one of my two pairs plastic broke – they were about 5 years old and used heavily, and I was not too happy about the need to drive them quite hard from my 80G 5G iPod to get a decent level which also meant that it introduced a bit of distortion – the iPod amp isnt actually that great by the way – I decided to look at some other options including Sennheiser top of the range, Bose QC range, the current Philips as well as Etymotic and Shure passive noise canceling. I was prepared to invest in something decent up to $400.
Anyhow, after much research and trying a few out my conclusions were:
* the Bose models were nice, but hugely over the top in price given their performance – especially whilst they did well in noise canceling, this appeared to be at the expense of phase alignment and actually changing the EQ spectrum quite vividly. Sounds were good but it sounded like a kind of flattening effect across the mids which for my music which in the main tends to be somewhat “V” in EQ was a bit odd sounding. I just felt given the price it should have been much better.
* Sennheiser – excellent all round but could not help feeling way too expensive (and a bit bulky)
* The Philips models were the same as my old ones – still perfectly serviceable but still a little lacking and needing driving a little hard – but can be had for pretty low dollars
* The Audio Technica just stood way above the rest on the price/sound quality/value/curve. The downsides are slight and similar to all the others anyhow: Yes, as with ANY noise canceling headphones since we are dealing with an acoustic process by which sound waves of any reasonable magnitude arriving at the earpiece in the range say up to 1500 Hz (aircraft engine noise, train noise, most conversations) are rapidly inverted and “played” into the earpiece at a level to actively cancel out anything arriving at your eardrum – more or less – there are bound to be acoustic artifacts and changes in EQ spectrum/Phase and so on.
However the AT’s were much nicer in this regard. Couple this with the nice rubber noise isolation buds (use the largest you can to block noise and have them slot nicely into your ear canal), pressing the “NC on” button is pure bliss. One thing I did note- if you connect them to nothing and use them, you will “hear” the noise canceling process – but this is eliminated when the music is created or if you are in even a slightly noisy environment (e.g. bar, cafe, restaurant, shop).
So, I actually ended up buying both the in-ear buds listed here since they are so compact and hugely effective for creating my own silent or music filled world on trains and planes, as well as the…
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|Meet my needs,
I travel constantly (40+ weeks/year) and have owned Sony over the ear noise canceling headphones for a couple of years. I finally quit carrying them with me due to limited space available in my computer bag, ear fatigue from the noise canceling, and feedback when you tried to lean your head against a pillow on a long flight (which isn’t possible to do comfortably with the over the ear design anyway).
For a few weeks I used the ear buds from my Creative Zen and while they were convenient, the didn’t fit well, so music quality was poor. I also missed having the active noise canceling and had to have the volume up pretty high to hear the music over everything.
I chose the Audio Technica ATH-ANC3 headphones before there were any reviews on Amazon, but based my decision on the reviews for their active noise canceling headphones and ear buds.
When I first received them, I fitted what I thought would be the proper ear pieces and was less than impressed with the noise canceling. I ended up using the largest ear pieces and seating them all the way into my ears to make a tight seal and the noise canceling was outstanding. Getting a good seal on both ears is the key to music quality as well as noise canceling.
The audio quality is brighter than the Sony’s I had been using. They do have less bass than I was used to hearing, but I was able to hear the upper end of music (i.e. cymbals, etc.) at very reasonable listening levels (1/2 volume or so). Compared to the ATH-ANC3′s, the old phones sound murky to me.
I don’t feel any ear fatigue and haven’t had any feed back, even when using a pillow. The case is just about the size of an eye glass case, so there isn’t any issue finding a spot for it in my computer bag. It has plenty of room for the phones, airline adapter, extra battery and my Creative Zen. The case stashes in the seat back pocket on the airplane until time to put everything away. Battery life probably is on the order of 40 hours or more.
The electronics module is small, but reduces the convenience of the in the ear design. The most convenient arrangement for me is to put the MP3 player in a shirt pocket and clip the module to the top of the pocket. The electronics module is heavy enough that you’ll want to clip it to something.
I pulled them out and compared them with the QCII’s at the Bose kiosk in the Denver airport a few weeks ago and didn’t leave feeling I had inferior headphones.
Highly recommended.
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