Sony MDR-NC50 Noise Canceling Headphones
by Sony
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List Price: Our Price: $150.00 You Save: $49.99 (25%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony MDR-NC50 Noise Canceling Headphones
Customer Review: I Love This!
Summary: 5 Stars
My greatest pair of headphones! First the pros. Extremely rich sound, the sound separation is excellent; there is a very rich and natural bass too; not the pounding type of bass you get from those in-ear type earphones. Try this with Madonna's "Holiday" or Toto's "Africa", or some classical piece, you will hear every instrument. I am also saying this partly because it is so much more affordable than BOSE's quietcomfort 2 & 3, half the price! Ok, the cons now. First, they are over the ear type and thus they are really huge and bulky (but it has a decent travel pouch). You must use the noise canceling function, otherwise, my $30 MDR71 can beat this giant flat in terms of sound quality; so if you are using NC50 for your long flights, make sure you have a spare AAA battery for the headset (yes, NC headphones need extra battery for the headset). Also, there is a subtle buzz sound once the noise canceling sound kicks in, may not be that bad if your source is clear. Lastly, this headset needs to be driven hard to perform, meaning, the vol on your MP3 will have to be turned on really loud. In fact, I bought a new MP3 player just to optimize this headphones... I am not sure if the IPODS can drive this giant, can anyone care to advice? Customer Review: Guyon
Summary: 4 Stars
These fit nice and snug over your ears and have good sound quality. The only problem I had was when flying there is a slight humming when you turn your head which is anoying. I have learned how to hold my head not to get the humming. Other than that they are great.Customer Review: Satisfied custumer
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not a big Sony fan, but this is a good product.I can listen to my ipod while cutting the grass at 60% volume. I have a 25hp diesel lawn mower and I was amazed Customer Review: I wouldn't say I love them, but they are good
Summary: 4 Stars
I just got these headphones for use on a long trip. Here is my 2 cents...
I used these headphones during an 11 hour flight to Europe, plus a 2 hour flight within Europe - and then again on my return trip - flying the same route in reverse. My 11 hour flights were on a 747 and my 2 hour flights were on a small jet.
I must say that I'm glad I got noise-canceling headphones. And for the price, I'm happy with these Sony ones. I did have a chance to try the Bose QC2 before deciding to go with Sony due to price. I tried the Bose and Sony's in various noisy places at work, and my opinion is that the Bose were noticeably quieter. Since I didn't try the Bose on a plane, I guess I can't say without a doubt that the Bose would be better in that environment. Still, I find it hard to believe some of the reviews that say the Sonys are just as good as the Bose.
I found that the Sony's eliminated a good amount of noise. For comparison, I took them off and plugged my ears with my fingers and thought it was about the same. That is, I could definitely still hear background noise. It's not like I was sitting in silence (like I hoped). I was actually a little disappointed at first by this, but eventually I came around. I realized it's probably unrealistic to expect all the noise to be eliminated. And after a few hours of flying, when I took the headphones off for a minute, that's when I noticed how loud the plane actually was. Also, probably the most convincing thing was that I was able to comfortably watch the in-flight movie with the arm rest control set to the absolute lowest volume. At times, I really did forget about the background hum of the plane.
Some more things worth mentioning:
-on the first 11 hour flight, after about 7 hours, my head started hurting due to the pressure in front of my ear and I needed to take a break. I later realized that I could pivot the ear cups such that they fit better. It's hard to describe except to say that long term comfort definitely depends on getting the right position. On my return flight, with a little diligence, I was able to wear them the whole 11 hours without irritation.
-I did find it annoying at times, the space they took up in my carry on bag. They definitely aren't compact.
-I found the monitor button pretty useless
-I used them in passive mode just as regular headphones and I thought the sound quality was pretty good. I would use these as regular headphones.
-I never had any of the wailing that some people complain about
-one battery lasted my whole trip
In conclusion, I'm now a definite believer in combating noise on planes. Whether you like noise canceling, noise isolating, etc, etc can be debated. But I'm convinced that I felt better after an 11 hour flight than I have after a 7 hour flight without any ear protection. Even though you get accustomed to the noise without protection, I really think it takes its toll on you after a few hours.
Customer Review: very nice
Summary: 5 Stars
Great sound, great insulation of outside noise. The active noise cancellation itself isnt very impressive, but the insulation alone makes this irrelevant.