[speedy.steve]

I was at the Bristol HiFi show today - won't bore you with any of the big stuff...
I've been thinking of a pair of AHT-ANC7's and lo and behold there they were on show offer at £100.

There were a couple of cute girls wandering around demo'ing (blonde and Brunette).
Good level of back ground babble noise to try them against. Pretty impressive.

I had just tried the Sennheiser PXC450's and they were very good but at £239 and not very portable hmm...

Anyway I tried my N82 as source and it was better than their MP3 players.

Bought a pair - made the train journey home fly by (shame the brunette didn't come with them)... Good amount of noise cancelling of stuff like the air con. I imagine they would work very well on a plane.

Only sound good with the noise canceling on.

I find them quite comfortable.
The 3.5mm jack plug in to the phone in an excellent idea indeed.
Nice build qual too.
They do leak a bit of noise but at the vol levels I use them this won't disturb anyone on the train, in fact you don't need them as loud to drown out the background noise.

Sound better than ES7's I've got in my book.
Not as lazy or as full range as my HD-650's yet - lets see what some burn in does.

 

[donunus]

better sounding than es7s? how do they compare bass/mis/highs, soundstage, timbre, dynamics, speed, etc

 

[speedy.steve]

They sound fuller, marginally more musical on some stuff, features I like. Speed, not sure. There's not much in it though. I have not had either of them very long. so will give them some time.

 

[AgainstTheGrain]

now here is a topic where i can actually give advice.

it is my job to sell these exact headphones. being that i work in the airport we have tones of noise canceling headphones. not Bose but i have tried them personally.

the audio technicas are great. one of our best sellers. but they DO leak noise no matter who's head their on. it's not that big but the higher the volume then obviously the more noise they leak.

this is not the case with the sennheisers pxc350 and 450. but those things are freakin huge. i sell both of them as well. along with able planet, sony, etc.

the audio techs have better highs and mids than the bose. the Bose has them beat in the bass department. but the bass in the Bose doesn't sound natural. it sounds boated and inflated for no reason.

i have to compare these at work all the time to Bose and its so annoying that people have such bias opinions about Bose some people just laugh off when i tell them that THESE ARE BETTER THAN BOSE without even giving them a listen.

every time that someone has listened to Bose and then Audio technicas there is no contest. The audio techs win every time.

my friend uses them when he is walking around the house and trust me if you listen to them at a good volume then u won't hear other people around you at all.

i say go for it. my job sells them for $219.99 which is MSRP so to get them at $125 is indeed a bargain.

Your mom won't be disappointed. Hope this helps. any questions just PM me.

 

[AgainstTheGrain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree, noise cancellation for planes and trains, and use portable closed cans for everything else. That said, the ANC7's are great for NC headphones, better than the PXC450 and QC2 (both of which I tried).

i agree with skylab here. except a cool feature about the PXC450 is they have a button which when you press it you can hear a person talking to you through the headphones much like the Shure's Push to Hear device but the PXC450 has it built in. The PXC 350 don't have this feature but they both have volume control. the PXC 450 has the volume control on the actual headphone where as the PXC 350 has a regular on on the cable.

i believe that both sennheisers cancel more noise then the audio techs and dont leak sound at all but the audio techs has better overall sound quality.

also all of these work without batteries...something the Bose does not do.

 

[Skylab]

While Sennheiser may have corrected this, at least when the PXC450's first came out, engaging the NC circuit caused almost all the bass to vanish. They were totally unacceptable in this regard.

 

[Whawazzat]

I have a pair of ATH NC7 mainly for traveling and they are wonderful on flights. However, I find that if I use it in a quiet environment, eg home or office, there is a perceptible buzz or rustling noise when the NC circuit is on. I returned the first pair thinking it was faulty, but the next pair was the same. It is so soft that it is not audible on flights, or even in airports. You could use it with the NC circuit off but that deteriorates the performance considerably, with the highs and mids sounding muddy. Unless there are serious noise issues at work, I don't see them as being a big advantage over just closed headphones or canal phones.

Pardon me for saying this, but depending on your mother's age, she may not be able to hear the buzzing noise anyway so it may not be an issue.

 

[AgainstTheGrain]

i find it weird that noise canceling headphones are all pretty high Ohms.

i believe the audio techs are around 300 Ohms. i assume this would explain why they sound so bad with the noise canceling off through an ipod.

i'm gonna do an experiment and try a set at work with my headsix to see if the performance is improved. with the noise canceling off of course.

 

[speedy.steve]

Most phones are around 300 ohm. My N82 will drive my HD-650s, or ES7's quite happily - so why not the ANC7's?

They just sound right with the noise cancelling on IMO.

I have not found the sound to be as good with the ANC7's on my main H/Phone rig (amp T&W J1 or Little Dot2++), with the noise cancelling off so I don't think it is an impedence issue.

 

[jm5]

Just a quick update:

I have recently taken delivery of a set of ANC7 and I have a few comments to make on them:-

1. I was previously concerned that they may not fit my ears - no problems, they fit fine and are quite comfortable. Although, I haven't worn them for several hours at a time yet.

2. I was concerned about the reported sound leakage from them. This is true. There is a reasonable amount of leakage to the outside world when they are being used "at a not very high volume". However, as far as my usage is concerned, I will be using them mainly in very noisy environments, so some leakage won't pose a problem for me.

3. There have been some reports of buzzing in one or both ears when the NC is switched on. I experienced this in my right ear, which was very annoying - HOWEVER, I discivered that when I moved away from my PC and other electronic equipment (only by a couple of feet), the buzzing went away. So I suspect the buzzing is being caused by some very local interference. Again, no problem for me.

4. Overall, I am very happy with these headphones. I have yet to give them a long term test for comfort and battery life, but I am optimistic. I will be doing quite a lot of flying over the coming months, so that will be a good test for me.

If my optimistic feelings are not justified after a period of regular usage, I will post again with updated thoughts.

Thanks for all your comments.

 

[speedy.steve]

My update after a couple of weeks use on the train...

1. Most ear-bud users look enviously when you put them on.
2. Sound quality with my Nokia N82 as MP3 player is quite acceptable / good depending on the MP3 track.
3. I get some GSM mobile / cell phone interference - usually about 4 bursts in 30 mins on the train. I am still studying this but it seems to be pretty much at the same place on the journey. Could it be GSM or 3G basestation proximity or even the Tetra (train comms system) causing it? - Doesn't really seem to be connected to others on the phone or txt'ing. As said, more study needed.
4. I have to be careful not to fall asleep to relaxing music and miss my station (on the homeward journey).
5. Batt life is very good. I've used them for at least 0.5 hr per day for 2-3wks now and the 1st batt is still going strong.

I was sitting right next to several folk all using their mobiles and txt'ing - little / no interference. I therefore think the interference is more likely the phone (as an MP3 player) doing it's location updating as it moves from cell to cell - aha I can confirm this by turning on the cell id info... must try that tomorrow.
Or turn off GSM / UMTS dual mode & just use UMTS and see if that helps.

 

[speedy.steve]

ok tried turning my phone (N82) to UMTS only mod yesterday - guess what!
Nearly ALL of the annoying GSM style interference is GONE!
I only picked up a very small amount presumably from a nearby passenger using their phone - none of the as loud as the music 4-5 bursts that I got before.
Sorted!
If you use your noise cancellers on the train, try turning off your own phone before you blame others for their phones

!