2 posts tagged “noise cancelling”

This guy has the right idea when it comes to how to construct a cheap pair of noise-blocking headphones.

• These are NOT passive noise-canceling headphones, (or noise-canceling headphones of any kind, for that matter).  Noise-canceling headphones actual emit sounds 180 degrees out of phase with the noise they are picking up in order to cancel them out.  These headphones talked about here dampen all outside noise by muffling any external noise (noise-blocking).  Noise-canceling headphones usually let you hear people talking but block out constant drones - these would block out everything (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
  
• The quality of your headphones you're putting into the ear-protectors will determine how good your music sounds.  If you go with a cheap pair of headphones, you probably won't enjoy the end product.
• Not all ear protectors have removable ear-cups like this guy shows - make sure to test the pair you're planning to use before purchasing them.
• Unlike the noise-canceling headphones, this would require NO power to use.  However, they can get awful hot if you're covering up your ears with these.  The newer noise-canceling headphones try to take this into account and rest on the ears, rather than around the ears.

I've got a pair of Bose QuietComfort II headphones that I've had for about 5 years now.  I love them and wouldn't fly without them.  However, I could see myself modding a pair of headphones to have these as well for when I didn't want to worry about batteries, or for situations where I didn't want to bring along my expensive Bose headphones (e.g. mowing the lawn, going on a road trip, etc)

A few years back (February 2004 to be more specific) I bought a pair of the Bose QuietComfort 2 noise canceling headphones.  I was working in an office, and had recently been relegated to an area that had once been "closed" (i.e. cleared for Classified work) and had NO drop ceiling to protect against the general noise that came from the A/C, pumps, pipes, etc.  It was not overtly NOISY, but the background noise was oppressive.  I never got headaches or anything, but I started to get stressed and felt tense all through the day.  After reading some things online that seemed to indicate this happened to people that flew a lot, I realized that this background noise filling my eardrums all day long was similar in nature to that experienced on an airplane flight, and decided to give the Bose headphones a try.

I borrowed a pair from someone at work and was amazed at the change these headphones made.  Not only was the dull roar quieted to a whisper, but I could listen to music on them and the sound quality was GOOD.  I guess you'd expect that from Bose, but it was still a surprise.

I immediately bought a pair, grimacing at the $300 price tag, but talking myself into the purchase with the reasoning that $300 was a small price to pay for my sanity.  Yes, I could have spent $5 on some earplugs, but then I would have been without music, and that also could have been a quick route to the funny-farm for me.

The headphones lasted me faithfully for 1.5 years, pumping out the tunes while blocking out the noise for up to 60-70 hours on a single AAA battery.  I bought a rechargeable battery kit for my digital camera and was able to charge my batteries for the headphones on it too.  I recommended them to everyone I knew with glowing praise, letting them all try out the miraculous noise reduction capabilities and great sound quality.

Then, the earpiece broke.  The plastic that held the earcup to the head-band cracked and snapped when I took them off my head one day.  There was no prior indication, no warning, just a pop and I had a 2-piece headphone set.  I was naturally perturbed, having expected a $300 set of headphones to last longer than this.

I called up Bose and explained my problem.  They had my product registration on file, and assured me that they would replace the headphones at no cost to me - they gave me a UPS label to paste on a box and send the headphones back to them, and about 2 weeks after they received them, I had a brand new pair of Quiet Comfort 2 headphones in my hands (for some reason, the shoulder strap didn't come with this pair, but everything else was the same).

This new pair was just as nice, and now I was able to recommend the company for both the product AND customer service.  I remained a convert.

Old and Busted...again

Today, the new pair of headphones broke...in the same place.  If you're counting, this is about 1.5 years after the last pair they sent me.  Seems to be the lifespan of a pair of headphones.

So I got on the phone this morning and called Bose again.  Surprisingly, their excellent customer service has not changed one bit since I last called them.  I got a tech support guy on the phone almost immediately (American, I believe), and they were again willing to exchange the headphones at no cost.  This time I have to pay for the return shipping, which I am happy to do as a tradeoff for the replacement headphones.  

I expect to get my new headphones in about 2.5 weeks.  I know there are people out there that scoff at paying $300 for headphones, even if they are the noise canceling kind, but I doubt that Sony or Panasonic would be willing to exchange their $90-150 headphones for a new pair (not once but TWICE).  All in all, I think I've got my money's worth out of these headphones.  My only question now is whether this next pair will also last a year and a half.  I'll keep an eye out for this, but in the meantime I can rest easy knowing that Bose really does stand behind their products 100% (or even 200%), and hopefully will for years to come.