Working from home, walking on the street or traveling are moments that, if you are reading this article, you cannot conceive of doing without good headphones to listen to music and isolate yourself from the outside world. Today I want to talk to you about the fundamental characteristic that these gadgets must have, active noise cancellation . Don’t you know what I’m talking about? Don’t worry, read on and discover 5 fantastic proposals that enjoy this feature.
Why do you need noise cancellation?
Active noise cancellation is a detail that has been in vogue for several years now in almost any type of earphone you can imagine. It is defined as “a system that allows you to cancel unwanted noise” and gives us certain benefits such as:
- Greater concentration if we work in noisy environments.
- Not hearing engine noise while traveling on a train or plane, for example.
- To be able to better listen to the sound of music while we are walking on the street.
And this is just three of the many benefits that a headset that incorporates this type of technology can bring you because, extrapolating the idea of “noise cancellation”, we can apply it to many other situations or scenarios in which you want external noise not to did I annoy you.
Still don’t understand how this cancellation works? I explain it in more detail.
How does headphone noise cancellation work?
Without going into too many technicalities, let’s go by parts so that you can understand this concept well.
The sound is made up of waves that, depending on where they come from or the intensity with which they are emitted, will have a completely different frequency or one that can be positive or negative. So far everything is easy to understand.
Noise-canceling headphones have at least two microphones capable of picking up and differentiating between ambient sound (the sound emitted by everything around us) and, for example, our own voice. Once they have fully identified the ambient noise, they invert the wave of this sound and add it to the one we hear through our headphones. What’s the score? By overlapping the ambient noise picked up and processed by the microphones with the one that we are hearing through our ears, what is known as wave superposition occurs and, therefore, the ambient noise is “canceled”.
Here is a video that explains the process of canceling ambient noise and will help you understand it more visually and didactically:
What to consider when buying noise canceling headphones?
But of course, in addition to the cancellation of ambient noise, there are other details to take into account when choosing good headphones. The main aspects to consider are:
- Headphone type : there are different types of headphones with active noise cancellation, but the main ones are either headband type or so – called in-ear (“inside the ear”). Depending on the use that you are going to give it, you will need one or the other and, as you imagine, each one has its good and bad parts. While the headband ones give greater cancellation and sound quality, the in-ear type are easier to transport due to their size and tend to respond much better for sports uses.
- Materials of construction and pad: there are different types of materials used both for the exterior of the headphones and for the construction of its internal components. However, where you will notice the biggest difference (if you are not a music lover) is in the quality of the construction of the pad, if you use headband headphones.
- Sound quality: here we enter a somewhat subjective terrain where you should be guided by your own tastes and sensations. There are those who like sound with higher bass, others who enjoy a flatter sound and, of course, there are those who do not care too much about this section because they prefer extreme cancellation over better sound quality.
- Autonomy: If you need your headphones to be wireless, this is a key detail to keep in mind. As a tip I can tell you that the higher the volume at which you play music and the more powerful the sound cancellation, the higher the battery consumption.
- Connectivity: in addition to the cable connection, there are other types of connectivity to take into account such as Bluetooth or NFC, which allows us to synchronize any other device that has this technology just by bringing the headphones closer to it.
Top 5 Noise Canceling Headphones
Having clarified everything about sound cancellation and the details to consider when choosing a good sound-canceling headphone, I want to show you five of the best headband headphones, which are the ones with the highest cancellation and sound quality, and that you should take into account if you are looking for some.
Bose 700
They are positioned as one of the best sound-canceling headphones on the market. In addition, they offer touch controls and are quite stylish and attractive in design . If you want to know more about them, remember that we did a complete review of the Bose 700 headphones a while ago.
Sony 1000XM3
This is the third generation of Sony‘s well-known WH-1000 XM range. This time they improve the noise cancellation of the previous model, placing it among one of the best headphones on the market with this feature (and a fantastic quality / price balance ). In addition, the weight has also been reduced, the design has been refined and, after having tried them, we can tell you that the Sony 1000XM3 are one of the most comfortable headphones we have used.
Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 3
One of the latest additions to the Sennheiser catalog, with quite good noise cancellation, a different design than the rest and a very good sound quality. Its biggest “negative” point is that they are the most expensive option of all the ones that I show you in this article without that assuming a proportional jump in sound quality.
Jabra Elite 85H
We are now moving to somewhat cheaper options, but which of course continue to maintain a perfect price / quality ratio. These Jabra have a good noise cancellation system, a fairly correct sound quality and, in addition to being very comfortable, they have a very striking design with a very particular and attractive finish.
Sony WH-XB900N
Finally, Sony have this option that, although it is perhaps the least attractive- and aesthetically know, this is already a matter of tastes- and possessing a more discreet construction materials (compared to the rest), its price is also the Cheaper , standing below 200 euros. A great entry point if you’re looking for an option that doesn’t choke your wallet too much. .
Which of these proposals do you keep? Do you use some noise-canceling headphones that deserve to be on this list?
