Sony MDR-NC6 Consumer Headphones

After nearly a year of travel-free employment, things have changed in a big way for me, and I'll be logging over 30,000 air miles in two months.

I've never been one of those effete air travelers who bring along their pillow, Evian water, eyeshades, homemade baked goods, and footie pajamas to ease the intolerable burden of sitting on their ass for a few hours, and I've always sort of snickered at such folks as complete sissies. But my current travel schedule includes several flights of over 10 hours' duration - and my previous experience in such lengthy connections is that I hit the wall at around 6-7 hours and start seriously thinking about punching open a window with my elbow, or opening the emergency over-wing exit door to get a breath of fresh air. Therefore, I decided to consider the purchase of anything (up to and including illegal drugs) to make these long flights more tolerable.

On a recent flight from the west coast to Washington DC, my gadget-loving boss brought along his Bose Noise Canceling headphones - these are the ones you see frequently advertised in glitzy catalogs, but I'd never seen a pair in actual use. While we were idling at the gate, he let me borrow them for a moment: I put on the cushy, comfy muff-type headphones and waited a moment before flipping the switch that activates the noise cancellation technology.

Of course, simply wearing something over my ears had a muffling effect on the ambient noise of jet engines, numerous conversations, the clatter of luggage, and so forth - then again, so would stuffing my fingers in my ears. However, when I turned the headphones on, it was amazing: suddenly, I was surrounded in... silence. Not that bizarre, head-in-a-box noise reduction you get from wearing earplugs - I hate listening to my own breathing, the thumping of my heart, and so forth. Wearing the Bose headphones, I experienced true, utter stillness.

What a revelation.

As my boss put it, wearing these headphones takes a couple of hours off a coast-to-coast flight. Then I made the unforgivable mistake of asking how much the headphones cost. Three hundred dollars. It was like taking a test drive in a Ferrari - do I really want to know what I'm missing, driving my ten year old Subaru? Nope, not that much.

However, I couldn't get the notion out of my mind, so I did some investigating, and soon discovered that the Bose headphones are simultaneously the most highly-rated and the highest-priced headphones out there which purport to reduce ambient noise. I did quite a bit of research and discovered that there are several competing models which, although not quite as good as the Bose headphones, sell for a fraction of the price. I settled on the Sony MDR-NC6 headphones, available from Amazon.com for $31.99, or about 10% of the cost of the Bose headphones.

One notion that we should immediately dispel: there are no headphones made that cancel all external noise - if you want total silence, you'll have to go deaf. Noise cancellation technology eliminates low-frequency, continuous (what they refer to as "solid-state") noise - things like the roar of jet engines, the thrum of freeway noise, HVAC howl, that sort of thing. Alas, neither these nor any other headphones are going to magically negate the sounds of that wretched, squawling baby in the seat behind you. However, my experience thus far is that my headphones confer enough noise reduction that I am more relaxed and mellow about the inevitable noise that does creep through.

If you're like me, you probably have a bit of a "gee whiz" sense of wonderment about these things. How the hell do they do it? Frankly, I dunno, but the headphones somehow sense external noise and set up an opposing signal to the earpieces, thus eliminating one's perception of that sound. It's wacky.

A few subjective observations about the whole technology:

- There's a brief, but perceptible feeling of "pressure" on the ears when the noise cancellation kicks in. It's not unpleasant, and indeed seems to enhance the overall sense of insulation from external noises.

- I'm not an audiophile, but these headphones produce brighter, clearer audio sounds than I've ever experienced with standard headphones. However, they also amplify audio signals a bit more than I sometimes like. I wanted to listen to background music on the plane's audio system and was unable to dial down the volume sufficiently - even at the lowest volume setting, it seemed too loud. Conversely, I enjoyed using the headphones to watch the movie - sound was much clearer and easier to understand than is my typical experience with the airline-supplied headset.

- Like anything made of synthetic materials, the headphones are a bit uncomfortable to wear for prolonged periods. My ears got sweaty.

A few other factoids about the headphones:

- Noise cancellation technology is powered by one AAA battery, which is supposed to last for 30 hours of continuous use. Note that the headphones will work in a standard mode without battery power - something that is not the case with the high-priced Bose model.

- Noise cancellation is invoked via a small toggle switch on the back of the right earpiece. A red LED signal indicates if the headphones are powered on.

- The product package includes the headphones, a storage bag, and a two-prong dual airline power adapter. Headphones swivel 90 degrees to flatten into a relatively compact package for transport.

Conclusion:
I've used these headphones for two round trip flights to China - a total of over 48 hours of flying time - and I am thoroughly pleased with their performance. It's a completely subjective thing, but I do feel as though the ability to periodically minimize the auditory overload does indeed ease the stress of a plane trip. I wouldn't feel the need to bring these on a relatively short trip, but they will be mandatory carryon for any of my longer flights.

Sigh. I'm turning into a wimp. Next thing you know, I'll be hauling along my blankie.