Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have used active noise canceling (ANC) headphones for many years and I have come to expect - and look for - the subtle differences between them. I have worked with ANC phones from Bose, Sennheiser, Monster, Noontec and quite a few more. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses. This is my first experience with Sony ANC phones, and I anticipated good ANC functionality and a solid sound profile. At the price point ($300 as I write this) they need to be excellent to be worth any kind of consideration. These were a huge shock to me: the ANC is nearly on par with Bose and the sound profile is solid, giving better results than I imagined. I will address the ANC function first, then the sound profile, and afterward I will discuss design and features. I apologize ahead of time for being long-winded, but I’d rather give too much feedback than not enough. The ANC function is, in a single word, outstanding. Bose is the standard by which I compare others and very, very few headphones get anywhere near the same level of noise cancellation as my Bose sets (QC-15 and QC-20i, by the way). Those that get close usually have the same weird pressure sensation for which Bose is known. My primary test is a loud fan that I use for generating white noise when I want to drown out everything around me at night. I turned the fan on high speed, plugged the Sony’s buds into my ears and turned them on. I put them in ANC mode and the fan all but disappeared. All that remained of the noise was a faint, higher-frequency hiss (distinct from the ANC hiss which I will explain later). Of all the phones I have used, this set and the Bose are the only ones to wipe out that much noise. I also went into the bathroom and turned on the ventilation fan to test, and these phones again wiped out a large majority of the fan noise. For this fan, the Bose sets have a very slight edge but you have to be looking for it to notice. The main difference between the Bose sets and these is the utter lack of that weird pressure sensation with these. If you don’t like that sensation but you want very high ANC, these are simply excellent. Like a lot of ANC phones, these generate a faint hiss that you really won’t notice unless you’re not feeding any sound at all to them and you’re listening for it. The sound profile is also quite solid. Usually with ANC phones, because of the cancellation of certain bandwidths the phones compensate by twiddling the sound profile to fill in what was dropped, and usually this means overcompensation in the bass range (if you use Dre Beats, you know exactly what I mean). Heavy bass gives me headaches so I avoid headphones where the bass has been given too much boost. With these, Sony did not overdrive the bass at all but it’s still very solid and full - love it. The midrange is very warm and rich and music has the right depth. The highs are very bright and clear but not piercing. Overall, I am very pleased with the sound profile - not audiophile quality but closer than most. In terms of design, these are a wireless earbud product with a neck harness. So, these are neither on-ear or over-ear phones. The harness and slack but adjustable wiring to the actual earbuds ensures that they can be set up so they won’t tug or pull when you’re working out, running or otherwise doing physical activity. Being wireless, there’s no cord to tangle up either. And, one size really does fit all which is a problem with some regular phones. The neck assembly has a leatherette padding that is soft and will not chafe. The Bluetooth functionality works great. I paired these to my phone and they paired and connected in less than 5 seconds which is really all I could ask. After a full power-off, I turned them back on and they immediately connected to my phone again. I have no complaints there. One of the really interesting features of these is the ability to turn off the ANC and use them without any cancellation, but they have another unusual mode that I have only seen in one other pair of phones - they have an “ambient sound” mode that you can turn on that dampens the feed in the buds and slightly increases the surrounding noise without turning off the ANC. Assuming the volume is not turned up too loud, this allows for carrying on a conversation without turning off the feed. I will say, though, that listening to my own voice coming through in this mode is disconcerting. I do not know yet how long the battery in these lasts. So far I have not run them all the way down. Included in the box are the phones themselves, a conversion cable so that they can be used with an audio jack (handy when Bluetooth is not an option), a cable for charging, an in-flight audio adapter, several silicone tips fo the buds so you can get the size right, and a protective carry bag. The carry bag is the only complaint I have with the whole package - it offers little protection from drops and crushes. If you only are concerned about keeping everything together and keeping the set very clean, the bag is acceptable, but if you need better protection that consider getting a third-party hard case or use the original packaging box. Sony got these right and even at the price tag these are easy to recommend. They’re comfortable (more comfortable than I expected for ear buds), they have excellent sound and the ANC function is outstanding. I prefer these to my Bose phones and will be using these instead.