Audio-Technica ATHANC7 Noise-cancelling Headphones
by AUDIO TECHNICA
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List Price: Our Price: $164.99 You Save: $54.96 (25%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Audio-Technica ATHANC7 Noise-cancelling Headphones
Customer Review: Product fails, vendor fails, amazon A-Z fails: A cautionary tale
Summary: 1 Stars
As a preface, know that in over a decade of amazon patronage and literally thousands of dollars of purchases, this is the first time I've ever written a review like this.
In a word: Beware.
First, don't believe the product description here which says "find peace & quiet in your living room." This product does absolutely zero to cancel the noise from neighbors' leaf blowers, weed wackers, chain saws, hedge trimmers, or barking dogs. That's what I bought it for, as a birthday present for my husband so he could have some peace and quiet in his study where he tries to concentrate and do his writing. And he was thrilled at the idea -- until he tried using it. Zero noise cancellation effect for any of those noises.
Second, don't dare consider buying anything from Electronics Expo to give as a present, if at all. Presumably, you would want to make sure you got a present in plenty of time so you would order it in advance. Well, as I only now know, Electronics Expo starts a 30-day clock ticking for making returns from the day you place your order. Not the day you receive it, much less give it as a present, but from the day you place the order.
And good luck trying to reach Expo to even find that out: they (admittedly) "can't keep up" with answering their phones--or their emails. (I only phoned during their advertised business hours, yet I repeatedly got a phone message saying "You've called after business hours.") Electronics Expo threatens you on their website here not to dare try to BOTH phone them AND email them or that will risk impeding your return. They also tell you that you cannot return anything without first getting an "RA" number to put on your package.
So after a week or two of getting no answer by phone, I resorted to email and ceased phoning, as per their insistence, and then they didn't answer their emails either for over 2 weeks.
The only time - a month into this saga - that they ever answered their phone - to even allow me to be placed on hold, I was on hold for FORTY minutes before someone answered. And the upshot? "Ohhh, too late. Sorry. 30 days expired."
In short, Expo's customer service is the worst. Don't waste ANY time trying to phone them. At least if you begin by emailing them, you have a record of when you began trying to initiate a return.
Third, and alas (given how much I have always liked amazon), do NOT believe amazon operators when they tell you that your situation qualifies for A-Z coverage and that you will get your money refunded. Since I'd never had any reason previously to even be aware of what amazon's A-Z guarantee is or entails, I also got stung learning the first time about how A-Z works or rather doesn't work.
I've been led astray for over a month now by amazon and by four different amazon operators, each of whom heard my story and insisted that I should rest assured that my situation qualified and I would get my money back, only to then receive follow-up emails saying "Sorry, you don't qualify." It's not enough that the product fails to do what it says it will do.
And amazon A-Z's "solution" reverts each time to: Contact the vendor. (Yeah, right. YOU try contacting this seller.)
Also, if you ever file an A-Z guarantee, do NOT let an operator do it for you. Apparently, from what a later amazon operator told me, the first operator -- who never told me I had the option to do it myself and simply said she was filing an A-Z claim on my behalf -- had written the briefest kind of explanation -- "doesn't meet conditions." The later operator thought that was why my A-Z was rejected initially (and as of today, a month later, I now have officially had two appeals of this verdict rejected -- hence now this "review" of the whole process, since amazon has now failed me as well). That later operator suggested i go into my order and refile an A-Z claim on my own but she didn't even realize that you can't do that. Once there is one filed A-Z claim, there's no link anymore in the order on the website for being able to refile a claim and to do it in your own words, and you become utterly dependent on further amazon operators to represent your case.
All amazon has done, after repeated assurances to the contrary, is say: Sorry, contact the vendor, try to get them to cover it as defective under warranty.
Well, I have no idea whether this unit is defective or merely falsely advertised to do things it doesn't do. (By the way, I tried the unit myself and there's no way it cuts down 85% of sound. Even music going in the same room was reduced only minimally, nowhere near the claimed 85% -- not to mention, again, that the sounds I bought it to cancel for my husband like neighbors' gardening equipment were completely unreduced.) And the vendor is virtually unreachable.
All I wanted -- totally legitimately -- was to return the gift to my husband, which was a waste of $128 for a product that doesn't do what it said it would do. Period. I started attempting that return two days after his birthday, when it was already clear to him that, despite his loving the idea of the gift, it wasn't working. And it's now been a total of 7 weeks since I began that attempt to return it and I've been given the royal runaround and stonewalling.
It's absurd that amazon does business with a vendor who starts a return-policy clock ticking from the day you place an order and only gives 30 days.
Customer Review: Excellent noise cancelling, and just as good as BOSE.
Summary: 5 Stars
I had a problem. I ride the bus to work, and sometimes you just get tired of all the noise, sometimes from the other bus riders, sometimes from the engine, or maybe I just want to focus on something else for the commute, like a good song or two.
My search for a decent pair of these type of headphones started there. A set of headphones that don't cost an insane amount of cash lead me to these, but before I pulled the trigger on the purchase, a friend of mine beat me to the noise-cancelling trend and got the Sennheiser PXC 250 noise-cancelling phones first, which I tried on a few times. They were good and the noise-cancelling feature worked well, my main gripe with those was that the battery is in a separate, bulky case down the headphone cord, they required two AAA batteries, and they don't block as much noise as I wanted (i'll explain this later).
I found the Audio-Technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7 noise-cancelling headphones here on amazon.com. I read lots of reviews that customers wrote about them and decided that the value was well worth it, and if I didn't like them I could always return them. My main points about what makes a good headphone in this category are noise-cancelling ability, comfort, sound quality, and price. I'll discuss each.
Noise-cancelling
This is the feature that's been a buzz-word for a few years now in the headphone world. It was (purportedly) originally designed for use in airplanes. Essentially, the way it works is there are microphones on the outside of the headphone that listen for outside noise, then send the inverse of that sound wave to your ears, which cancels it out. This ends up sounding like a very light "hiss" to your ears as you turn the noise-cancelling feature on.
According to the website for the product, this feature works best at removing ambient sound that falls into the 500hz or below range, things like engine noise, fans, and vent noise. They do not filter things like human voices or loud, high pitched spikes of noise (such as a police siren or a PA announcement on a plane). The cups do block a mild amount of this type of audio on their own, though, simply because they cover your ears.
The noise-cancelling feature of the headphones requires a single AAA battery, which is hidden inside the left headphone cup, and also seems to give an extra "punch" to your music's sound quality and volume (if you are listening to music, you can use these with or without music on and the headphone cord is detachable).
Comfort
Any set of headphones, noise-cancelling or otherwise, need to be comfortable. This point is really up to interpretation on the headphone wearer. Some people hate over-the-ear style headphones, some hate earbuds. I prefer either the earbud-style headphones (see my review of the V-Moda Vibe earbuds, for instance, not the iPod earbuds, which are terrible.), or over-the-ear style (like the headphones being reviewed or my set of Grado SR-60 open-air headphones). The ATH-ANC7 are very snug around my ears, I wear glasses so it can be a bit too snug at some points and can make my glasses shift a bit, but it's a small sacrifice for having a decent amount of ambient noise blocked from the get-go, which only improves after the noise-cancelling function is turned on. They seem about as comfortable as this style of headphones gets, I can't say I've worn better because I haven't.
Sound Quality
I consider myself to be someone who isn't exactly an "audiophile" per se, since a real audiophile prefers reference (read: flat) audio reproduction, with no sweetened highs or lows. I like my music punchy, so good (or "enhanced") highs and lows are important to me, so a lot of audiophile headphones are disappointing. These headphones do a great job with music and movies. I wouldn't say it's the most bass-heavy set of headphones I've ever used, but they satisfy my desire for good quality audio. Background noise being filtered out helps you hear a lot more details of your music (like very soft passages), where with other types of headphones you would need to crank the volume even louder, destroying your hearing.
Price
These headphones carry a retail price of $219.95, but Amazon's price is significantly less, and at the time of this writing they cost approximately $105, which is less than a third of the cost of the Bose version of these headphones. This is an amazing bargain for headphones of this quality. This is the ATH-ANC7's best selling point over other noise-cancelling headphones in this style.
Summary/Conclusions
Overall, if you're in the market for headphones with noise-cancelling, I won't hesitate whatsoever in highly recommending the Audio-Technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7 Noise-cancelling headphones. They are worth every penny of their price. As someone who primarily uses them on the noisy bus ride to and from work, I can't stress how much sanity this can gain you some days. I'm writing this review on a plane with the headphones on, with music from my iPod cranked through them, and I can barely hear anything but a very slight rumble of the plane engines. This does wonders for concentration. Those stupid Bose commercials aren't lying, it really is sublime, and paying one-third the price of the Bose version is even more sublime.
Customer Review: How the ATH-ANC7 saved my sanity during a European Vacation.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been using the ATH-ANC7 since June, 28th and I feel confident I've gotten to know them on a fairly personal level. These are my experiences with this fine headset ..
Back in June when the reviews first started hitting magazines these headphones were impossible to find in stock. I purchased them from three places that supposedly had them in stock only to find out they really didn't. Suddenly stock appeared on Amazon's site so I jumped on them and overnighted them. What was the rush you may ask? Two days after receiving the headphones I left for a trip to Europe.
I knew I wouldn't be able to listen to the plane engine drone for 6.5 hours + in addition to the horrible conversation I was bound to run into, so noise-cancelling headphones were a must. The noise-cancelling function of these headphones is stellar. It's not quite as good as the reviews hyped it to be but it knocked out probably 75% of background noise. That, I came to find out, was more than enough to make jet engines seem rather distant. So far, so good.
First stop: London. My traveling buddy and I were doing this trip on the cheap so hostiles were where we were staying throughout our travels. We arrived at our London hostile quite late and our 6 other roommates were already sleeping. One of the visitors had quite the habit of snoring loudly enough to shake the bed, awesome. What's one to do? Ah yes, some noise-cancelling headphones would come in handy right about now. I slept with these on the entire time I was London. Note to potential purchasers, it is near impossible to sleep on your side while wearing these headphones simply because the cans are huge. Luckily enough I was so tired every night that the position I was in was of no concern.
Next stop: Barcelona. As mentioned earlier expenses were a priority, so I travelled via EasyJet and Ryan Air. That being said, I got stuck sitting next to this monster of a man who was convinced that he not only got his seat but got to share mine as well. Great. Nothing a quick, "accidental", jab to the kidneys couldn't handle. After I recovered my arm rest from invading forces I was able to kick back and enjoy some relaxing tunes in near silence, excellent.
Third stop: Rome. I wish I could say that Rome was amazing and I can't wait to go back but then I'd be a liar. See, it made sense to my traveling partner and I to rent scooters, in Rome, with absolutely no idea of where any of the roads went. This was my Judas. Here's a word to the wise; when in Rome let the Romans do the driving. After driving around the city for four hours trying to find our hostile we eventually found it. After a quick dinner I hit two man-sized potholes that I couldn't see because it was pitch black and my headlight had this tendency to, well, not work. Anyways, I broke my ankle in three places and spent the next 6 days in an Italian hospital. This is where the sanity-saving feature of the ATH-ANC7's came into play. I had loaded my iPod video with copious amounts of videos before I left for Europe. In reality I had WAY more movies than I would have been able to watch. Perhaps it was fate that I broke my ankle so I could become an avid watcher of Six Feet Under.
I used this headset at least 5-10 hours per day while I was in the hospital. Seeing as though I spoke zero Italian I kind of zoned out and just enjoyed some tunes and read quite a bit. I felt like a magician showing people the wonderful invention called noise-cancelling. They immediately started laughing and speaking very quickly. Unfortunately I have no idea what they said but I'm sure they were voicing the many nice features of this headset.
So, to kind of wrap up this rather long review here are the goods and bads:
Good:
-Great noise-cancelling
-Comfortable to wear for long (read: sleep with) periods of time
-Nice carrying case that fits a normal sized iPod perfectly
-Sturdy design
-The headphones without noise-cancelling on are still quite excellent
-Great sound clarity for movies
-The case also works very well as an iPod stand. Ah, the things you find out when you can't walk.
Bads:
-The sound quality is not as good as the reviewed made it out to seem. The basses aren't clear, the highs don't really reach the levels I would like but this also might have to do with the less than great iPod audio quality.
-They're rather big. To me, this wasn't that big of an issue because I have a huge head. But if you're a smaller person you might look like an invading alien while wearing these.
-The blue light that lets you know when the noise-cancelling on is pretty freaking bright when you're in a completely dark room.
-According to the registration card that was included with the package, these have to be registered within 14 days of purchase in order for the warranty to be valid. I found that to be pretty lame especially since I can't even find the card now and you can't register them online.
Overall, these things rock. I must have logged well over 200 hours of use since I purchased these and I have no major complaints. With just a tad better sound quality these would be a perfect score purchase. I highly recommend them.
Customer Review: Great buy
Summary: 5 Stars
These are my first decent pair of headphones, and I am not an audiophile by any means. I won't comment too much on their sound quality other than to say it far exceeds that of my Promedia 2.1 speakers, and my friend's home theater system. Using these headphones unearths a whole layer of sound in my music -- mainly detail. This detail really brings it to life. I have nothing to realistically compare against, but I think these have great bass. My understanding is that the closed ear cup is partly responsible for this. The bass nearly matches my Promedia 2.1 subwoofer, except that there is no vibration in my surroundings! I don't particularly care for a lot of bass, but I thought I'd mention it.
The noise canceling very effectively blocks out low frequency sounds. My computer has many fans, making my room sound like a wind tunnel. I don't hear anything from the fans when the noise cancellation is turned on. Don't expect it to block out 85% of ALL noise. The noise canceling is only applicable for low frequency sounds, such as HVAC systems or engine noise. If you just turn on the noise canceling in a typical environment, you'll hear the world stripped of it's low frequency sounds.
These look cool. They have a modern but non intrusive design.
They are fairly portable. I like how the ear cups can fold 180 degrees and fit inside the case. THe only problem is that you have to retract the headband to make it fit, meaning that you'll have to re adjust after the headphones are out of their case -- a very mild inconvenience.
The included accessories are great! You've got pretty much everything you could ask for: airline adapter, 1/4" adapter, battery included. With a velor interior and fairly hard shell, Audio Technica did not skimp on the quality on a seemingly insignificant detail, which probably gets overlooked by prospective buyers.
Detachable cord! This is uncommon among headphones, and I have no idea why. If you get up and your cord is caught, you'll simply yank the cord out of the jack on the headphone -- no big deal, no damage done. Audio Technica says you can use this feature to your advantage by walking around with just the headphones, no music. While this is true, I think the cost in terms of your dignity and self esteem overcomes any noise cancellation benefits. These look nice, but I wouldn't walk around in public with them. They're okay if on a bus or an airplane, that's it.
Battery lasts a long time. I've listened to these quite a bit this past month, and these batteries are not quitting. Audio Technica employs a pretty efficient circuit here. Perhaps they sacrificed aggressiveness for efficiency?
What I dislike:
-I don't know if this is normal among noise canceling headphones, but there is an audible hiss when cancellation is enabled. This sounds almost like a distant waterfall during quiet or silent portions of tracks. I cannot detect this hiss while music is playing though. Again, I am not a trained audiophile, perhaps I would notice it with trained ears.
-These sound awful when the noise cancellation is not enabled. I don't always need noise cancellation enabled, but I keep it on anyways. Without it, it sounds as if you are listening underwater. All of the higher frequencies are muffled, if not non existent.
-When the noise cancellation is enabled, the volume nearly doubles. I drive these from my sound card (Blue Gears B-Enspirer). When noise cancellation is not enabled, I turn the volume to the absolute maximum. If noise cancellation is not, I have the volume one step below the minimum.
-I don't count this as a con, since nobody else has complained, and it seems to be a problem unique to me:
The headband. After a few hours, the headband makes my head quite sore. It almost feels like there's a bruise there. This pain goes away If I shift the headband a little bit forward or backwards, but the pain will return in the headbands new location.
-Supposedly they leak a lot of sound. I don't see how any other headphone except canalphones would be different. None of my neighbors have complained, and I don't really care. To me, complaining about leakage is kind of like complaining that your car uses gasoline to go forward; it's the nature of the beast. I do not hold this against these headphones, or any other headphone at that.
Conclusion:
I like these headphones. I took off 1 star because of the issue with the noise cancellation sound quality (lack of). The issue with comfort is a big one. I dislike that noise cancellation needs to be activated in order to have sound quality worth the 125 dollars you paid. For these reasons, I plan on buying some different headphones. These are worth keeping though. The noise cancellation, when needed, is a great benefit. Overall these are a fantastic value.
Customer Review: Excellent headphones
Summary: 5 Stars
To start off: I am not an audiophile.
The main thing I can say is that I like these more in terms of sound than the Bose QC2s and QC3s. I tried the Bose's on in a store, and the sound does not seem at all natural. It felt like the lower range was overly pumped, and although I like a bit of bass from time to time, the sound was way too warm and unnatural. The Audio-Technica's on the other hand sound very balanced and natural, without sounding 'cold'. They definitely immerse you into your music.
These headphones also look really good. In the pictures they look a little strange, but in real life they look very sleek. They are also very comfortable, and they slip over my average-sized ears very well. They aren't the world largest headphones, but I have a relatively big head and they fit when they are put onto their maximum size setting. If you have an extremely large head, these might get a little tight though.
The detachable cord is also implemented nicely. I once had a pair of headphones that had a detachable cord that was clicked in, and that of course meant that they broke. The cord in this one stays in nicely, but isn't locked into place, meaning they will pull out of you yank on them very hard.
The sound cancelling isn't too impressive. They work well with the background drones (such as an air vent, fan, etc.), but they do a poor job at cancelling out more instantaneous noises. I know that none of the headphones can technically do this, and they aren't really designed to do this, but I felt that the Bose's did a better job at cancelling out voice. This could be seen as a pro, though, because it means that you can hear someone if they try to talk to you.
I read in some other people's reviews that sound leakage was a concern. It is true that these headphones do leak a bit of sound (especially when the noise cancelling feature is turned on), but it seems to be within reasonable levels. However, If you like cranking up the sound all the way, but need to stay quiet, I would not recommend these for you.
Interestingly, the headphones do appear to contain a small amplifier. Whenever the noise cancelling is turned on, the sound gets significantly louder (more than what would come due to a cancelling of background noises. I checked this by putting the headphones down on the table.) I have no idea why they implemented this feature, but I'm geussing it might have something to do with the high input impedance of the headphones to reduce the amount of distortion. This does have as advantage that you can keep the volume on portable players very low (I have sometimes put my ipod onto the minimum level), and conserve batteries.
Speaking of batteries, the battery holder in the actual headphones is quite nice. There is a neat compartment designed for them, and there is absolutely no way it would ever open without you trying to open it. It might be slightly tricky to put the battery in the first time, but once you understand how it works it is very easy.
The carrying case is also very nice. It has a little velcro-attached pouch for the cable, 3.5-1/4" adapter, and airline adapter. If you have an mp3 player (I have an ipod touch), it fits in nicely between the headphones, so there is no need for a separate carrying case.
I haven't had the chance yet to do much gaming with these, but I have the feeling they work nice. They give a very strong difference between left and right, so you should be able to tell where those footsteps are coming from. If you listen to lots of music that is split (some of the isntruments come from one ear, some from the other), the very strong difference may become quite annoying.
I think I've rambled enough about these headphones now, so I will end with a standard "pros-cons" list.
Pros:
- Price (cheap for noise-cancelling headphones)
- Natural sound + good sound quality (for the price range, of course. I am sure there are better ones if you are willing to pay more.)
- Does a good job at cancelling off the background drones
- Seem sturdy
- Carrying case works well and has lots of space without being bulky
- Battery fits snugly and will not pop out by itself
- Not too heavy
- Comfortable
- Looks
- Built-in amp saves batteries on portable players
- Have a blue light so you'll look different on the airplane where everybody has red lights :)
Cons:
- Sound leakage (if that is a concern to you)
- Built-in amp probably drains the headphones' battery quicker
- They aren't too big, so if you have an extremely big head they might not fit (they work fine for me though, and I have a big head)
Pros or Cons (depending on preferences):
- Strong difference between left and right (can get painful to listen to)
- Does not cancel off sudden noises such as people speaking to you