Rating: 
Summary: Not good at all
Review: First of all, there is a hiss when the noise-cancellation feature is turned on in a quiet room.2. It only reduces, and not cancels, external sounds in the lower mid-range. Bass sounds get through. 3. The noise reduction seems to work on the music being listened too; when it is on, the bass and the mid-lower range sounds "mushy," and there's a reduction in volume. 4. Headphone quality is not really that great. 5. The volume/AAA battery holder has an on-off switch, a volume control, a small indicator light and a max/normal noise cancellation switch. The noise-cancellation has no discernable function. I don't think it's even connected to anything! 6. It is comfortable and the "foldableness" of the headphones is good. I plan to return these headphones and will go shopping for something maybe a little more expensive, but would actually reduce the noise without reducing the music quality.
Rating:
Summary: Panasonic RP-HC70 vs. Brookstone
Review: I am very frequent flier and for some time have been looking for a solution against the plane-noise problem.
I have known about the US$300 Bose Headphone for a while, but I decided to wait for less expensive units.
A month ago a bought the Brookstone unit, which has fair noise reduction, eliminating the wind-in-the-wings noise (very low tones) in the plane, but not dealing with the higher tones (such as the turbines.
The Brookstone US$100 unit also proved to be VERY uncomfortable to wear, i.e., any flight longer than 3-hours is umbereable. Another problem is the sound quality of the Headphone itself, which is not too good. It sounds cheap, with not enough bass and squeaky treble.
Today I bought the Panasonic RP-HC70 (for less than half of the Brookstone price). The Panasonic is much better Headphone in terms of sound quality. The sound is clear and, although it could have a little more bass, specially when the noise reduction is on, the quality is OK. It is also much more comfortable to wear than the Brookstone, even though it does not fully cover the ears. It has however one small problem: hiss. Whenever Noise-reduction is turned on, a constant hiss is heard. If classical music is liestened to, all the piano parts become mixed with hiss. In terms of noise reduction itself, it is adequate for plane usage, covering a bigger range of sounds than the Brookstone unit.
Rating: 
Summary: So far, so good...
Review: I bought these headphones to use with my iPod. I wanted a more comfortable fit than the the little in-the-ear buds that come with the iPod. I also wanted basic noise cancelling without paying Bose price. I use my iPod mostly at the gym on the treadmill. This does an outstanding job of elliminating the hum of the treadmill and the a/c unit (which is massive at 24-hour fitness). These do not block out every sound, which is a common misconception concerning "noise-cancelling headphones." You will still hear voices, and any other non-constant noise. However, anything that hums or has a long, steady buzz at lower frequencies will be blocked very well. As a daily set of headphones, these are pretty good for $30. I would buy these again without reservation.
Rating: 
Summary: Works good and lightweight
Review: I couldn't afford a Bose Quietcomfort so I bought this at J&R and it's actually pretty good. It's not closed-ear so you don't keep all the noise out, but it's way better than most, more [costly] headphones and earplugs. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Good value, but marginal comfort
Review: I ended up purchasing these from Fry's for about $50 (and quickly returned them). Here at Amazon for $30, I'd say they're a good value for what they can do. I tested these on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and on a roundtrip from the West to East coast via airplane. While it doesn't eliminate all noise, it did make a significant reduction in low-frequency noises. On the airplane, it significantly reduced the low-frequency engine noise (if I had to quantify it, I'd say a 30% - 40% reduction in perceived loudness in low-frequency noise). As stated in the manual, these do no affect high-frequency noise. Examples of unaffected noise: mid-to-high frequency engine noise, "whoosh" of air conditioning vents overhead, people, and panel rattles, train track squealing, babies crying, etc. I found these uncomfortable to wear for more than about 2-3 hours. The shape/position of the ear pads applies pressure unevenly on my ears. That said, I find that most low-cost (under $30) headphones have the same problem--so it may just be me. I probably snagged the inline control unit at least about 20 times on a single flight. I would definitely recommend an integrated control instead of inline unit for anyone considering noise canceling headsets. Some tangible benefits:
* Less throbbing/ringing in my ears after the flight ends.
* Could hear the dialog in movies at volume 5 instead of 8 (perhaps related to previous).
* Made listening to classical/instrumental bearable on the airplane.
* Significantly reduces the low murmur heard in public places like an airport/train terminal.
* In quieter environments, white-noise may help drown out minor-titinus. Some problems/shortcomings:
* High frequency noise is not affected.
* Uncomfortable if worn for long periods of time.
* Doesn't feel secure on my head.
* External control is VERY annoying (especially for us Coach-class flyers).
* Inline control is annoying. I give these 4 stars due to its good benefits-to-cost ratio. For comfort, I would give it 2 stars. Hence, a 3-star rating.
Rating:
Summary: It's no miracle, but it does what it claims can do
Review: I flew 14hrs from Chicago to Hong Kong with them, I flew regional propeller planes with them, I rode subway and bus with them, and I worked in a computer lab (with nowadays 3 whirling fans per computer) with them. They perform superbly at cancelling noise with a recurring pattern, such as jet engines, car engines, etc. Please don't expect them to be studio monitor handphones, just look at the price. Sound quality is not very good, especially with the Noise-Reduction on, but it's sufficient for casual listening. They are quite comfortable even in long duration (the 14hrs flight). However, the hinge for collapsing the headphone might caught hair (not fun if you try the take off the headphone quickly) but with proper practice hair-pulling will becomes rare occurance. To let other not to have false hope about noise cancelling system, I must spend some time to explain how they work. These headphone works by listen to the noise, find its pattern, then generate that pattern at a +or-180 deg. or +or- 1Pi radian phase angle. Therefore, the noise from the background and the "noise" generated by the headphone's will add up to zero, thus the noise is cancelled, or reduced in the least. Also you would be dreaming to have a headphone that cancels human noise because human don't talk with a recurring pattern. Only way for cancalling human voice is to predict what he/she going to say and I don't think any headphones can do that. The white noise (the hiss) is noticible but tolerable. I know higher end headphones (like Bose QuietComfort II) has managed to pretty much eliminate that but they cost few times as much. One complain is the control box and all the wirings. It's very awkward wearing it while your iPod or Discman is in a backpack. I ended up "dreadlock" the wires couple of times in one day of subway commute. It would be real nice if there's a belt clip at the back of the control box because I don't know where to place it so I can have easy access to the volume control.
Rating:
Summary: Worked great on a long bus trip!
Review: I just used these on a 20-hour bus ride across Mexico and they worked like a charm. Without them, I'd have been deaf if I'd tried to crank up my music loud enough to be heard over the bus engine and road noise; with them, I traveled in a little cocoon of relative quiet.
I've also successfully used them for watching TV over the sound of a noisy dishwasher. I haven't yet flown with them but will do so soon.
As one reviewer said, no noise canceling headphones will work at all frequency ranges. They may not do a thing to drown out conversations or the bad radio station of the guy in the next cubicle. And no noise-canceling headphones will sound as good as conventional headphones in a quiet room. But for their intended purpose, acceptable audio quality in a rumbling environment, these worked great for me.
Rating:
Summary: Good value
Review: I purchased the Panasonic RP-HC70 Noise-Canceling Headphones for an upcoming flight across the country and back.
I had tested them while mowing my lawn on a 14 hp lawn tractor, they didn't seem to work at all for that, so my expectations were kind of low.
Playing with them at the airport, listening to soft rock music was a bit strange. When I turned on the noise canceling feature I got a lot of "white noise" and a woman sitting about 20 feet from me all of a sudden became quite loud and I could almost hear her as clearly as if she was standing next to me.
On the flight I was quite impressed with the amount of noise reduction. I was able to keep the volume on a portable DVD player at a reasonable level and could hear quite clearly. I would estimate about 50% of the engine noise was canceled. So for less than $30 you can have some extra comfort on flights. I was very impressed with their value to performance ratio.
Rating:
Summary: Great Value for the Money
Review: I purchased these headphones after seeing them on sale at Amazon. The industry standard for noise-cancelling headphones are made by Bose. However, these are a great value if you do not want to spend that kind of money.
As with some of the prior reviewers, I would emphasize that this does not block out all noise. It is great for low-frequency, constant noise such as that of airplane engines, buses, and other sources. You will still hear background sound, just at a much reduced level.
The ear-pieces are padded and comfortable, but could be a little larger. There is an audible hiss when the noise cancelling is turned on. However, it is more than compensated for by the reduction in noise. The unit operates on 1 AAA battery.
Also, just a side note, you do not have to have the headphones plugged into a source for the noise cancelling to work.
Rating:
Summary: Baby-boomer looking for decent headphones
Review: I recently purchased these headphone and I am quite satisfied with the product. I contemplated purchasing the more expensive Bose headphone but could not bring myself to pay the $300.00 retail. When I received the Panasonic RP-HC70's, I wore them for 7 hours and found them to be quite comfortable. The noise reduction does not completely eliminate outside noise but for the price and comfort, you can not go wrong. I'd recommend them to anyone looking for good sound quality at a reasonable price.
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