Rating: 
Summary: Good price for noise reduction
Review: Between Sennheiser's (NoiseGard HDC451) and BOSE's (QuietComfort QC1) offerings of active noise reduction headphones, I have settled with Sennheiser's on its reasonable price tag...It doesn't get the 5-star rating because the BOSE product is more comfortable to wear and has better sound in the bass end. Sennheiser's open-air design has a slight edge over BOSE's cup design. However when worn for about 2 hours, it gives some discomfort at the top of my head that comes in contact with the hoop despite the padded rest and eventhough the headset is relatively light in weight.
Rating:
Summary: Certainly better than the Airline Headset
Review: I bought these to fly from Australia to Europe and I found the Noise Reduction enough to enjoy the movies on the plane. At least you can now fully understand the dialogs. The Noise reduction headsets from Bose might be better but they also cost more than 3 times as much.
Rating:
Summary: Very good product from a very good manufacturer
Review: I just finished a round trip flight, 4 hours each way, and these worked fabulous. With the noise reduction turned on, there was a significant reduction in the level of engine noise, and made it much easier to hear the audio from my portable DVD player. I was quite comfortable wearing them continuously for nearly 4 hours, so I don't understand other people's complaints. Also included is an airplane 2-pronged adapter to listen to the in-flight audio, rather than paying for their cheap headphones.
You don't even need to be listening to something; you can just wear the headphones to quiet down your environment. I did notice that hearing a conversation is also easier in a loud environment, such as on plane, while wearing these.
I also tried these out as the passenger in a car on the freeway, and these headphones again did a great job of filtering out the excess noise.
Rating: 
Summary: It tamed the NYC subway
Review: I've owned these headphones for 3 hours and LOVE them. I just walked 8 blocks through Manhattan to the subway, took 3 different trains, and not only did it cut ambient noise considerably but it made the subway announcements easier to hear! Here are my pro's: Open-air design with CLOTH covers--very comfy. Cupped headphones make my ears sweat and ear-buds hurt after a while. I hardly felt these at all. Fairly lightweight. I don't think they are heavier than my fully cupped headphones, but less bulky. Noise cancellation seems to rival that of the VERY expensive Bose headphones, but at a fourth of the price. They cut repetative and bass noise very well, and dim the higher pitch din too. I took them off at one point to discover jack-hammering going on not too far away, but couldn't hear it at all with them on. I took an entire subway ride with my CD playing at volume I usually only use indoors. For the first time I didn't have to blast my ears off to hear the music. Cons: don't get your finger too close to the headphone side--there is a mic there and you'll get feedback. the control could have a volume setting on it. It would be nice if you could use this behind-the-head. Overall: for $[$$] this was a fabulous buy.
Rating:
Summary: It tamed the NYC subway
Review: I've owned these headphones for 3 hours and LOVE them. I just walked 8 blocks through Manhattan to the subway, took 3 different trains, and not only did it cut ambient noise considerably but it made the subway announcements easier to hear! Here are my pro's: Open-air design with CLOTH covers--very comfy. Cupped headphones make my ears sweat and ear-buds hurt after a while. I hardly felt these at all. Fairly lightweight. I don't think they are heavier than my fully cupped headphones, but less bulky. Noise cancellation seems to rival that of the VERY expensive Bose headphones, but at a fourth of the price. They cut repetative and bass noise very well, and dim the higher pitch din too. I took them off at one point to discover jack-hammering going on not too far away, but couldn't hear it at all with them on. I took an entire subway ride with my CD playing at volume I usually only use indoors. For the first time I didn't have to blast my ears off to hear the music. Cons: don't get your finger too close to the headphone side--there is a mic there and you'll get feedback. the control could have a volume setting on it. It would be nice if you could use this behind-the-head. Overall: for $[$$] this was a fabulous buy.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the [money]
Review: If you travel on flights often and like to listen to music, this headset definitely is worth buying. Although they are not perfect, they greatly enhance the sound and reduce the noise created by the aircraft. They also allow you to listen to music with the volume at much lower levels. One thing to note is that the headset does not block out the sound of people that are talking near you. There are external microphones designed to monitor the environment and send reverse phase signals to cancel the unwanted sound. Those same microphones enable you to hear the voices, but after a while I seemed to block it out though. I read other reviews where there were complaints of how short the cord is. The cord is over 5 feet in length, which I found to be plenty long. The battery pack in the cord can be a bit awkward, but on a plane you can simply clip it to the seat pouch in front of you. The battery pack does have a switch that allows you to turn the noise reduction on and off. This allows you to hear the vast improvement gained by the NoiseGard system. I like the open-aire design of the headset and it is also light weight. The cloth ear-pads are a nice enhancement, as I typically find foam ear-pads to be irritating. One thing I do not like is that the foam pad in the top center of the headset does bother you after wearing them for a while. I found that if you move it more towards the back of your head it felt better (but sometimes would slide off the back of your head). The only other feature that would be handy when traveling is if they could fold up. Despite a couple drawbacks, it definitely makes listening to music in a noisy environment a much nicer experience.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the [money]
Review: If you travel on flights often and like to listen to music, this headset definitely is worth buying. Although they are not perfect, they greatly enhance the sound and reduce the noise created by the aircraft. They also allow you to listen to music with the volume at much lower levels. One thing to note is that the headset does not block out the sound of people that are talking near you. There are external microphones designed to monitor the environment and send reverse phase signals to cancel the unwanted sound. Those same microphones enable you to hear the voices, but after a while I seemed to block it out though. I read other reviews where there were complaints of how short the cord is. The cord is over 5 feet in length, which I found to be plenty long. The battery pack in the cord can be a bit awkward, but on a plane you can simply clip it to the seat pouch in front of you. The battery pack does have a switch that allows you to turn the noise reduction on and off. This allows you to hear the vast improvement gained by the NoiseGard system. I like the open-aire design of the headset and it is also light weight. The cloth ear-pads are a nice enhancement, as I typically find foam ear-pads to be irritating. One thing I do not like is that the foam pad in the top center of the headset does bother you after wearing them for a while. I found that if you move it more towards the back of your head it felt better (but sometimes would slide off the back of your head). The only other feature that would be handy when traveling is if they could fold up. Despite a couple drawbacks, it definitely makes listening to music in a noisy environment a much nicer experience.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Airline travel
Review: Ive had this headset for over 6 years.
I cannot think of travelling without these headphones. I can clearly listen to the words in a movie and enjoy on-flight music .. as bad as it usually is.
There is a slight pressure on the ear due to the interaction between the low-frequency sound and reverse phase LF emitted my the headphones, so do not leave them on for more than a few hours.
Ive used it with my CD, Minidisk and MP3 players. The batteries easily last for 100 hours. I clip the battery compartment to the seat pocket.
The headphones intentionally let high-frequency sounds through so that you can hear announcements. I wish I could modify the circuit to block out HF sounds as well!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Airline travel
Review: Ive had this headset for over 6 years.
I cannot think of travelling without these headphones. I can clearly listen to the words in a movie and enjoy on-flight music .. as bad as it usually is.
There is a slight pressure on the ear due to the interaction between the low-frequency sound and reverse phase LF emitted my the headphones, so do not leave them on for more than a few hours.
Ive used it with my CD, Minidisk and MP3 players. The batteries easily last for 100 hours. I clip the battery compartment to the seat pocket.
The headphones intentionally let high-frequency sounds through so that you can hear announcements. I wish I could modify the circuit to block out HF sounds as well!
Rating:
Summary: Very good product from a very good manufacturer
Review: The Sennheiser active headphones are among the most uncomfortable headphones that I have ever tried. The head band is brutally hard on my pate after only 10 minutes and the ear pieces feel "wiggly" and loose - like they will slip off momentarily. The sound reduction system seems to work to a limited extent, although no where near as well as I had hoped. When I sit next to my noisy tower computer (I unfortunately have no choice in this matter) and plug in the headphones to my small radio, the active sound reduction clearly limits the volume of unwanted noises. However, instead of cancelling repetitive, background noises, it seems to trade one set of humming frequencies for another, albeit slightly less offensive, set of sounds. I think that until I can afford to fork over the big bucks for the Bose headphones, which I have also tested to greater satisfaction, then I am better off with my existing giant radio earmuffs (Peltor Worktunes) which are annoying, sweaty and bulky to wear, but are overall more versatile, comfortable, and effective than the Sennheiser headphones.
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