Rating: 
Summary: Works on the plane and not too expensive
Review: I only use these for watching movies on the plane. The noise cancelling works - not completely, but enough that you can hear dialog during soft sections of movies (which is impossible with normal headphones). It also seems to boost the audio, which also helps. Switching them on definitely reduces the low roar of the engines, but you are left with some noise in the middle and higher ranges (which you become oblivious to in about a minute). Also, cheap enough that I don't feel bad about banging them around constantly in the computer bag. Definite road warrior gear - not audiophile or cubie gear. I chose these after borrowing other higher priced ones from friends. On the ground, you get better sound if you pay more. But on the plane, you pretty much get the same no matter how much you pay - it's just a bad environment. Noise cancellation reduces the problems, but it can't solve them. So if the only thing you want to do is watch movies on a plane, save your money and go cheap with this model.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm glad I have them, but they could be better
Review: I bought these headphones - two pair, actually - because we live in such a noisy neighborhood, and needed to have something to help kill some ... music that is played far too loudly, so that we could at least watch a movie or listen to music of our own (in our own home!) without having it supersaturated with the noisome air pollution... . But, complaints about my ... neighborhood aside, these headphones have worked admirably in that regard. I also use them now on the subway, to kill a fair amount of the ambient noise, and help reduce the air pollution of other, less human, subway riders who insist on broadcasting their music choice to the entire car. I also take them with me when flying, and if that was all I used them for, I'd consider the price well worth it. Wow! Planes are so loud, and these cut out a lot of the noise. And if you're playing your own music while sound cancelling, you can pretty well tune out every bit of ambient sound out there. The sound cancelling is also nice in that when using it, one does not need to turn the volume up as far as one normally would - thus giving your ears even *less* noise. When watching movies or listening to music late at night, it also means that the volume can be low enough that one's bed-neighbor will not need to suffer from noise bleed-through.Fidelity: the sound quality is okay on these. You wouldn't use them in a recording studio, but for tooling around town they're fine. Comfort: These are not the most comfortable headphones I have owned. They have a silly flat plastic top that does not fit around the head, and doesn't have the usual adjustabilty that one finds with headphones; nor does the plastic band hold the phones very tightly to ones head, so whenever I tip my head (say, to tie a shoe, or pick something up), they slide off. However, though they couldn't manage to get a snug fit on the head, these have a wondrous, too snug fit on the ears that becomes uncomfortable after a while. Quality of craftsmanship: This is where these lose the possibilty of earning five stars. The plastic band holding the ear-cups together is built somewhat flimsily, with no back-up support. Mine are already cracked from spreading the earcups apart only a smidgen more than their normal rest position. They fold up nicely into a small package, but there are a number of little hinges, all plastic, that I'm sure will wear out in the next year, and cause these to fall apart completely. For a "special" kind of product - that is, not a regular cheap headphone - I wish Aiwa had made something substantially sturdier. For the price, I actually was quite surprised at the cheapness of the plastic housing the entire unit. I do recommend these, but with the caveat that you will need to be more careful with them, and also the issues of fitting on the head. As stated, for tooling around town, watching a movie so as not to disturb your partner, and for airplanes, they're just fine. Noise cancelling headphones in general area an awesome idea. You could definitely do better than these, but for the price, these are a good deal.
Rating: 
Summary: Refurbished -- but still defective
Review: I bought a refurbished pair for $17 from an Amazon partner, "wegotbetterdeals". They came in some generic packaging with photocopied instructions and a 30 day non-manufacturer warrantee. Evidently there's now a mini-industry of businesses that handle returns and "refurbish" them. At home they seemed to work. With noise reduction on they had a soft background hiss, and if I moved around in some noise settings they produced an annoying buzz. On an airplane, however, the right earphone produced an earsplitting whine. The headphones are defective, the noise canceling mechanism is malfunctioning. I have a nasty suspicion that the headphones were rather minimally "refurbished", and that this defect was the reason they were returned in the first place. It wouldn't show up in simple testing without an airplane volume noise source nearby. I will see what the refurbisher does, but I don't have time to hassle with this. In future I'll avoid buying refurbished goods from no-name resellers. Don't buy these refurbished headphones unless you have money to waste.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Headphones On The Market
Review: If you're searching for a way to hear music on your daily commute to work, on an airplane, or on a trip, than look no more. Produced by the creative minds at Aiwa, the "HP-CN5 Noise Canceling Headphones" are the perfect piece of technology to have around. Utilizing noise-cancellation technology, these headphones block all sources of outdoor noise and interference such as an airplane engine, a car motor, or screeching rails when listening to your portable radio/compact disc player. I first had the experience of using noise-cancellation headphones on a flight in 2000, and have always loved the quality of sound they have given me. Many companies, such as Sony and Bose have also produced their own versions of these ingenious headphones, however if price is a matter to you, than I would stick with Aiwa's version (Sony and Bose have priced their headphones over $100). While these headphones are great because they can easily fit into your bag, purse, briefcase and come with leather case, there are negative aspects to them. The fact that the cord is too short doesn't help me when I want to use these headphones when jogging or working out on a treadmill. Also if exposed to plenty of wear and tear, the headphones tend to break easier than traditional headphones. However, compared to their headphones, I wouldn't trade these for ones that will not give you the same quality of sound as Aiwa. In conclusion, these are great headphones to have period. Aiwa has produced another winning product in their long line of audio products.
Rating:
Summary: What a joke
Review: I rarely am so displeased with a product that I'll go out of my way to write a negative review of it. In this case I'm that displeased. The noise canceling technology of these headphones consist of "white noise" generated in the headphone speakers, intended to drown out other sounds. Great idea, but if I want to listed to the hiss of white noise I'll hold a seashell up to my ear and tell myself I can hear the ocean. Replacing one type of noise with another is not helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Refurbished -- but still defective
Review: I bought a refurbished pair for $ from an Amazon partner, "...". They came in some generic packaging with photocopied instructions and a 30 day non-manufacturer warrantee. Evidently there's now a mini-industry of businesses that handle returns and refurbishes them. At home they seemed to work. With noise reduction on they had a soft background hiss, and if I moved around in some noise settings they produced an annoying buzz. On an airplane, however, the right earphone produced an earsplitting whine. The headphones are defective, the noise canceling mechanism is malfunctioning. I have a nasty suspicion that the headphones were rather minimally "refurbished", and that this defect was the reason they were returned in the first place. It wouldn't show up in simple testing without an airplane volume noise source nearby. Don't buy these refurbished headphones unless you have money to waste. ...
Rating:
Summary: Replace one noise with another
Review: The noise canceling feature of the headphones does work, but not quite as well as I had hoped. Given its internal power source (1 AA battery), it's possible to use the headphones without being plugged in to anything, however the external sounds are replaced with a steady hiss, similar to that of an old tape-deck at the end of a tape. One personal complaint about the headphones is that the padding on the headphones sit and press on the ear, rather than enveloping the ear, like the (much more expensive) Bose version. Given my particular ear-shape, that creates a pinch point which is highly uncomfortable after an hour's wear. I have yet to try these on an airplane, train or bus, but they do effectively cancel out the hiss of the air vents in my office and the air conditioning units outside my office. And people's voices and other noises can be completely cancelled out using a much lower volume of music, saving my eardrums some wear and tear. If I was to purchase another set of headphones, I'd definitely look for noise cancelation as a feature, but I wouldn't pick this exact model. Update: Ok - I've had these for a few weeks now, and they still pinch and hurt (I had hoped my ears would be desensitized by now). But the noise cancelation still makes them favorable to headphones without. For example: a portable compressor just started up outside our building, and by turning the noise cancellation on, I was able to block it to a level where I could ignore it - in fact I couldn't tell when they shut the compressor off.
Rating:
Summary: Overall good headphones
Review: I bought these headphones for the purpose of reducing backround noise while I fly on airplanes, travel with the band on road trips, and jogging on the treadmill at home. The noise reduction is effective....on the airplane and jogging on the treadmill, the effect cancels out enough backround-noise so that you can actually hear the music. IN regards on traveling on the road..I was on a bus filled with bandmembers...since the headphones are designed to reduce backround noise (and they are open type headphones...so they don't cover the ear from outside sound) and not talking it was less effective. Sound quality-wise they are pretty decent..somewhat lacking in highs but with good bass and a fairly decent midrange. I would reccommend the Aiwa for those who intends to listen to music in enviornments with constant backround noise (such as the drone of the airplane, or the hum of the treadmill motor) and for (money) these were the most affordable noise reduction headphones I could find. Overall a good deal.
Rating:
Summary: Avoid these headphones
Review: I've had these headphones for about a year. And they are truly awful. They sound terrible. They buzz when noice canceling is turned on. They are very uncomfortable. And they don't work very well at cancelling the equipment noise in my cubicle. A coworker who tried them jokingly suggested that the buzz was the "noise canceling" feature, because he couldn't here the equipment fan noise in his office/lab because the buzz masked it. My experience is the buzz just adds to the noise. I've tried to give the headphones away twice. Both times my coworkers have returned them. I'd recommend that you seriously look at other noise canceling headphones.
Rating:
Summary: works great, but...
Review: ...I agree with another commentator who questions whether the product is sturdy enough to last. I guess I'll see, as I don't intend to get on another airplane without it.
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