Are you one of those people who gets annoyed when you hear noise when listening to music on headphones? This is pretty common, anyone would be annoyed if their audio experience is interrupted by noise. So here are 5 of the best noise-canceling headphones that will enhance your music experience.
Whether you are an audiophile or just someone who loves their music a lot, noise is just unacceptable. But thanks to the advancement of technology, you can find plenty of noise-canceling audio devices today. These headphones are really great, they give you a clear audio experience, without any outside interference.
There are so many headphones available in the market ranging from affordable to insanely expensive. You can find the +$50,000 headphones from Sennheiser, Orpheus II. You can also find no-name brand headphones for around $5 in the market as well.
Noise-canceling headphones are different though, they block out all noise and keep the audio clean. This way you can enjoy the maximum pleasure of any audio, whether it is a song or documentary.
There are a few things that you need to keep in mind when you are picking up noise-canceling headphones. Let us discuss them in a short buyer’s guide.
Buyer’s Guide for the Best Noise-Canceling Headphones
You can find plenty of wireless headphones, but not all of them are noise-canceling. You can always check the type of headphones they are on descriptions of the product. The way noise-canceling usually works is through the use of microphones.
What happens is that they detect noise from different sources and the level of their frequency. They then produce the same noise in the same wavelength and frequency to cancel that noise out.
You can expect these headphones to cancel out low droning noises, but do not expect them to block out noise completely. They cannot cancel out higher volume noises like a person who is talking loudly to you.
These headphones also have sealing earpieces that cover your whole ear to seal off outside noise as much as possible. So they do their best to block out as much noise from outside as possible using noise-cancellation and the sealing earcups.
Always make sure that the ear cups are a snug fit for your ears so they do not start to hurt. Make sure the foam is thick enough that your ears are not tightly in contact with the headphone drivers.
Best Noise-Canceling Headphone Reviews
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Sony WH1000XM3 Noise-Canceling Headphones
Search for the best noise-canceling headphones on the internet, the first name that pops up is the Sony WH1000XM3. These headphones are on every review site and after testing we understood why.
Although there are more expensive headphones on the market with active noise-cancellation, these are the best. Not only do they sound great, but they also have the SENSE ENGINE, which adjusts noise-canceling levels.
The Sony WH1000XM3 is in no way a cheap option, they are pretty expensive, but they are well worth their price. The features on these are nothing to cough at, these use touch sensors for all the right functions.
Put your hand on the right earpiece to turn the volume of your music, this feature allows for easy conversation. You do not have to manually change the track or adjust volume through the phone, use touch controls for that.
There is an option to activate Alexa, the built-in voice assistant from Amazon in the headphones. You can ask Alexa to make calls for you and look up things as well. Use the mic in the headphones for conversing with Alexa for your needs.
With SENSE ENGINE, the Sony WH1000XM3 adjusts the noise-canceling levels according to your activities. These headphones will cost you around $270-$300 on Amazon and BestBuy, which is quite a lot of money but as we said, they are worth it.
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Bose QuietComfort 35 II
Another great set of noise-canceling headphones comes from the audio giant Bose, the QuietComfort 35 II. These headphones do not have flashy gimmicks like touch sensors but have their own set of features.
The Bose QuietComfort 35 II are some of the best wireless noise-canceling headsets you can find in the market. They have a really comfortable earcup foam, it also has built-in Alexa assistant.
If you are not a fan of Alexa, the Amazon virtual assistant, you can change to your phone default one through the push of a button on these headphones. Whether it is Siri or Google, you can just long-press the multi-function to switch to your favorite one that your phone uses.
Another great feature is three levels of noise-cancellation that you can adjust yourself. So if you feel like just not listening to any outside noise or still be aware of your surroundings, then adjust accordingly.
These headphones do not have the battery life of our best overall, the Sony WH1000XM3. These only have a run of 10 hours on a full charge compared to the 30 hours on Sony ones but are priced almost the same.
That is exactly why they are not the first pick, but their sound is amazing, and getting to choose the noise-cancellation levels is also a plus for us, so they are also great headphones.
Best Noise-Canceling Headphones on a Budget
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Anker Soundcore Life Q20
Anker is one of the biggest brands in the USA when it comes to power banks, but their audio devices are nothing short of good as well. The Anker Soundcore Life Q20 are great hybrid noise-canceling headphones at a very reasonable price.
We have reviewed plenty of Anker’s Soundcore products previously in our other reviews, so we can vouch for their quality. These headphones are not bad for the price tag at all, in fact, they sound really good.
While being great headphones, hybrid technology takes both internal and external noise-cancellation to give the best experience. The audio quality feels great, albeit a bit bassy, but not bad for a budget choice.
There are a total of 4 microphones for catching ambient noise and cancel it out. The memory foam earcups fit over your ears without any issues, they can get a bit warm after a while though.
The battery life is huge on the Anker Soundcore Life Q20, we tested them for more than 24-hours and they still had enough juice in them to last longer. According to the manufacturers, Anker, it has up to 40-hours of battery life which is greater than our best overall.
But battery life is not everything when it comes to headphones, the quality of the audio matters as well. But as we said, for the price tag this is tbe best noise-canceling experience you will get.
You can get it as cheap as $60 on Amazon and Newegg, which is quite a steal for the quality and features these provide.
4 – EPOS Sennheiser GAME ONE
The GAME ONE from EPOS & Sennheiser is some of the best headsets we have seen and reviewed. EPOS was a joint project by Demant and Sennheiser, which is now an independent company. For these headsets, it seems both EPOS and Sennheiser poured out their best ideas.
The GAME ONE comes with the GAME ZERO, a closed-back headphone model, both of them extremely superb. If you put Sennheiser’s amazing drivers in a gaming headset enclosure and attach a microphone on it, you get the GAME ONE headphones.
We cannot recommend the microphone itself for anything like streaming or podcasting though. The quality of the microphone is alright for gaming, it has a noise-canceling feature in it. The microphone is best suited for game chat and that is all we will recommend it for as well.
We really love the sound of the GAME ONE, it feels like Sennheiser is really reliable when it comes to headphones. Any model of headphones that you choose from them, the audio on them is superb. The GAME ONE or the GAME ZERO, both have a really decent sound.
The open-back design does some really good things for the headset, we really recommend these headphones for gaming. The soundtracks of the game were really pronounced and to be honest, we were mesmerized by them.
The market of Whiterun or Riftin from Skyrim really did feel like we were in a market. The lows and the highs were pretty pronounced in the headphones.
Do we recommend them for the price? Yes, we do. Should you buy these for the microphone, absolutely not. These headphones will cost you around $160 on Amazon.
5 – Sennheiser Momentum 2.0
Another great headset by Sennheiser is the Momentum 2.0, the more affordable little brother of the Momentum 3.0. The Sennheiser Momentum 3 is arguably amongst the top noise-canceling headphones of today.
The Momentum 2.0 has a bit of a rugged and old-school design for headphones, with leather texture. The foams are thick and plenty comfortable, the leather headband is padded to provide comfort.
They have a hybrid design with 4 microphones for noise-cancellation, making them great for audio experience. Rich bass might not be for everyone though, but did feel good for our tests as it was not the bad kind of bass.
They are also priced just as much as the HD 450BT at around $180, making them great value. If not for the lack of features and comfort, these might have been our top pick compared to Sony ones.