Sony MDR-NC40 Noise Cancelling Headphone (Black)

I am really surprised that this headphone gets average-to-bad reviews. Considering that I have both PXC-250 and PXC-300, I really enjoyed this one, and for now, more than those two.It is one of the most comfortable headphones I have used, regarding the noise canceling ones. It fits on the ear quite well, and unlike the Sennheiser ones I don't need to correct its fit, after I move my head a bit. Sennheiser ones barely fit on the ear, but for the MDR-NC40 you don't really need to adjust its position to make it fit. That also means it is more sensually-hidden to my conscious.It packs really well, and its bag is as protective as the sennheiser ones, so, as long as you are careful enough the lack of perfect protection shouldn't be a big deal. At least, while trying to minimize its size, there is almost no risk to break it, and you don't need to restart the process...Regarding the sound quality, I think it is fairly good. I tried a few sub-genres of rock, mostly the following bands, T. Rex, Massive Attack, Pixies, Stone Roses, Floyd, Caravan. So for these bands, it performed quite well, so I am guessing any heavier types will lead to quite satisfactory performance too. I do hope it will do the same for the softer genres too (classical, new age, etc.). Since the general sound quality is good, I am guessing that to be the case.Regarding the noise canceling performance, I think what it says as ~14db NR is a fairly accurate number. I bought this to use in a cubic farm, and it cancels most of the noises related to the machinery. It performed better than PXC 250, unexpectedly. Most likely the passive reduction is higher to compensate for the lower active noise reduction (ANR). For the speech related noises, I didn't have a chance to try this, but I don't expect too much. Because even the higher performing ones do fail in this area: they reduce the noise to a certain level, never completely get rid of it. So, this one will do similar. But, one good point of this headphone is the amount of hissing it introduces when the noise canceling is active. It is quite less than what I expected, where the expected refers to what the Sennheiser similar models produce.It also has some nice features, like not boosting the sound when you turn on the noise canceling (it first lowers the audio, then increases to similar or same level). It also has a button to momentarily turn it off, in case you need a second break to hear something outside your noise reduced world.In short, at ~$60 price, being an on-the-ear model, this is a really good headphone. And I do recommend it to anyone interested in buying a noise canceling headphone to use in a mid-to-low noise environment.

Out of the box, as a critical listener I give these headphones three stars, since the bass is very strong but the highest treble is weak. However, with frequency compensation, I give five stars for the excellent sound. This headphone can give audiophile quality sound, if the treble is turned up in playback. The bass response is flat, tight, and goes down beyond the lowest note on a bass guitar. I heard 32 Hz organ pedal notes with these headphones! The midrange is neutral and flat, but will not be appreciated unless the high frequencies are boosted.I achieved excellent sound by adjusting the frequency response of the music played into the phones. You can do this best with a free software program such as Audacity, but you could also use the equalizer on your player. Many of the Sansa mp3 players have them built in. I got the best results by reducing tones 50 Hz and lower by 3 dB, tapering up to flat at 100 Hz. The high end was smoothly boosted from flat at 2.5KHz to +4dB at 6.3KHz, continuing to +7dB at 12.5KHz, and +12dB at 22KHz. With this equalization the sound was splendid, and I could easily hear the subtle difference between my personal CDs ripped with Nero and those ripped with "Easy CD Ripper".The noise reduction of the headphones was as specified at 10 dB reduction of ambient noise. This was enough to reduce the noise of a cheap treadmill so that I could listen to music without blasting my ears. It also had the same effect on a noisy upright vacuum cleaner. The noise was reduced, not eliminated. On two airplane trips, sitting near the front of a 737, the noise was reduced enough so that I could listen to music if I turned it up slightly from my normal quiet-background level. In a rental 2011 SUV, the noise was reduced for better listening. My conclusion is that the noise reduction is sufficient, but not outstanding.Battery life is specified as 40 hours, and I believe it! I ran my 1.5V battery down to 1.1V, and the headphones still worked fine.These headphones fit snugly against the ears, but the pads are comfortable. These are on-the-ear, not over-the-ear headphones. I don't listen for more than an hour at a time, so I am not bothered by the snug fit.I would recommend these headphones both for casual listeners to use out of the box, and for more critical listeners to use with frequency compensation for excellent sound.

I have a rather large head and wear glasses. This makes finding comfortable headphones difficult. While I don't mind earbuds, it seems that most of the decent sounding ones are designed to fit snugly into the ear canal which I also find uncomfortable (plus they get nasty with earwax). I really like how the Bose phones feel and they work great for noise canceling, but the inner audiophile in me cannot stomach (or afford) to spend $300 on them. Enter the Sony MDR-NC40 which I purchased refurbished here on Amazon via a third-party. I am satisfied for the price I paid. They offer decent (but not great) noise canceling. They sound ok (for the money) and most importantly they are comfortable. I've found that "on-ear" headphones work best for me. While they do put pressure on my ears, at least they are well padded and don't interfere with my glasses. Over the ear headphones put pressure on my glasses and make my head feel like it's in a clamp. I can wear the NC40 for a couple of hours straight before needing to take a break from them.The biggest con for these headphones is that they sound terrible when the noise cancellation is turned off. On the other hand, with noise cancellation turned on they tend to sound kind of muddy and bass heavy. The sound overall, with noise canceling activated, is rich and makes lossy digital sound almost like analog. There's even a little bit of hiss from the noise cancellation that might trick you into thinking that it's 1986 again and you're listening to a cassette tape on your Sony Walkman. Overall, I recommend them.