Customer Reviews

Headphones, Active Noise Reduction

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've had the 712i headphones for about a week and I am NOT very impressed with them at all. The headphones are relatively heavy making them not very comfortable for long periods of time. The noise cancelling is great, but because of the closed cup design, it suffocates the ears making it uncomfortable to wear for more than an hour continuously. As for sound quality, again it fails to live up to it's MSRP price tag. Fortunately I was able to find these headphones for less than $40 but even that price was too much in my opinion. Instead, I would definitely recommend going with the Sennheiser HD212 or even the HD202. I have the HD212's and love those headphones. I only bought these because I wanted to see if there would be a difference in quality given the higher MSRP of these cans. There was a difference, a big negative one.

After 9 months of use, the right headphone earpiece broke at its swivel connection at the headband. The swivel joint is only .25 inches in diameter and each headphone earpiece is massive compared to the strength and durability needed at this skinny hollow plastic joint. When the phones are rotated for storage, there is no guard to prevent a large lever arm to apply force and bend this joint with any movement. The soft carrying bag offers no real protection. After a number of cycles of use, stress fatigue in the plastic (like metal fatigue) sets in and then ...... SNAP one of your headphone earpieces is dangling by its wire.
As an analogy, I offer the example of those plastic model airplanes, you might have made as a kid. To get the individual parts, you bent the pieces back and forth until they snapped off from their molded plastic branches...same principle, but in this case, it results in headphone failure.

I have friends with the Bose versions and these sound almost as good at less than half the price. My only complaint is that they are ackward if you pull them off for a moment and try to put them on your neck. For example, when you are boarding the plane or when you have to talk to the flight attendant for a minute. The battery life on the noise cancellation is EXCELLENT! One AAA battery has lasted for over 24 hours so far. I only wear them when I am flying.

The sound on these headphones is o.k. When using the sound isolation you will hear a mild hiss but I have found that to be commonplace on all headphones in the same price range. The main drawback on these headphones is that they are cheaply made. The bond between the two actual headphones and the semi-circular 'connector' on the top is very weak and it broke very easily on my piece within 2 months of buying it.

Another big drawback is that there is the volume control and sound isolation control unit that comes attached to the headphone wires is HUGE. It is slightly bigger and more heavier than two old ipod shuffles put together and it is very irritating.

I'd recommed shelling a few extra dollars and getting better and sturdier headphones.

I got these for a pretty low price, and they've worked flawlessly for me. They came with a cloth bag for storage. The noise cancelling system works very well - no more nagging from the lady =), and it increases bass, so listening to music is a totally new experience with these headphones. They are pretty comfortable for the price, but I don't see how anyone can keep them on for more than an hour at a time. Overall though, not bad.

I purchased these last year, and on my first use on a 6 hr airplane flt. the headphone broke. The headband started digging into the side of head above my ears after a while. I took the headphones off leaving them on my seat and when I returned sat on them and one of the ear phones broke off instantly. They were bulky fitting into the loose cloth bag they come with. Not impressed at all with the design, but the noise cancelling feature was nice when I clicked it on.

Noise Cancelling is pretty descent... but when turned on there is a defnite buzz in the background that can be annoying. If the music is loud enough it will cancel it out... but you shouldn't have to worry about that in a quality pair of headphones.

They are fairly uncomfortable after any period of time.

The audio overall is perhaps slightly above your average pair of headphones... but certainly nothing for an audiophile... as the base isn't great at all, and at high volumes there are definite distortions ina ll ranges.

Bottom line, if you can find these for $30 or $40 it may be worth it for you and if you aren't too picky... but if you want a real noise cancelling experience, i would look elsewhere.

Looking for a replacement for my Bose which fell apart after 2 years of use (outrageous for a product costing $300), I decided to purchase the Altec Lansing because they have a long-time reputation for quality products. This is not one of them.

Putting aside the loud noise-cancellation hiss that sounds like somebody blowing air across the top of a long plastic tube, and audio that sounds like it is piped through that same long plastic tube (make a circle with your hand, purse your lips and speak through your fist - that's what these headphones sound like!), but the true disaster is that the sound cuts out when you hit a bump. Ride in a car or bus on an Interstate or a jiggling train and the sound will skip and disappear. The effect is similar to what would happen in the early days of portable CD players when motion would cause the laser beam to lose its tracking, or in olden days bumping a turntable causing they stylus to bounce and skip.

If you don't listen to music, but just use the phones for noise-reduction, you will notice the low frequencies creeping back in momentarily as you hit a bump.

The portable "case" is a drawstring velvet-like bag which offers zero protection.

And I suppose worst of all (yep it gets worse) the unit came packaged in see-through heavy plastic that had to be cut/destroyed in order to get the product out of its packaging which means there is no hope of returning it.

If you need a less-expensive Bose alternative with better sound (yes!) then try the Panasonic - it costs 1/3 as much, requires half the power from your mp3 player and does have better sound!

Avoid this product entirely. I literally had to throw mine in the trash. Huge waste of money. And that hurts! When I upgrade my theater sound system, I will not be trusting Altec Lansing!

After 9 months of use, the right headphone earpiece broke at its swivel connection at the headband. The swivel joint is only .25 inches in diameter and each headphone earpiece is massive compared to the strength and durability needed at this skinny hollow plastic joint. When the phones are rotated for storage, there is no guard to prevent a large lever arm to apply force and bend this joint with any movement. The soft carrying bag offers no real protection. After a number of cycles of use, stress fatigue in the plastic (like metal fatigue) sets in and then ...... SNAP one of your headphone earpieces is dangling by its wire.
As an analogy, I offer the example of those plastic model airplanes, you might have made as a kid. To get the individual parts, you bent the pieces back and forth until they snapped off from their molded plastic branches...same principle, but in this case, it results in headphone failure.
Update 3-21-07 - If I could - I'd add one more star for Altec Lansing's prompt replacement of the broken headphone if it's within warranty.
Update 7-21-08 - Make that ZERO stars - the headphone earpiece of the REPLACEMENT broke ALSO.

I wear these at work over 40-60 hours a week on average. They are a comfortable over ear headset that doesn't squeeze my big head too much. The one negative of these is the swiveling ear cup design that is very weak. I have solved this by using plastic epoxy to keep the ear cups firmly in proper place. This is the second set of these headphones I have owned, the first lasted me over 3 years of heavy, dirty, work in my machine shop.