JVC HANC100 Noise Cancelling Headphones

by JVC

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.5 x 3.2 inches ; 11.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000U19F0
• Item model number: HANC100
• Batteries: 1 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (273 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

JVC HA-NC100 Noise Canceling Headphone HANC100 Headphones & Earphones

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

157 of 158 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent features, but sore ears for extended periods, October 19, 2004

By 

The Traveller "Bristol View" - See all my reviews

This review is from: JVC HANC100 Noise Cancelling Headphones (Electronics)

There are a few things about these earphones that need mention right up front, because they are so very well done.
1. Most noise cancelling headphones have a bulky battery pack in line on the headphone wire. These DO NOT, which means the wire is small and free of things to catch on airplane handrests and such. This is great.
2. Many noise cancelling headphones have a constantly connected cord, or allow the cord to be removed if you only want noise cancelling. With this, the cord rewinds into the left earpiece. This is again, extremely well thought out. If you just want noice cancelling, rewind the cord up. It's easy and since it's attached, you can't forget and leave the cord on the plane or at home. This is great.
3. It runs on a single AAA battery, which resides in the right earpiece, again nothing external to snag on anything.
4. They fold up nicely for travel.
5. Noise reduction works very well. I even use them at my office to block out the white noise and fans of my building.
6. Audio quality is fairly good, nice rich tones but a little lacking on bass. I enjoyed my videos and music with them very much. An audiophile might be dissappointed, but if you're using noise reduction in the first place, you probably are in a noisy environment where you can't appreciate perfect audio anyway. All in all, the sound is very good however.
All that is very good.

What's not so good. The headphones look like over the ear designs, and for the most part are. The earcups are actually very small and barely fit over your ear. I'm OK with that, and the padding is very soft. On the inside however, the cup where your ear sits is not very deep due to the electronics and such in them (battery on one side, retractable cord on the other). The top of my ear touches this inside panel and while not instantly uncomfortable, by the time I landed, both ears were a little sore from this. I flew from Chicago to Tokyo and by half way... both ears were sore. I continued to wear them because they worked so well and the noise reduction and audio with my computer was so good, but this is the only drawback I saw.

121 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good mid-range headphones, January 10, 2004

By 

Nicola Allen (Fairfax, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JVC HANC100 Noise Cancelling Headphones (Electronics)

I bought these to use with my Ipod, especially on long haul flights. They fold down to a compact size so are excellent for travel. Sound quality is excellent when listening to music. The full shell earphone is comfortable and the noise cancelling function cuts out a lot of low frequency sound. Priced in the middle of the range I think these are great value.

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works great, excellent value. Sound was even., October 14, 2005

By 

Karen F. Hensley "kfh" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: JVC HANC100 Noise Cancelling Headphones (Electronics)

GOOD
- active noise reduction really helped in airport terminal and on plane when listening to music or the movie.
- the best passive sound reduction anywhere near this price
- fold up nicely. (If you in to ultra-small, then these are to big for you, as you can see from the pictures)
- retracting cord is great.
- sound was good, and even ear-to-ear.
- I could not hear any hiss in a noisy environement. If I turned on the noise-reduction in a quiet room I could hear the hiss at first. Tip: don't use noise reduction if it is already quiet ;-)

Not-as-good:
- After about 5 hours one of my ears were getting sore from the touch of the earphone, and my ears are fairly small. I was able to move the headphones around a little and make it a bit more comfortable. I think that after 7 hours almost any headphone would make my ears sore. If this worried me, then I would buy a second pair of noise-reduction earphones, tiny ear-bud ones, and switch off between the two before springing for the Bose. I also always carry those little foam ear plugs with me when travelling.
- After only a few hours, the un-padded over-the-head piece does feel hard and uncomfortable. I stuck a piece of my scarf under it and that was fine. I am going to play around with other possibilites now that I am home.

My top reason for choosing the JVC's was for the passive sound reduction. Active noise reduction is great and reduces the general low-frequency roar of terminals and planes. But if you are trying to sleep to music and a baby is squealing 2 seats away then you need passive noise reduction. I tested the Bose, and I did not think they were any better for passive noise reduction.

I bought these then used them in an airport terminal and on a 5-hour flight. My first comment, is that no matter what kind you get, do get some noise-cancelling headphones, they make a huge difference in your comfort, and I'm sure your health. These JVCs had even sound from ear-to-ear.

I am rating this a 5 in part with consideration of the price, if they were 2 or 3 times the price, then I would lower my rating to 4, only because after many hours the comfort is only good, not excellent.