Customer Reviews

Kensington Noise Cancelling Headphones ( 33084 )

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

If Bose's "Quiet Comfort" was the only game in town, a useful but dispensable item like noise canceling headphone probably would have remained a luxury item that's beyond my reach. Luckily, the ultra greedy Bose is not the only player. Kensington's entrance into the noise canceling headphone arena took a completely pragmatic and value-centric approach - quite refreshing when contrasted with the THREE HUNDRED DOLLAR QuietComfort, which more or less do the same thing as Kensington's 33084. The biggest bone some users seem to have with 33084 is the complaint that the headset amplifies internal noise, such as tape hiss. I have no way to verify if the claim is true. But for most people-myself included, this would be a non-issue. I have used 33084 with my iPod, laptop, as well as plane audio system. For all these common systems, mechanical movements are minimal or negligible. The noises from these sources are practically non-existent to begin with, and 33084 certainly did not amplify any noises for me. However, if you're really old school and insisting on getting your tune fix from a hissy old tape deck, I don't think any headphone will pretty up the audio quality of granddaddy walkman to CD level. The actual noise cancellation part is also very decent. I've used the headphone on planes as well as next to an operating dryer, ambient noises do drop to a very comfortable level, while the music is maintained at near-original quality. Another thing I like about these headphones is the fact that they have very decent bass. The only fact I don't like about these headphones is the placement of the on-off switch. As another reviewer has mentioned, the on-off switch gets toggled in the bag too easily. But at less than 10% of Bose's price, I ain't complaining.

Noise-cancelling headphones that work are always a pleasant surprise. When they cost less than $40 and work with active noise noise canelling, they're remarkable.

The Kensington Noise Cancelling Headphones aren't the last word in noise cancelling by any stretch, but they can take off the droning noise of airplane cabins or other continuous sound sources.

The most you can hope for Noise-cancelling headphones is to reduce some frequencies of continuous noise and perhaps get a small reduction in some kinds of impulse noise. Noise-canceling headphones work by simply sealing out some external noise, then sampling the environmental noise and generating an out-of-phase signal to reduce its intensity in your ear canals and Kensington Noise-cancelling headphones do their job.

The Kensington phones are supraural, meaning that they sit on top of your ear rather than circumaural, or around it, as does the category-leading (and price-leading) Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headset ($299 direct). The soft pads conform easily to your ears and form a good seal, for a measured 6 dB static reduction in outside noise just from wearing them. With noise cancelling switched on, it was measured another 4 to 5 dB of active noise reduction, averaged across the spectrum.
The Kensington headset is smaller, far less expensive, and much more portable than Bose, Senheisser and Sony.
At 5.2 ounces, the Kensington headphones are light and very comfortable for extended wear. An elastic and soft plastic band provides support at the top of your head as well as mild compression against your ears. The sides are adjustable for length and are hinged for compact storage. A switch behind the right earpiece controls the active noise reduction, and a small LED tells you when it's turned on. Power is supplied by a single triple-A battery, with the holder built into the right sidepiece. Although it skims close to the side of your head, it doesn't cause discomfort or imbalance.

The audio quality is about what you'd expect from inexpensive headphones: pleasant but not outstanding. It's bass-heavy with a tendency towards muddiness. There's falloff in the higher registers as well, which is obvious on our frequency sweeps and in critical listening to piano, violin, and jazz percussion, but using the EQ you bring these sounds out. The sound quality is adequate for noisy, public spaces, though, and the noise reduction is sufficient that you'll hear more of your music and maintain more serenity.

In terms of sound quality, Noise-canceling headphones will sound worse than comparably-priced non-NC headphones, may exist some kind of technology limitation, I did not find the answer.

Bose has become a sort of status brand to some shoppers, many find Bose products to be expensive compared to products of similar quality from other manufacturers. If you do not worry about the status of your Noise-cancelling headphones I recommend this product.

(This is my opinion as user plus summaries of Cnet, PC Magazine, AudioCubes, Ziff Davis Media Inc, Paylist)

These are great sounding for those who use them while traveling on airlines. They fold so they are easy to store in the briefcase. They work either with your mp3 player/ cd player/ computer or the airplane system. Only problem that I have encountered is that they get turned on when in the case, draining the battery. I now remove the battery when not in use, and it is fine.

These headphones by no means cancel or eleminate noise. They reduce light noise like computer fans, dishwasher, light construction crews, etc. They have exceptional sound quality and battery life is great if you remember to turn off the power. I got around 1 week with the 'AAA' battery on straight all 160+ hours. They look stylish in your home, but I wouldn't wear them walking down the street or even at a business/school.

All in all if you want to cancel the couple screaming at each other from across the street, but still have to hear that annoying kid/sister of yours two feet away, and listen to great music all at the same time... then these headphones are for you!

I have used these headphones on several trans-pacific (e.g., 12-14 hour) flights and they really cut down on jet engine noise. The headphones use a AAA battery to generate some white noise, which itself is not very noticable. You can turn the noise cancelling on or off. When you turn it off, you notice a large increase in the amount of background noise that reaches your ears. Thus, it is clearly effective. It is not as good at cancelling intermittent sounds, such as a noisy conversation, but it does help a little bit with that also. For example, I have to turn off the noise cancelling or take the headphones off to hear the flight attendant ask me which of the two lousy meal choices I prefer. The AAA battery lasts a long time. I used one battery for a round-trip from the U.S. east coast to China (approx. 35 hours of flight time) and that same battery still has power. I have not compared to other headphones so there might be better ones, but I find this one provides satisfactory results. I have used these headphones with my iPod and with the inflight sound systems, as well as with my laptop iTunes library, etc., and the sound quality is good. I prefer the full coverage over the ear to an earbud type of headphone. Your preference/mileage may vary.

They're OK, I guess, though I wouldn't bother buying them again and wouldn't urge a friend to buy them either. Price is nice, they're comfortable, they fold up nice.

That said, to me the big question is: How well do they cancel noise? And how's the sound quality they deliver?

On the first question, I'd give 'em one star. I've worn them on plane flights, and while they clearly cut out a bit of the plane noise the effect really isn't very dramatic. Let's say the noise a plane makes includes a whoosh, a hum, and a roar. These headphones cut out the whoosh. That's nice, but the hum and the roar are still as loud as ever. And, as everyone notes, the noise-canceling function does nothing about voices, passing snack carts, etc. I find it barely worth the trouble to wear them at all. I also find -- to a small but noticeable extent -- that the noise-canceling thing (the reverse-noise that the headphones create to kill the external noise) actually gives me a slight headache. I'm aware of some pressure on my eardrums, and it isn't very pleasant.

As plain-ol' earphones, they're adequate. Pretty comfortable. OK if not overwhelming sound quality.

Overall, while I agree with most the positive reviews out there, I do have a few things to add/reiterate/clarify after using these headphones for the last few months. Before reading this review, understand that I used these headphones soley in airplanes and I believe that is probably where they would shine the most.

Their best feature is their portability. They fold up very nicely and fit easily in my briefcase. If it wasn't for this feature, I probably wouldn't bother trying to squeeze them in there. Either there wouldn't be room or I would be afraid they might break. Unlike a few of the other reviewers, I never had any problems with the headphones accidently being turned on.

The second most important feature is how comfortable they are. If I couldn't wear them for extended periods of time then it wouldn't matter how well they reduced noise. Luckily, on my coast-to-coast flights, I didn't experience any discomfort. That's no easy feat either, because waering headphones typically tends to annoy me pretty quick. In fact, these are the most comfortable headphones I own. They don't pinch my head and they allow my ears to "breathe" since the earpieces don't fit snugly around or in them.

Lastly, they do a decent job reducing the ambient noise on airplanes. Like one reviewer mentioned, they reduce noise well enough but get no where near cancelling it. I used them at first when watching DVDs on my laptop and then took them off when I was done. However the noise difference was so great that I ended up leaving them on even when they weren't hooked up to anything. When watching DVDs, I didn't notice any negative effect on the sound quality and it sounded much better than similar headphones without noise cancellation because it filtered out a lot of the cabin noise. When I had them turned on, but wasn't listening to any audio, the noise reduction was about the same as wearing earplugs. As for the batteries, after about 3 months and 30 hours of use they seemed ready for another. That seemed acceptable to me since leaving the battery in there the whole time would slowly deplete it.

Basically, these did exactly what I bought them for and the price was right. Best of all, because of their portability and comfort, they'll actually get used.

While these headphones will never rival Bose or any other more expensive brand of noice cancelling headphones, you are also not paying the hundred + dollars for these. I recently took my headphones on a business trip. I had played with them in the office, and found them to remove the air blower noise very well. The ultimate test was the plane trip. I found that they effectively removed to low hum of the airplane, and sufficently boosted the audio, to where the aircraft noise was no longer noticed.

The ear cups do get a tad hot, but truly, for the price, these are a great purchase.

I had mine for 9 months and loved them on plane trips. Very comfy on my ears for long periods, not TOO goofy-looking due to smaller profile, rugged folding mechanism, and satisfying noise reduction. The "low risk" part? I absent-mindedly left mine behind on my last flight to Germany. Do I miss them? Yes, so I will buy exactly the same ones again. Do I feel bad about having to pay twice? Yes. But I did not have to pay over $200 twice! I can lose them 5 times and break even with Bose. Oh, and be sure to bring a spare AAA battery on your trip. Even if you remember to turn it off there is only so much sound a little battery can cancel over many hours.

OK, if you're considering these Kensingtons, you probably are looking for a value - not the absolute best headphones you can get. And i can tell you, these headphones are a great value. I use these on airplanes to watch DVDs on my MacBook Pro, and they do a great job of cutting the majority of the background noise during flight. Does it sound like you are in a soundproof booth in a recording studio? NO....YOU ARE ON A FREAKING AIRPLANE! Riding in an aluminum tube at 400 miles per hour is not the best environment to appreciate the finer points of audio quality.

Can you get better quality at the three hundred dollar price point? Probably. But for the incredibly reasonable price of these Kensingtons, you are getting a set of headphones that will cut down drastically on background noise, allow you to hear the dialog, music and special effects of your movie clearly, and not break your budget. Plus, in the unfortunate event that you break/crush/lose or sit on these, you're not out a huge amount of cash.

Overall - comfortable, convenient folding design, good sound quality, and good noise cancelling (you can also use them with no audio just for the noise cancelling effect while sleeping.)