Noisebuster (NB-FX) Noise Canceling Headphones

by Protech

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 6 x 2.2 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• ASIN: B000BQ0DM8
• Item model number: NB-FX
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

Product Description

NoiseBuster electronically cancels 18-20 of irritating background noise so you can enjoy peace and quiet or enhanced clarity of music with reduced distortion. Try it on an airplane to reduce engine din and enhance the sounds of in-flight entertainment. It's also great for use with exercise equipment, while commuting or mowing the lawn. Background noise degrades the quality and clarity of music in two ways. First, it masks certain tones in the music, making the sound unbalanced. Second, in order to compensate for noise, people tend to overamplify the music, causing distortion. NoiseBuster solves both problems and therefore delivers the utmost in music clarity when used with portable audio devices.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great, November 16, 2005

By 

C. Simpson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

These headphones are good and they impressed me the first time I used them. But after using them more than a few times, I am noticing a few things that I do not like.

1) Like others have already mentioned, they aren't terribly comfortable. After a long flight, yourt ears will likely be red and somewhat tender. But since NOT wearing them may mean you are deaf or crazy after ambient noise, it may be a fair trade-off.

2) When you turn on the noise cancellation, the headphones also amplify the sounds coming through the ear pieces. I think this is misleading. When I first purchased them, I thought "wow, the noise cancellation is so effective that it seems like my music is louder". Well, the music IS louder. Yes, the ambient noise is reduced, but the music is also louder so it makes you think the noise cancellation is more effective than it really is. When I turn on the noise cancellation, I would prefer only the noise to be canceled. If I want to turn up my music, I will do it myself.

3) When noise cancellation is on, there is a very faint and high-pitched "whoop whoop whoop" noise in the background (about 4 whoops per second). When your music or movie is turned up fairly loud, you won't hear it. But during a quiet passge in a movie or in music, you definitely hear it. It can be annoying.

So there you have it. These headphones are good, but they would be great if these issues were resolved. Reason #1 may be user-specific and everyone's comfort may differ. But reasons #2 and #3 should be address from a technology standpoint.

77 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Noisebuster makes any flight more relaxing, December 16, 2004

By 

Big Easy "bigeasy" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

I'll start by putting a couple caveats here. 1 - I bought direct from the manufacturer as they weren't on Amazon at the time, although I do buy a lot of stuff here, including my Robo Mower, but I digress. 2 - I own stock in NCTI (NCT-active.com) which is the parent company of the Noisebuster manufacturers (protechcommunications.com).

Now on to the headphones. I fly a lot and after most flights the engine noise leaves my ears ringing and stress level very high. I've tried a few solutions, including the headsets you can get on planes, but that just adds different noise to the plane noise. Also tried ear plugs, which lessens the noise, but then you can't hear the movies very well.

The Noisebuster with it's active noise cancellation eliminates a great deal of the 'droning' noise that planes make. I've also worn the much higher priced Bose headsets once and couldn't tell the difference in sound quality between the Bose and Noisebusters, however I could tell the difference between $70 and $300, so the Noisebusters won easily on that count. There have also been several major publication reviews on these (NY Times and USA Today come to mind) and the verdict has always been very positive.

It's fun to turn the noise cancelling on/off as a test and it's amazing how much noise gets cancelled out. This technology really helps in cancelling 'steady' noise (jet engine, plane air vents, yard blowers, lawn mowers, etc), so if you are near a shrieking baby, nothing's really going to help, although it does cut that down a little too.

The unit is nicely made with a folding headband that includes the AA battery holder. The wire comes with an adapter that works on single prong and double prong (like Continental airlines plug), so you can use it just about anywhere. This model has better ear pieces than the one I bought a few years back (and still occasionaly use when my better half steals the new ones).

All in all, I'm more relaxed and you really can't beat the price.

Just sign me

'A very satisfied user'

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best noise-cancelling headphone in this price range, May 21, 2005

By 

Big John (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

I owned the original NoiseBuster Extreme! model for many years. After much hard usage, they were beyond being held together by electrical tape anymore. That's OK, I got my money's worth out of them.

So I went looking for a new set. Before discovering this new Noisebuster model NB-FX, I tried the PlaneQuiet Latitude and NC-6 models. The Latitudes are priced at $20-$30 and are crap: sound quality is horrible, and noise cancellation abilities are limited. The NC-6, priced about the same as the Noisebuster NB-FX is better, but still lacking: sound quality is much muddier than the Noisebusters, and an audible hiss can be heard when the noise cancellation circuitry is on.

The NoiseBuster NB-FX isn't an audiophile headset, but it does produce reasonably clear sound, certainly clear enough for airplane travel and other noisy locations. I'm very happy with the bass, midrange, and treble response. The noise cancellation on this model does not have that audible hiss (even the old Noisebusters did), and does a fantastic job of cancelling out unwanted noise.

My only complaint is the comfort of this headset, but I usually have the same complaint about any set with a band of any kind. My favorite headphone style (for comfort) is earbuds, but I haven't found a set of earbuds acceptable for travel yet.