Customer Reviews

Panasonic RP-HC70 Noise-Canceling Headphones with XBS® Extra Bass System

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I am very frequent flier and for some time have been looking for a solution against the plane-noise problem.
I have known about the US$300 Bose Headphone for a while, but I decided to wait for less expensive units.
A month ago a bought the Brookstone unit, which has fair noise reduction, eliminating the wind-in-the-wings noise (very low tones) in the plane, but not dealing with the higher tones (such as the turbines.
The Brookstone US$100 unit also proved to be VERY uncomfortable to wear, i.e., any flight longer than 3-hours is umbereable. Another problem is the sound quality of the Headphone itself, which is not too good. It sounds cheap, with not enough bass and squeaky treble.
Today I bought the Panasonic RP-HC70 (for less than half of the Brookstone price). The Panasonic is much better Headphone in terms of sound quality. The sound is clear and, although it could have a little more bass, specially when the noise reduction is on, the quality is OK. It is also much more comfortable to wear than the Brookstone, even though it does not fully cover the ears. It has however one small problem: hiss. Whenever Noise-reduction is turned on, a constant hiss is heard. If classical music is liestened to, all the piano parts become mixed with hiss. In terms of noise reduction itself, it is adequate for plane usage, covering a bigger range of sounds than the Brookstone unit.

These were pretty much the lowest priced "noise-cancelling" or "noise-reduction" headphones (with active circuitry) I could find for my trans-pacific flights. I didn't expect much out of them, but now feel I got well worth what I paid.

Noise reduction:

This is the first and only pair of noise-cancelling headphones I've ever used. I'm sure they don't even come close to the "legendary" Bose. Nevertheless, it still helps substantially when riding a jet. I can finally hear the in-flight movie dialogue comfortably without cranking up the volume all the way. Classical and jazz music becomes listenable, too. They also makes it much easier for me to relax or nap, even when not listening to anything. I ended up having them on all the time.

They do introduce some white noise (mid-to-high-range hiss) when noise cancelling is on. The over-the-ear design and noise-cancelling circuit combined is effective only to certain frequency range (Panasonic admits so on the package), meaning a crying baby will still be a crying baby. Jet engines, on the other hand, will be much more tolerable.

Comfortness:

I was able to wear them on trans-pacific flights all the time (except when dining, of course.) That was up to 14 hours non-stop! They sure feel nice to me. Nevertheless, no two persons' ears are of the same shape. Your mileage may vary. I wonder if they let you try headphones on in brick-and-mortar stores.

Conclusion:

If you pay five bucks on your flights for the crappy headphones that used to be free, think again. A very little investment may make your flights much enjoyable. As for hi-fi listening at home/work, better look elsewhere.

I flew 14hrs from Chicago to Hong Kong with them, I flew regional propeller planes with them, I rode subway and bus with them, and I worked in a computer lab (with nowadays 3 whirling fans per computer) with them. They perform superbly at cancelling noise with a recurring pattern, such as jet engines, car engines, etc.

Please don't expect them to be studio monitor handphones, just look at the price. Sound quality is not very good, especially with the Noise-Reduction on, but it's sufficient for casual listening. They are quite comfortable even in long duration (the 14hrs flight). However, the hinge for collapsing the headphone might caught hair (not fun if you try the take off the headphone quickly) but with proper practice hair-pulling will becomes rare occurance.

To let other not to have false hope about noise cancelling system, I must spend some time to explain how they work. These headphone works by listen to the noise, find its pattern, then generate that pattern at a +or-180 deg. or +or- 1Pi radian phase angle. Therefore, the noise from the background and the "noise" generated by the headphone's will add up to zero, thus the noise is cancelled, or reduced in the least. Also you would be dreaming to have a headphone that cancels human noise because human don't talk with a recurring pattern. Only way for cancalling human voice is to predict what he/she going to say and I don't think any headphones can do that.

The white noise (the hiss) is noticible but tolerable. I know higher end headphones (like Bose QuietComfort II) has managed to pretty much eliminate that but they cost few times as much.

One complain is the control box and all the wirings. It's very awkward wearing it while your iPod or Discman is in a backpack. I ended up "dreadlock" the wires couple of times in one day of subway commute. It would be real nice if there's a belt clip at the back of the control box because I don't know where to place it so I can have easy access to the volume control.

The sound quality in general is fine, but there is an annoying hiss when noise reduction is turned on - louder than I've experienced with other models in the same price range - and as a result, I've ended up never using that feature, despite the fact that it was what I purchased the headphones for. Another serious problem with the noise reduction, at least for me, is that it seems to be very sensitive to RF interference - when I plug the headphones into my laptop and turn on noise reduction, if the laptop is plugged in, I hear a low-pitched hum, and if I put my hand next to the box which houses the battery and the noise reduction electronics, the hum grows much louder. I have a lot of computer equipment around my desk, which might be contributing to the interference, but I've used other brands in similar environments with no problems. I have a co-worker who uses Bose noise-cancelling headphones in the same building; he tried mine on, and said that his were much more effective. I would recommend the Bose headphones to anyone who needs good noise cancellation.

Pretty good and comfy for this price. Sound quality can't compare to my expensive Bose QuietComfort, but at 1/10th the price, the Panasonic is an excellent value. If you have been able to live with inexpensive headphones/earphones, this upgrade will make your music-listening life more enjoyable without spending a fortune.

I recently purchased these headphone and I am quite satisfied with the product. I contemplated purchasing the more expensive Bose headphone but could not bring myself to pay the $300.00 retail. When I received the Panasonic RP-HC70's, I wore them for 7 hours and found them to be quite comfortable. The noise reduction does not completely eliminate outside noise but for the price and comfort, you can not go wrong. I'd recommend them to anyone looking for good sound quality at a reasonable price.

Some people who reviewed this are unclear on the concept. It is NOT supposed to reduce the sound of people talking around you. It's supposed to reduce low frequency hums. This it does admirably. It nearly completely silenced the din of my kitchen dishwasher. The effect is dramatic. Audio/music quality is quite good.

Fred

I couldn't afford a Bose Quietcomfort so I bought this at J&R and it's actually pretty good. It's not closed-ear so you don't keep all the noise out, but it's way better than most, more [costly] headphones and earplugs. Recommended.

I purchased these headphones after seeing them on sale at Amazon. The industry standard for noise-cancelling headphones are made by Bose. However, these are a great value if you do not want to spend that kind of money.

As with some of the prior reviewers, I would emphasize that this does not block out all noise. It is great for low-frequency, constant noise such as that of airplane engines, buses, and other sources. You will still hear background sound, just at a much reduced level.

The ear-pieces are padded and comfortable, but could be a little larger. There is an audible hiss when the noise cancelling is turned on. However, it is more than compensated for by the reduction in noise. The unit operates on 1 AAA battery.

Also, just a side note, you do not have to have the headphones plugged into a source for the noise cancelling to work.

When I first got the headphones, they looked sturdy and worth the money. The only part that worried me was the part of the headphones where you have the option to reduce (min or max) the sound or control the voulume (isn't blasting loud, but adequate). This part is a lot larger than I thought it would be. It's about 3in.*1 1/2in. It's located about 15 inches from the end cord of the headphones. This can be very inconvientent at times. So overall, it has some pros and cons. But so far, I have no intentions of returning it.