Philips HN060/37 Noise-Canceling Earbuds

by Philips

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 4.6 x 2 inches ; 5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00061IYJC
• Item model number: HN060
• Batteries: 1 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (170 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Philips Noise cancel earbuds active noise reduction cuts out the background noise that spoils the listening pleasure and delivers pure sound on the move.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent enough, but don't kid yourself..., December 15, 2005

By 

Michael F. Maddox (Tallahassee, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips HN060/37 Noise-Canceling Earbuds (Electronics)

These are nice earplugs. They fit into my ears well, though they probably won't fit EVERYONE'S ears as well. Plus, some folks just won't like wearing plugs that fit so deeply into the ear canal; those people should avoid the HN060. The generic earpiece fits snugly enough for me, but it's not a custom earpiece, so one shouldn't expect it to be perfect for all ears--Philips should have provided multiple sizes with the HN060, like those provided with Koss ear buds.

Sound is decent enough, though it's certainly no Grado headphone, nor is it remotely close to the sound provided by an enclosed earpiece. No thumping bass, but a reasonably good frequency response in the mids and highs. The snugness of the earpiece does affect the sound quality; the better they fit, the better the sound will be, and the less ambient noise will sneak in. I listen predominantly to classical, swing, and horn-driven jazz, all of which sound rather nice with the HN060. I do not think those interested in heavy bass-driven music will be satisfied with these plugs.

The noise reduction features work well enough to reduce the fan noise of a close-by stack of servers. Airplane noise, air conditioner noise, and other steady amibients are reduced quite noticeably. Don't get these thinking you're going to be immersed in silence--you're kidding yourself. I'm satisfied, but feel that full enclosure headphones do almost as well at noise reduction.

The cloth-wrapped cord is very nice, as is the neck strap. This brings me to the only con I've found, the LENGTH of the cord is just not adequate except for use with wearable audio devices--a problem that most manufacturers seem to have developed.

Overall, a good buy for those inclined to like in-ear plugs. Others should avoid them solely for comfort issues.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you know what you are buying - reasonable performance/price, June 13, 2006

By 

Home Theater Family - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philips HN060/37 Noise-Canceling Earbuds (Electronics)

Looking over a lot of these reviews, it's pretty obvious that a lot of people don't know what they are buying and are dissatisfied not based on the product but product class (i.e. don't complain about your hair getting blown around if you purchased a convertible - ignorance is not a valid reason to pan a product). I'm thinking the price point here gets a lot of people buying them that are unfamiliar with this type of product, how to use it properly and what noise canceling actually is, hence you get all these negative reviews which seems to have a lot more to do with the type of product rather than the performance of the product within that context - you probably don't get these reviews with Shure or higher end phones simply because the price is prohibitive and keep the general shopper out unless they are specifically investigating.

With that out of the way, these are designed to fit in the ear canal. That works to provide some isolation effect although not as much as higher end Shure or other brands. For good sound quality, they must produce a seal in the canal. If you don't like this idea or can't get used to the feel, buy a different type of product - this is the nature of this type of device not just this product. Current packaging comes with 3 separate sizes to accomodate a broader range - they must seal the canal and most can probably get these to work well enough although they are not as good as custom ear peices (hey $20-40 - get real).

Another potential issue with this type of device is that the wires hang down and when they move you can hear them in your ear - once again nature of the device. This is why high end models have tiny little light wires (that don't stand up to much abuse) whereas these employ a neck cord from which the noise canceling unit also hangs. Not really an ideal or even good choice for sports or high activity listening where you'll be moving a ton although these might actually work okay for some purposes. Buds are really a better choice for this. There are multiple types of personal listening devices, you buy the one that suits your needs, don't complain that you bought the wrong type (i.e. buying high end monitors and complaining about the size, weight, and cord length while jogging).

Overall sound quality is pretty solid when used correctly with good seal. I was actually surprised with the base response and the mids and highs are accurate enough. You get really good sound for $20-40 - much better than I expected and for the price in this class probably impossible to beat unless you go far upmarket in price. Of course if you don't install them in your ear and get a seal - no base, tin, and low volume (once again, know what you are buying).

Noise canceling is okay. Blocks out a lot of ambiet machinery like A/C units or airplane noise. The plugs provide some measure of isolation and when combined with active canceling and some music you won't hear too much else unless you are looking for it or it's quite loud (which is something I like if I'm in a public place so I'm not totally isolated from what's going on around me in case of emergency or need for reaction). Once again, for the pricing it's quite decent. It does require an AAA battery which is included and one can easily forget to turn it off. This unit dangles from around your neck (unless you rest it on a table). This works okay for me, mileage may vary. It's certainly not too heavy although the jogging crew may not like it - but this is not a product geared for that so go figure although if you can handle it bouncing around a bit I guess it can be used.

Other: it does come with a full size stero jack as well as an adapter for airplanes. Pretty handy and nice pricing. 3 sizes of rubber plugs. Comes with a nice little psuedo leather bag/sack. Most of the cord is covered in a nylon/rope style sheathing so it should be durable (the exception is the cord from the lanyard to the actual ear phones which need to be very light).

The Negatives: Seems to require quite a bit of power so you'll have to turn the volume up higher than normal for the same listening level. You can leave the noise canceling on by mistake and drain the battery although it is not necessary for standard listening and the plugs themselves provice a decent measure of semi-isolation for most circumstances. 3 sizes of plugs don't guarantee a fit in every person's ear - mileage may vary. People may not like the in-canal type of product - probably not a good idea for small/irresponsible children. Consider keeping your ears clean and cleaning the plugs as needed. I can't confirm but someone in here did report that they couldn't order replacement ear pieces from Philips - this may have changed, I don't know but from what I can gather they didn't use to include 3 sizes of plugs either so this product has gone through some change over the past year or so.

That's all I can think of and hopefully that's enough for anyone to make a good logical choice. I've had these for 2 weeks and have used them quite a bit. Pretty comfortable overall and I'm happy. For the $33 Amazon has these for I think they are a very solid deal providing one understands what exactly they are buying and not just looking for something generic or slightly higher end to replace the buds on their Ipod. The headphone game is all about tradeoffs and spending the most money doesn't guarantee one a master of all trades (or evena good jack of all trades). Identify your requirements and how you intend to use them, figure out what type(s) of headphones you should be looking at, consider your budget, and see what that leaves you. This product is priced at a decent general level and a lot of people are missing the first 2 parts of that equation which are by far the most important ones.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't stand up to the test of time . . . ., October 25, 2005

By 

Paul Hart (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips HN060/37 Noise-Canceling Earbuds (Electronics)

Seems like a price too good to be true (not purchased at Amazon). Turns out it was.

I had turn major problems,

1) Ear buds eventually wouldn't stay on, they easy got lost/knocked off
2) Battery compartment eventually needed a piece of cardboard to keep the battery in position, other wise would get a buzzing sound.


In general, it could have been a great product.

1) Noise cancelling work, not the best, but works
2) Having a volume control is really really nice
3) The ear buds where comfortable.

In general I wouldn't recommend them unless you have to have a cheap pair of noise cancelling headphones. Then treat them with a lot of love and care . . .