Customer Reviews

Sennheiser HDC451 Noise Cancellation Supra-Aural Headphones

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These Sennheiser HDC 451 noise suppression headphones are absolutely wonderful. I wear them everywhere -- indoors or out -- even when I'm not listening to music. Nothing I've owned has improved my quality of life more.

These Sennheiser headphones eliminate redundant noise -- high or low, up to 20 db -- but leave other sounds undisturbed. Indoors, this means an abatement of unwanted utterings from dishwashers, air-conditioners, or other appliances; even people talking -- or the TV playing -- in other rooms. Outdoors, this translates into a reduction in noise from lawnmowers, leaf blowers, cars driving by, or planes flying overhead; even the sounds of kids playing or dogs barking emanating from down the street.

On planes, the Sennheisers significantly reduce the rumble from engines -- and the incessant hissing from personal air vents overhead. And let's not forget sleeping -- which is now, for once, truly feasible.

With noises canceled out, my CD's (or DVD's) sound appreciably better -- particularly in the highs which are definitely much clearer.

As the ultimate benefit, the open-air design of these Sennheisers allows me to use them everywhere, indoors or out; something not possible with a more encompassing closed-ear style (such as those from Bose which are significantly more expensive). I've used these headphones, for example, when visiting amusement parks, or when attending indoor or outdoor sporting events -- all of which were made surprisingly more enjoyable (and much more pleasant) by eliminating unwanted noise. I've even found that, while wearing these headphones, I can still carry on a normal conversation -- or listen to music or the television -- when the sound's source (person or machine) is located in the room with me or nearby.

The Sennheiser's earpieces are covered with a durable cloth (not foam); and they swivel on universal joints to insure a comfortable fit.

These remarkable headphones have but one shortcoming. They surprisingly tend to amplify wind noise, making them unusable on windy days or outdoors when riding about on a bike or horse.

Can a set of noise canceling headphones make music sound better -- while simultaneously improving one's quality of life? You bet!

If you're in the market -- these Sennheiser HDC 451's are definitely the one's to get.

This is meant to be a lightweight headphone set which can make travelling with them a little easier and travelling itself more comfortable. It reduces external noise, but one should note carefully that 10dB is NOT all that much. Is it an improvement? Yes. Does it completely block external sound? No, not by any means. In fact, the best way I can describe it, it's the equivalent of taking a thick towel and wrapping it once around your ears. You will still hear outside noise, but it's muffled. I bought this for airplane use, as I travel frequently, but can't yet say how effective they are in blocking that horrible engine droning. I'd imagine they'll help, but not too much. They come with a handy airplane headphone converter jack as well (plug it into the armrest). As far as sound reproduction, I'd advise these headphones if you have a programmable/custom equalizer function on your CD/MP3 player (I use these with my portable, which adequately powers them). Otherwise, you're likely to find the bass rather weak and the treble not quite bright enough. The midrange is, however, superb. With an equalizer you can easily correct this. The headphones are also extremely comfortable, and because the noise reduction feature operates on its own set of AA batteries, you can use it even without turning on your CD player. The bottom line is that these headphones are good but a little pricey: if you need to buy one set of good headphones, look elsewhere. If you can afford the luxury of a lightweight pair and still reserve a sturdier one for home use, by all means check these out. Lastly, if total noise reduction is what you seek, check out non-open-air headphones. Keep in mind that such headphones can leave you very much in your own little world, sometimes even if you'd rather not be!

I've owned these headphones for 3 hours and LOVE them. I just walked 8 blocks through Manhattan to the subway, took 3 different trains, and not only did it cut ambient noise considerably but it made the subway announcements easier to hear! Here are my pro's:

Open-air design with CLOTH covers--very comfy. Cupped headphones make my ears sweat and ear-buds hurt after a while. I hardly felt these at all.

Fairly lightweight. I don't think they are heavier than my fully cupped headphones, but less bulky.

Noise cancellation seems to rival that of the VERY expensive Bose headphones, but at a fourth of the price.

They cut repetative and bass noise very well, and dim the higher pitch din too. I took them off at one point to discover jack-hammering going on not too far away, but couldn't hear it at all with them on.

I took an entire subway ride with my CD playing at volume I usually only use indoors. For the first time I didn't have to blast my ears off to hear the music.

Cons:

don't get your finger too close to the headphone side--there is a mic there and you'll get feedback.

the control could have a volume setting on it.

It would be nice if you could use this behind-the-head.

Overall: for $[$$] this was a fabulous buy.

If you travel on flights often and like to listen to music, this headset definitely is worth buying. Although they are not perfect, they greatly enhance the sound and reduce the noise created by the aircraft. They also allow you to listen to music with the volume at much lower levels.

One thing to note is that the headset does not block out the sound of people that are talking near you. There are external microphones designed to monitor the environment and send reverse phase signals to cancel the unwanted sound. Those same microphones enable you to hear the voices, but after a while I seemed to block it out though.

I read other reviews where there were complaints of how short the cord is. The cord is over 5 feet in length, which I found to be plenty long. The battery pack in the cord can be a bit awkward, but on a plane you can simply clip it to the seat pouch in front of you. The battery pack does have a switch that allows you to turn the noise reduction on and off. This allows you to hear the vast improvement gained by the NoiseGard system.

I like the open-aire design of the headset and it is also light weight. The cloth ear-pads are a nice enhancement, as I typically find foam ear-pads to be irritating. One thing I do not like is that the foam pad in the top center of the headset does bother you after wearing them for a while. I found that if you move it more towards the back of your head it felt better (but sometimes would slide off the back of your head). The only other feature that would be handy when traveling is if they could fold up.

Despite a couple drawbacks, it definitely makes listening to music in a noisy environment a much nicer experience.

Between Sennheiser's (NoiseGard HDC451) and BOSE's (QuietComfort QC1) offerings of active noise reduction headphones, I have settled with Sennheiser's on its reasonable price tag...

It doesn't get the 5-star rating because the BOSE product is more comfortable to wear and has better sound in the bass end. Sennheiser's open-air design has a slight edge over BOSE's cup design. However when worn for about 2 hours, it gives some discomfort at the top of my head that comes in contact with the hoop despite the padded rest and eventhough the headset is relatively light in weight.

I bought these to fly from Australia to Europe and I found the Noise Reduction enough to enjoy the movies on the plane. At least you can now fully understand the dialogs. The Noise reduction headsets from Bose might be better but they also cost more than 3 times as much.

I've had several pairs of these. They're GREAT on commuter trains -- they greatly reduce the noises of klunky train cars, their ventilation, their non-closing doors, and such. They also reduce the noise from fellow passengers, including the moron nattering on the cell phone for an hour straight.

They also do a good job against co-workers who are under the mistaken impression that nobody can hear their phone conversations through cloth cubicle walls. And they're worth their weight in gold in a hyper-ventilated datacenter!

(I say several pairs because the original wiring design caused a break at the battery pack in pair #1, after 2 years of daily use in commuting. Pair#2 fell victim to a drop after 18 months and the plastic holding the earpiece to the headband snapped. Still a good value at Amazon's price.)

I *would* feel more comfortable schlepping these daily if they folded or had a hard case.

Ive had this headset for over 6 years.
I cannot think of travelling without these headphones. I can clearly listen to the words in a movie and enjoy on-flight music .. as bad as it usually is.
There is a slight pressure on the ear due to the interaction between the low-frequency sound and reverse phase LF emitted my the headphones, so do not leave them on for more than a few hours.
Ive used it with my CD, Minidisk and MP3 players. The batteries easily last for 100 hours. I clip the battery compartment to the seat pocket.
The headphones intentionally let high-frequency sounds through so that you can hear announcements. I wish I could modify the circuit to block out HF sounds as well!

I just finished a round trip flight, 4 hours each way, and these worked fabulous. With the noise reduction turned on, there was a significant reduction in the level of engine noise, and made it much easier to hear the audio from my portable DVD player. I was quite comfortable wearing them continuously for nearly 4 hours, so I don't understand other people's complaints. Also included is an airplane 2-pronged adapter to listen to the in-flight audio, rather than paying for their cheap headphones.
You don't even need to be listening to something; you can just wear the headphones to quiet down your environment. I did notice that hearing a conversation is also easier in a loud environment, such as on plane, while wearing these.
I also tried these out as the passenger in a car on the freeway, and these headphones again did a great job of filtering out the excess noise.

I can't sing enough praises to this wonderful device that has removed 99% of the annoyances at work. Ok, 99% isn't exactly accurate, but it's pretty close.

I put on the headphones, hit the switch, turn on the music, and I can't hear certain distant but extremely annoying coworker phone calls. The sound of the copier fades into nothing. I can't hear my computer's LOUD fan. And best of all, I'm unaware of my loud coworker's ninetieth retelling of the features of his car to the entire universe. It's just me and my Bollywood, and that's all I need :-)

The headphones are wonderful on the commuter train. I can hear the loud, obnoxious cell phone callers, but the phones make them seem like a dull background drone. I'm only faintly aware of the Crazy Frog cell phone rings and the loud conversations of people around me. Give me a magazine, and I'm on my own planet. The train noise itself fades to virtually nothing, and I'm shocked by its loudness if I have to adjust the headphones for a moment.

These headphones have not just spared me some annoyance, but they've lowered my stress level considerably and saved my sanity. Considering that I paid full retail for these, and not the nice discount price you see above, I'm still thrilled at the purchase, and would purchase them again for a higher price in a heartbeat.