Customer Reviews

Sony MDRNC7/BLK Noise Canceling On-Ear headphones (Black)

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(82)
3 star:		(61)
2 star:		(62)
1 star:		(49)

 

 

Based on the price, I took the plunge. The construction is pretty solid and look good on the head. The pads are very comfortable with a soft "vinyl" type material. The "arms" of the headphones wrap around the head really well because of the hinge at the top of the headphones.

But to the most important feature: the noise cancelling function was not dramatic during flights - it worked well for a semi-quiet office environment, but my primary need for this is flying. And during flying I noticed only a slight change. Good for the price, but not if you are looking to use this while flying or similar environments investigate other options.

Pros: Fairly good sound, smaller profile, great price point, comfortable, foldable, stylish

Cons: Non-detachable mini-plug, soft pouch (no hard case)

There are better noise cancelling headphones out there, but not for less than $50. At $49.99, these are great headphones for the traveler on a budget. I previously bought the MDR-NC6s and they worked pretty well for me. I originally got them to use while flying, but I also use them at work to remove the annoying hum from our company computers. The NC7 is a great upgrade from the older model. They noticeably cancel more of the ambient noise than the NC6. Also, there is virtually no lag time between when the noise cancelling is switched on and when it actually kicks in. The NC6 took a few seconds to begin actually cancelling ambient noise. Also, a common complaint that I've had (and read about) with the NC6 is that there's a faint, yet audible hiss while the noise cancelling is on. This has been greatly reduced to a hardly noticeable, faint background static with the NC7, which will probably annoy the audiophile, but doesn't bother me. These headphones are much more comfortable than the previous model. I must note that these headphones don't cancel out all of the noise, just the constant background noise, like the engines of an airplane or the hum of loud equipment. You can still hear people talking or the keyboard while you're typing (faintly), but they're not meant to drown out these noises, so keep that in mind when trying out headphones.

These are far from the perfect headphones, however. The mini plug is not detachable as with other, more expensive models. Also, they use a double cable design (one leading into each ear pad) as opposed the single line design of its predecessor. This might cause the headphone cable to get more tangled. Also, the case that it comes with is just a soft nylon drawstring pouch, as opposed the molded cases of more expensive headphones.

Bottom line, with only minor flaws, these are great headphones for an unbeatable price. I only wish they came in a wireless behind-the-neck "street style" version.

I waited to take a couple flights before I put in a review for these headphones. If I could give an extra half star I would because of the price.

Looking at other reviews for various models, I was surprised how many people think Active Noise Canceling will handle things like voices, phones, assuming they will encase you in a cone of silence (see Get Smart). This is not what they are for. They cancel out (but not NEARLY all the way) low frequency constant tones - car noise, aircraft noise, lawn mowers, etc. This made looking at reviews difficult because people who could hear their fingers snap while wearing the headphones gave a poor rating.

The overall sound quality is poor. My fifteen dollar Koss over-the-ear KSC75s sound worlds better than these. Strangely, they sound a bit better when they are switched on (some bass response compared to almost nothing while off). Since I bought them for use in noisy environments, I wasn't too worried about this. I won't be listening to any delicate sonatas on them.

Highway noise especially, as well as aircraft noise are reduced by an acceptable amount. Aircraft noise could do a little better. Some have complained in reviews that these phones squeeze your ears too much. If they squeezed MORE, their passive noise blocking would do better. Larger ear cups might be nice.

I bought these for flights, and my daughter ended up using them most of the time to watch cartoons on the plane with an iPod Touch. I wanted to be sure the audio didn't have to be turned up to dangerous levels to be audible on the flight.

They will make your ears warm and maybe a bit sore if you wear them for too long but they aren't uncomfortable. The battery lasts a long time, as long as you don't accidentally leave them on. They fold up to a nice small package that fit nicely in my DSLR/laptop bag.

If you need something more than a quick and dirty set for an annual family vacation, go with something more but for special use (lawn mowing?) secondary set where sound quality isn't a big issue these work well.

I bought these as a replacement for my Creative HN-605. At $49.99, I took the plunge and got these instead of a more expensive one.
The audio clarity is reasonable (comparable to other Sony Neodymium earphones / headphones). The noise canceling capability is good... was able to null out air conditioner background and refridegrator hum at work and home. Will be trying out these next week on a trans-Atlantic flight. There is a faint white noise audible when no signal is connected; but other than the Bose headphones, almost all other noise canceling headphone I've tried have this "feature."

The only downside to this pair I've noticed is the somewhat flimsy plug. I've had Sony audio accessories with better plugs.
Overall, I'd say its good value for $50.

Uncomfortable = ridge at the top of headphones (where it bends) becomes distracting and painful after short period of time.
Headphones doesn't cover entire ear, somewhat "housing" ears; it lays on top of your ears, causing them to hurt after long usage.
Sound quality = great.

First off, unless you have the noise cancelling mode on, the sound is absolutely horrible--VERY tinny/puny sound as someone else noted. This is a big showstoper for me since I don't always need the NC on.

Secondly, these headphones will cause you pain after just a couple of hours, probably because the pading is flush with the middle part of the headphone. Ouch, they really do hurt.

Lastly, and this probably is a problem with other noise cancelling phones, your blackberry will drive these phones absolutley crazy--nonstop buzzing. Anyone that has a blackberry and has had their phone too close to cheap speakers will know exactly what I'm talking about. Beware of this problem. Since you really have to have NC on all the time for these headphones to sound decent, the buzzing may drive you bonkers.

Oh well, at least they're inexpensive.

I thought that these headphones delivered great sound and were really comfortable. And Amazon's price was better than what I found at my local warehouse discount club store. The design is everything though. They fold neatly and compactly into a little pouch which comes with the headphones and are designed so that they adjust to fit easily over many different sized people without fiddling with the band. My husband who has a huge skull and I can share the headphones without adjusting the band every time.

And the funniest thing about the design is that it hugs your ear pretty well that ambient noises are well muffled even without turning on the noise canceling capability. But the same ear pads which are great at doing this also tend to get a bit sweaty when I'm using them to listen to music and exercising on the treadmill (I know, I should use ear buds, but they always fall out). The only other thing is that I wish the cable was maybe 6 inches longer so that I don't have to take them off when I drop a pencil under the desk and have to go hunting for it.

These headphones are AWESOME for the price, but since there only 40$ there are going to be a few flaws. the sound is excellent however the physical construction is weak. 1- the battery door is pretty loose, 2- the head piece seems very fragile.

There are a few serious problems with these headphones:
1. They pick up a ton of interference from cell phones. I guess that wouldn't be an issue on an airplane, but for everyday use, it's pretty annoying.
2. They're uncomfortable. After ten minutes or so they put a lot of pressure on the cartilage in your ear and on the top of your head (there's no padding on the band).
3. The sound quality is terrible with the noise canceling off. You have to turn on the noise canceling to get any bass.
4. The noise canceling is useless. It blocks out ambient white noise, but won't block out anything that you would actually want to block out, like airplane engine noise, train noise, or traffic noise.
5. They shock me. I don't know if that's a problem across the board, but mine will occasionally shock me in my ear, which is quite unpleasant.

Bottom line, they may be cheaper than other noise canceling headphones, but they're so terrible that it really doesn't matter.

I bought these headphones two days ago (at the time of this review) from Best Buy to replace my previous headphones, which had, in effect, died. While I found the sound quality to be quite admirable, and actually rather liked the soft bag that came with the headphones, I wound up returning them the next day because I found them to be incredibly uncomfortable. They were ok at first, but they quickly caused my ears to get sore, and adjusting them to better fit my noggin did virtually nothing to help. I found myself taking them off repeatedly so my poor ears could recover, which deprived me of my music. While overall these headphones have a good sound quality, they lose points for being such uncomfortable things, and while I only used them for my computer in the short amount of time I had them, its safe to say they wouldn't be much better during a long flight.