Sony MDR-NC11 Fontopia Noise Canceling Headphones with In-line Volume Control

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 10 x 6 inches ; 4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007EDM0
• Item model number: MDRNC11
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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  Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Headphones > Noise-Canceling Headphones

• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 15, 2003

Product Description

Product Description

Sony's MDR-NC11 Noise Canceling Fontopia Ear-Bud Headphones offer you peace and quiet wherever you go, reducing noise by 70% (10dB) when the noise canceling circuit is switched on. In addition, its 9mm driver units produce powerful sound for your listening enjoyment. So tune out noise at work, when you travel, or even when you are trying to sleep in a loud environment. The Noise Canceling circuit actually senses outside noise with built-in microphones and sends an equal-but-opposite canceling signal to the headphones. The Noise Canceling on/off switch located on the battery box indicates when Noise Canceling is operating. Additional features include the Fontopia in-the-ear design, Volume control, and a Miniature connection box for a battery. Silence outside sound with Sony.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great set of small NC headphones! Plays well with iPods!, August 4, 2003

By	C. Jesse Imbach "Herr Chef-san" (Napa Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am quite pleased with these little 'phones. I was given an iPod and since the included buds were just abysmal and since I travel a lot....well, it was a prudent purchase :-)

I have three sets of Noise Cancelling headphones (the others are sennheiser and panasonic) and these little MDRNC11's have a very similar ability to dim ambient noise in a MUCH smaller package - perfect for my dawn and midnight runs and they are great on the airplane, the bus and the office.

After a great deal of futzing with the included (and VERY comfortable) silicone ear moulds the sound is now fantastic on my iPod. I am still listenint to MP3's (or MP4's) so the sound is not audiophile quality but I am quite happy with what I hear.

In other reviews some of the folks has mentioned the bass-heavy nature of these drivers - yes, they are a tad bass heavy, but on the iPod the "acoustic" setting rounds them out very well.

The vast majoriety of music I listen to is classical and jazz. The opening track of "Jazz at the Pawnshop" is littered with lovely ambient noises that come through very well. As this is a pretty standard track for demoing audiophile sound systems, I would say that for $100 I got a heck of a bang for my buck :-)

Again, MP3's (even the ones from apple.com) still sound like MP3's, but these little buds reproduce the music with elan. If you need a personal Oasis in your daily life I can think of many worse purchases in the headphone market.

FInal tip, shop around :-)

-J

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My 2nd Pair, October 4, 2005

By	N Samoht "Nollam" (Quakertown, PA USA) - See all my reviews

What a bag of mixed reviews. I couldn't help but smile at some of them. For anyone considering the purchase of a sound reduction headset you have but two choices of any real consequence: 1) The MDR-NC11A, here by Sony for $59.50 or the 2) Bose QuietComfort 2 for $298.50. There are no other serious alternatives. I've tried them all.

However, the Sony at 1/6th price of the Bose is not for everyone. If you're claustrophobic or simply can't handle something inside your ear then you have no choice but to go with the Bose QuietComfort 2. Even with the beefy price tag, the Bose is only slightly better than the Sony set. Although the Sony requires a little care massaging properly into the openings of each ear canal, it's worth it. The combined ear silence of earplug and noise canceling technology fills the ear even before the music starts. Once it does, the depth of sound with its rich bass and the crystal highs are incredible for such a tiny device.

As for the negative reviews, this is my second pair, as I'm replacing an older version of these. For those stating it doesn't work, perhaps they should put down a buck for a AAA battery before writing a review. Yes, the noise cancellation technology requires a battery to power the reverse white noise that deadens reciprocating noises (engines, vibrations, etc). For anyone who just started looking, if in-ear plugs aren't a problem, buy a set. You can't go wrong.

104 of 127 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hugely Disappointing!, November 11, 2002

By	MartyHansen (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I purchased these Sony Noise Canceling Earbud Headphones hoping that they would be a smaller and more portable version of my Sennheiser HDC 451 noise suppression headphones, which are excellent. I couldn't be more disappointed.

First off, they were extremely uncomfortable to wear. They go directly into the ear canal. And even though they have interchangeable pieces (for a better fit), they still had a tendency to fall out -- which was annoying.

The earbuds also block the ear canal completely. If you've ever stuffed cotton (or earplugs) in your ears, you'll know that this causes one's own breathing to become very noticeable -- which is exactly what happened! And if I turned my head and brushed the earphone cord against me -- I could hear that too!

As positives, the Sony's did a decent job of filtering the lows. But they did nothing to screen the highs (as do my Sennheisers), so things like room fans, air conditionings and dishwashers were still much more noticeable than I would've liked. The sound quality of my music, though, was excellent. And there was none of the hissing and buzzing I've gotten from lower priced noise canceling headphones from other brands.

Overall, I couldn't help but suspect that the tight fit of the earbuds was responsible for a large portion of the headphone's noise suppression capabilities -- and not necessarily the electronics.

In conclusion, if you're accustomed to earbud style headphones, you might find these Sony's to be an improvement over ambient. I, unfortunately, found them to be extremely uncomfortable to use and -- for the money -- hugely disappointing!