Do you travel often or occasionally work remotely from noisy environments like a coffee shop? Does that ambient noise in the background distract you to no end? Then noise-canceling headphones might be right up your alley.
These headphones effectively “cancel out” background noise by sensing external input and generating a “fingerprint” of the sound, and then create a new wave that is 180 degrees out of phase with the waves associated with the background noise. They typically only work well when you’re in an area with lots of ambient noise, such as a noisy cafe or other locale, or are traveling on a plane or train. In other words, they only work well when there’s constant influx of loud, distracting noise—the exact scenario when you’d want relief from said noise.
I recently had the opportunity to test a complimentary pair of noise-canceling headphones, which were provided to me for review purposes: Mixcder E7 active noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones (mixcder.com).
These are attractive, sleek headphones, in black and silver, but they’re certainly not as unobtrusive as earbuds. The soft foam ear padding is comfortable and provides additional noise filtering. The headband is padded, too, and is adjustable, which allows you to customize the headphones to your liking.
These headphones have Bluetooth capabilities and thus wirelessly connect with your Bluetooth-enabled mobile device. They come with a hard carrying case to protect them, along with a charging cable and a 3.5 mm cable for use when you choose not to enable the Bluetooth connection.
An easy-to-read manual is provided, and setup was quick and simple. Connecting them to my iPhone via Bluetooth was easily accomplished. The built-in 400 mAh battery charged quickly and held a charge for more than a day.
The earpiece on one side of the headphones has a microphone that can be used for phone calls, and it can be turned on and off. Also on that same earpiece are volume control buttons. On the other earpiece there is a switch to turn the noise-canceling feature on and off.
The sound quality is quite good, and the Bluetooth reach is 33 feet. My husband and 14-year-old daughter told me that their preferred headphones had slightly better sound quality, and my husband advised that his Bluetooth headphones had a slightly greater reach. But for my needs, the sound quality and Bluetooth reach were more than sufficient.
I was particularly impressed by the noise-canceling features. I took them to my local mall to test them out and sat in a well-traveled thoroughfare. Prior to using them, it didn’t seem to me that the mall was all that noisy—at least not in any noticeable way. Then I put them on without the noise-canceling feature enabled, and the ambient noise was muffled somewhat.
What a difference, however, after turning on the noise-canceling technology! The external sounds decreased markedly, and when I removed my headphones, the cacophony of the mall—something that I hadn’t really noticed previously—was readily evident. I much preferred my experience with the noise-canceling feature enabled.
Because I travel often for work, I’m definitely planning to take these headphones with me and am greatly looking forward to using them both at airports and on planes. I’m really excited to see if the headphones might help to reduce the chaotic aspects of travel, thus increasing the overall experience. Perhaps I’m giving the noise-canceling function too much credit, but, hey—a girl can dream, can’t she?
And last, but not least, you’re probably wondering if the price is right. These headphones ring in at the reasonable price of $59.99 on Amazon, so I’d say that it is. The bottom line: If you’ve never tried noise-canceling headphones and find the concept appealing, these headphones might be just what you’re looking for.