Audio-Technica ATH ANC23 QuietPoint - Headphones ( in-ear ear-bud ) - active noise canceling

 (61 customer reviews)

When I first tried these, I thought they didn't work. Switching them on seemed to make no difference. However, the good reviews I'd read encouraged me to persevere. So I put on the slightly larger ear pieces and made sure they were properly crammed into my head, and they worked really well.

Listening to a music video on the TV, it didn't seem to block much treble/voices, but it really cut out the bass. It also made me realize that there's a constant low hum in my apartment I'd never been aware of before. I'd really bought them for an 11 hour plane flight, and having them was fantastic. I managed to sleep for six hours - in economy! At 6 foot 2 with long legs, that's pretty impressive. Coincidence? Who knows. A good buy (just make sure they fitted VERY snugly), and I'm sure you can buy better, but you'd better be willing to shell out an additional $200.

Recently I faced the prospect of a long trans-oceanic flight and wanted some compact (preferably earbud-style) headphones with reasonable sound quality and, if possible, some decent noise-cancellation capability. Like all well-prepared travelers, I waited until I'd passed the security checkpoint, and rushed into an airport shop with no more than five minutes to make my choice. I quickly told the salesman what I was looking for, and he steered me towards this model from Audio-Technica. I'd heard the brand name, but had never bought one of their products. I asked him to compare the performance of these to those of Sony and another brand in the shop. (Both were earbuds, with noise-cancellation, at about the same price.) He insisted these performed better with regards both to sound quality and to noise cancellation.

Several thousand miles of ambient aircraft noise later, I can say I'm pleased with the choice. I've tried the noise-canceling phones from Bose (phenomenal,...Read more

I thought that surely i'd be returning these with disappointment but thought affordable, active noise-canceling earbuds would be great if they worked so it was worth the risk. Not only do they work, they work like a miracle. I haven't used these on an airplane yet but i've been finding noisy stuff to test them around. My apartment's A/C is completely muted when these are on, in fact if i leave them on over the course of an hour i can only tell the A/C is on because air starts blowing on me. Normally i have to turn my TV up when it kicks on because the A/C is on the other side of the far wall with the air return vent visible from the couch.

The dishwasher is reduced from its normal volume to a swishing sound, the collective sound of all the apartments in the courtyard outside simultaneously air conditioning is eliminated, and even the white noise generator my wife uses to sleep turns to silence. What these will NOT quiet are sudden noises and high-pitched noises. I've...Read more