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Amazing noise blocking, but lots of small problems, October 11, 2008

I work in a noisy lab, so I wanted noise canceling headphones that could reduce the distraction of nearby chatter as well as the usual airplane engine sounds. After a bit of searching, it seemed like these JVCs and the Panasonic RP-HC500 were the best all around choices. So I bought both pairs and borrowed a friend’s Bose QC2′s to do a comparison.

*Noise Cancelling:
Although I did not have as much time with the Bose, I was able to use all three pairs to listen to city street noise outside my building as well as co-worker chatter in my office.
Although all three pairs did a fantastic job of removing the low frequencies (the ventilation system hum, etc.), the Bose really excelled here. It’s really true that speaking while wearing them let’s you hear your voice absent its lowest octave! The JVC and Panasonic pairs could not quite compete in that sense.
But for blocking higher frequency sounds, the JVCs were the winners. With the noise cancellation turned on, but without any sound playing, the voices of my office mates were muffled to the point where I could hear that they were speaking, but often could not make out what they were saying. The others muffle the chatter as well, but to a lesser extent.
Interestingly, it was sometimes hard to compare the Panasonics, as they produced audible hiss when the noise cancelling was turned on. The hiss was low, and wasn’t distracting with even soft music, but the JVC’s near-complete lack of hiss sometimes made me question whether the Panasonics were blocking as much sound as I thought, or just masking it.
But overall, the Panasonics and the JVCs were very comparable. There was a noticeable difference for office chatter, running a dishwasher, and air blowing, but the difference was always subtle–even factoring in the hiss issue. I was only able to try the QC2′s in a couple of situations, but on the whole, they were not sufficiently better than even the Panasonics to justify their price tag.
-The Winner for Noise Canceling: JVC.

*Comfort:
Since I only had 20 or 30 minutes with the Bose, I can’t say too much about them, except that they seemed typical for circumaural headphones. But I was able to try out the Panasonic and JVC pairs for several hours each.
The JVCs are incredibly comfortable at first; they’re small, light, and even look decent. But I wear glasses, and after a while the pressure they were applying to my ears against my glasses’ frame started to hurt.
The Panasonics, by contrast, apply far too much pressure to my head at first, and seem big and heavy. But after gently stretching them apart, they actually feel alright. They won’t win any awards, but I could wear them–with my glasses–for probably at least an hour without them hurting. Although I may still need to stretch them out again, every so often.
In terms of strange sucking feelings that some people describe with noise cancellers, I did not experience anything like that with any of these headphones. But of the three people who also tried them out, one said that the Panasonic pair made an unpleasant sensation in her ear and she did not even want to try them out again. The others did not seem to notice any problems, though.
It’s also worth noting that the Panasonics and Bose are circumaural (they go around the ear, and rest against the head directly), and the JVC’s are supraaural (they rest right on the ear). So after a lot of use, I imagine the JVC’s would be least likely to make your ear feel hot or sweaty, since they cover the least amount of your head. But also, if you have large ears, the fairly small space that the Panasonics expect your ears to fit into may be too small and therefore uncomfortable as well.
-The Winner for Comfort: a tie between JVC and Panasonic, but it depends on your ear size and whether you wear glasses.

*Sound:
I didn’t really listen to music with the Bose, so I’ll keep this section only to the Panasonics and JVC’s.
I listened to a handful of styles on both pairs of headphones; mostly rock, folk, and even some an capella solo. Consistently, the Panasonics sounded better. As one friend described it, the JVC’s didn’t have tight bass. I would add the highs weren’t that great either. They’re fine for occasional use on a plane, but were surprisingly poor compared to the Panasonics.
The Panasonics aren’t a panacea either for sound quality. No one will confuse them with high end headphones (say, Sennheiser HD-590′s); particularly, they have a fairly narrow sound stage.
-The Winner for Sound Quality: Panasonic

*Other Issues:
In spite of the poorer sound quality, I was still going to keep the JVCs, until I discovered that I could not use them with my laptop! For some reason, as soon as I plug the JVC’s into my laptop (with the noise canceling on), they make a strange hiss, and I also hear a 60 Hz…

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