It’s hardly surprising considering that, while the budget end of the headphone market is swamped with companies, Sennheiser’s main competitors in the high-end space number only three or four. And most of these are hardly household names – AKG, Grado and Stax are the main ones that come to mind, certainly for on- or over-the-ear headphones.

This is where the firm’s latest product unashamedly sits – firmly at the high end of the market – and with a price to match. Its PXC 450 noise-cancelling cans will set you back anything between £180 and £300.

They’ve certainly got a quality feel to them. As soon as you open up the box with its posh, magnetised flap, you know that you’ve purchased some serious gear. The headband and circumaural earcups (the kind that sit over and around your ears) are wrapped in luxurious soft leather and are beautifully softly padded. The chunky hinges and headband, underneath their luxurious cladding, are constructed of hard-wearing steel and aluminium. The cable feels thick and hard-wearing and can even be replaced should you ever trap it in a closing car door. The whole set has a pleasing, industrial feel to it, like a pair of luxury, high-tech ear defenders.

The PXC 450 is a large headphone set, but it folds up into a fairly compact shape for travel, and it comes in a slim, easy-to-pack black zipper case a bit larger than the Bose carrying case. It also looks similar to the QuietComforts—silver plastics and a heavily cushioned black headband and earpieces. Volume, Power, and “Talk Through” controls rest on the right earpiece. Although it’s great to have these options, you can’t see the buttons when you’re wearing the headphones, and most of them (except Talk Through) feel the same—which makes it hard to know what you’re pressing even if you memorize the layout. I think most folks are likely to keep the volume setting on the headphones constant and adjust levels on their sound source instead. The right earcup also holds the single AAA battery used to power the unit, just like the QuietComfort 2 (the QuietComfort 3 has a more convenient rechargeable battery). The left earcup houses the detachable audio cable connection and the normal/bypass switch (more on that later). The cable itself is 55.1 inches long and of a substantial thickness more like Grado’s cabling than Bose’s. There is a double-mono airplane adapter included, as well.

A comfortable respite from thin sounding earbuds and uncomfortable behind-the-neck earphones! The Motorola S805 Bluetooth DJ Headphones are a great balance of wireless freedom and captivating sound.

The DJ-style headphones moniker refers to their styling, not their functionality. The drivers of DJ headphones swivel upwards, keeping the headphones stable so you can listen to what the audience hears with one ear and preview with another, all while frantically mixing. The closest resemblance to DJ functionality these headphones have is the ability to swivel the drivers 90 degrees at the joints, flattening them for more manageable transport in the included hard case.

While the S805s are advertised as wireless headphones, they do come with a 2.5mm headphone jack and a 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable, so you can run them via a wired connection if you like. This improves the clarity a little and also removes the delay that is always present on Bluetooth headphones, but of course you sacrifice the convenience of no wires.

While the S805s are advertised as wireless headphones, they do come with a 2.5mm headphone jack and a 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable, so you can run them via a wired connection if you like. This improves the clarity a little and also removes the delay that is always present on Bluetooth headphones, but of course you sacrifice the convenience of no wires. Generally, the bigger and more expensive headphones get, the more comfortable and better sounding they are. The DJ headphones were not as comfortable as we were expecting, because the earpads are made of soft leather, which is nowhere near as forgiving as velvet and other soft materials you see on headphones for the same price. The flipside of this design is that they reduce a lot of ambient noise.

Features

• Play time: up to approximately 17 hours
• Weight: 5.5 ounces
• Circumaural ear interface
• Speakers 40mm diameter Neodymium
• Music controls: Jog dial for track/volume; push button for call answer/play and pause
• Noise, echo and wind cancellation
• Wired connection for use with all stereo MP3 players
• Bluetooth class: Class 2
• Bluetooth Stereo profiles - A2DP, AVRCP
• Bluetooth Headset profiles- HS 1.0, HF1.2

Take the foldable HN110 headphone with you on your travels and enjoy great music everywhere – even in noisy environments like buses, trains and airplanes. It’s a full-size headphone that covers your whole ear, yet it folds up for compact storage in the soft pouch supplied. The active noise canceling technology is easy adjusted using the controls that are conveniently integrated into the headphone shells.

As any frequent flyer knows, apart from industrial-strength knockout pills from a cooperative GP, noise-cancelling headphones are the best thing since eye masks and knitted slippers for the long-distance traveller. Not only do their noise-cancelling circuits make it far easier to hear movie soundtracks and music broadcasts but they also make it easier to drift off to sleep, by removing the intrusive drone of plane engines and air conditioning.

Of course, headphones of this type needn’t be restricted to use on long-haul flights, they can be just as handy on trains and buses or in any other noisy environment. The Philips SBC-HN110 headphones have been designed with just this idea in mind. They sport a retro-cool look, are lightweight, fold up to next to nothing and come with a handy, soft carry pouch. A 6.5mm adapter is also provided for hooking into home audio gear and a two-pronged aeroplane adapter is included as well. A single AAA battery provides the power for the noise-cancelling circuitry.

Zalman is mainly known for silent cooling products in their Computer Noise Prevention System line. The newest product to come from Zalman has nothing to do with lowering noise levels but rather creating noise. They have changed focus away from cooling products to create a new set of 5.1 channel headphones. During the night or at LAN parties loud speakers are not very practical because you don’t want to wake someone sleeping in a different room or bother the gamer sitting next to you. These headphones are designed to reproduce the big sounds created from 5.1 channel home theater speakers but in a much smaller package. Today at HiTechMods will be checking out Zalman’s new Theatre 6 Real Surround Sound Headphones.

To every coin there are two sides and firmly we shall sit balanced on the edge. The debate is speakers versus headphones and which is better. Audio is a very subjective experience. What may sound good to one will not to another. Some prefer a lot of bass while others prefer the sharpness of treble. What determines “good” audio is the path the audio takes from the source to the ear. The old saying goes that you are only as good as your weakest link and this is quite true of audio. If any component is not up to the job of faithfully reproducing the original sound then the end result will be deficient.

Sound is mish-mash of acoustic bounces, reflections and changes emanating from a source to finally reach your ears. You do not hear a pure piano. You hear the hammer strike strings then reverberate through the soundboard around the plate and through the cabinet. Some of this sound travels in a straight line to your ears. Some reflects off the surrounding walls, people, objects and so forth to eventually reach your ears. This blending of sounds creates the final effect.
Specification:

Creative’s lightweight black in-ear buds rival the sound reproduction of more expensive sets but need more fit options to truly compete. High and midrange sounds are reproduced well, and bass is solid. Creative includes several silicon earbuds, but we wish the package included foam and flanged silicon pads a la Shure’s E2c, although that set costs $30 more. This gripe aside, the price/performance ratio is pleasingly close to Zen.

With in-ear headphones all the rage now, it didn’t surprise us when audio-centric Creative Labs joined the fun with the launch of its own Zen Aurvana in-ear earphones. Already available in Asia a few weeks before their U.S. launch, the $99 “anti-iPod black” pair are extremely lightweight (0.46 ounces) and low profile, and they sound quite good–if they fit in your ears properly (Jasmine’s earholes are too small for the Aurvana).

For me, that’s not a problem. You get two pairs of three different-size silicon earbuds, the rubbery kind. Though I prefer foam tips, the medium size fit quite well, passively blocking ambient noise (by 90 percent, according to Creative) and delivering clean, balanced sound. Indeed, the high-end sounds come through crystal clear. The Aurvanas have a frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz and a sensitivity of 115dB and 20dB at noise blocking. Bass is surprisingly solid (for this listener anyway), and overall performance is good, or as good as a pair of $110 Shure E2Cs, which are bulkier than the Aurvanas. While we prefer the sound of the Shure E3cs, the Aurvanas cost half as much.

If you want a livelier and better-balanced sound and don’t mind looking a bit Frankenstein-ish, go with the Ultimate Ears super.fi Studio 3. If you are looking for serious bass, check out the Sennheiser CX-300. Aside from that, the Zen Aurvana provides a very good overall listening experience, with very good sound and lots of quieting, and in a very compact earphone. The cable thump and wind noise make these earphones more suitable for trains and planes than for walking around, but if you can find them for less than list price, I recommend these for their compactness and quieting ability.