Listening to music is one of life’s great pleasures. But it’s more than just a pleasure, it is part of your lifestyles — an intrinsic part of both leisure, work, travel, and state of mind. It’s little wonder that everyone needs — not wants, needs — a great pair of headphones. Listening to music can be a deeply personal experience.
The modern world is a loud place — and if the incessant rumble of engines, the non-stop nattering of a coworker, or the earth-rattling bang of a nearby building site keeps you from fully immersing with your music, podcast, or call, it’s time to invest in some noise-cancelling headphones.
Buying headphones is never simple, of course, with all the brand names, jargon, and ever-evolving tech that you need to consider. To make it easier — and to help you make an informed decision before you open your wallet — here’s the need-to-know info about noise cancelling headphones.
What is noise cancellation?
Noise cancelling headphones do what they say on the box — they block, dampen, or outright kill external noise so you can full immerse in your listening and isolate from the distractions of the outside world. There are two main kinds on noise cancellation — passive and active noise cancellation.
Passive noise cancellation works via the design and build of your headphones. They block out noise through physical features, such as large over-ear cups which create a seal and stop environmental noise leaking in.
Active noise cancellation — usually referred to as ANC — uses a system of mini microphones that listen to what’s happening in the world around you, then inverting the noise and sending it into the loudspeaker. The idea is, both the output and the input will cancel out, leaving you with near-silence — or the music you want to listen to.
What are the most important features for headphones?
There are other features to look out for when buying a set of noise cancelling headphones. This is what you should know before making any sort of purchase decision:
Adaptive noise cancellation — Noise cancellation that detects a change in the surrounding environment and automatically adapts to give you real-time ANC.
Transparency mode — This allows you to let ambient sound back in. This is handy for things such as having conversations or listening out for announcements on a train platform. Some transparency modes are adjustable, so you can choose which external sounds to let in.
Codec — A codec is a piece of software that compresses music to transmit digitally and decompresses again at the other end. For best quality wireless sounds, look out for headphones that support high bitrate codecs such as aptX.
Drivers — These are little cone-shaped gadgets in the ear cups that are responsible for your tunes. They convert electrical signals into sounds. They usually measure between 20mm and 50mm in headphones.
What are the best noise cancelling headphones?
There are lots of brands out there, from the household names — Sony, Bose, Apple — to lesser-known brands that offer surprising quality and features for lower prices. If you’re looking for a headphones bargain, such as a pair of headphones for under £100, it’s worth looking at all the alternatives. For noise canceling, the best known brands tend to deliver the very best in ANC technology — as you’ll see from the selection below.
Now that you know how it all works, we can introduce you to some of the best noise-cancelling headphones out there.
These are the best noise-cancelling headphones in 2021.
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