Take 5: Noise-cancelling headphones
There was a time when Bose pretty much had the monopoly on active noise-cancelling headphones – which use electronics to filter out background noise – and fair enough, since it introduced them to the consumer market.
These days, though, it seems that ANC headphones and headsets (the ones with a boom microphone rather than one built into the earcup) are dominating the market, with most audio brands bringing out models for gaming, watching movies, taking Zoom meetings at work or just kicking back and chilling with some good music.
Here are five of the latest on the market in Australia:
Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones
RRP $499.95
Bose has long been the industry leader when it comes to active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones. Their quality also translates into longevity – we’re still using a pair of QuietComfort 3s that we got in 2006. That’s 16 years ago! The company’s latest model, the wireless QuietComfort 45, has improved noise cancellation for listening, better voice isolation for talking and and 24-hour battery life from a single charge. It has two modes: ‘Quiet’ for full noise cancellation and ‘Aware’ for full transparency to the world around you. Available in Black or White Smoke, they’re durable, lightweight and fold flat for storage in a supplied carrying case.
EPOS x Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team ADAPT 660 AMC headset
RRP $953
As you can tell by its incredibly long name, the ADAPT 660 AMC is a co-branded wireless headset (they’re headphones, really, since they don’t have a boom microphone and most headphones have a built-in voice mic these days) from EPOS and the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team. It’s an active noise-cancelling model that promises “superb call clarity”, “clear calls” and “superior sound”. If you buy these, though, you’re probably more interested in their Aston Martin ties: they have a kind of aerodynamic design that hints at speed, and have cup light rings and headband details in Aston Martin’s green team colours – a more modern, lighter and metallic interpretation of a traditional British Racing Green – plus the Aston Martin logo.
Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal gaming headphones
RRP $499
Bang & Olufsen has launched an upgraded version of its Beoplay Portal wireless gaming headphones. The new iteration adds compatibility with PCs and PlayStation consoles, as well as Xbox and mobile devices, a new wireless dongle and an impressive battery life of up to 42 hours. The active noise-cancelling headphones use an array of “beamforming” microphones that isolate and amplify your voice while eliminating background noise, in effect replacing the physical boom with a virtual one.As comfort is important when gaming for long hours, the Beoplay Portals are very light (279g), have jaw-supporting lambskin earpads and use offset padding to relieve pressure on the top of the head. They come in Black Anthracite, Grey Mist and Navy.
Jabra Evolve2 75 headset
RRP $490 (excluding GST)
This wireless, active noise-cancelling headset is designed to smooth the way for workers who are having to adapt to a hybrid office-and-work-from-home model and are spending an increasing amount of time on Zoom meetings. To this end, the Jabra Evolve2 75 headset has an improved ergonomic design with better ventilation, reduced ear pressure and better headband padding. The headset has a HearThrough button for hearing the ambient noise around you without having to take it off, and also uses Jabra’s excellent customisable audio settings. IT people will love the Evolve2 75’s headset data capturing capabilities and Jabra Xpress software, which makes it easy to oversee deployment, update firmware and manage settings remotely.
Jays q-Seven headphones
RRP $199.95
At the budget end of the active noise-cancelling headphone spectrum, the q-Sevens from Sweden’s Jays come in at a very reasonable $200 – give or take five cents. They have a personal assistant button so you can interact with Siri and Google Assistant to do things like adjust the volume, create a new calendar event or receive real-time updates on your flight status. Like most others these days, they also have a HearThrough mode so you can hear ambient sound. The battery takes two hours to charge fully and delivers up to 20 hours of wireless playtime in ANC mode and up to 30 hours in non-ANC mode. And, if the battery goes flat, you can go old-school and use the supplied audio cable.
