Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips SBCHN100 Noise Cancellation Headphone

I bought this headphone in Sweden about 2 weeks ago. I work as a computer programmer and they have given me excellent relief and much better concentration at work, since I can close off from the external environment and focus on my work. I've used them for about 10 hours per day, rechargable batteries will last for about 20 hours per battery.

They sound quite good although the best part of them is the noise cancelling, it cancels out white noise and people speaking will sound a little muffled. I have used them once on an airplane once, and it cancelled out about 70% of the engine noise.

The cons are that the battery compartment is on the middle of the cord, so it will either be hanging or almost falling of the table all the time (these are probably made more for travelling than to use at work). The headphones are pretty tight and seem to be in a child size, that is they will press quite hard on your head unless your about 10-14 year old which they fit quite well on. This leads to the worst con of them all. I don't have a big head and I'm rather underweight for my height. I'm not using these anymore since they broke today, I was sliding them off when they snapped into 2 parts. When I looked in to it the construction of them is very fragile, which is a sin since these are quality headphones for the price.

However I can recommend them, but take good care since you don't need much to break them. Other reviewers talk about humming sounds from the noise cancellation system. I could not hear any of that.

First off the noise reduction is good, so much so that I've used the headphones on flights with OUT any music just to cut out the engine din. While in the office now they are doing a good job cutting out low pitch noises from computers, fans etc.

The sound quality is good, not amazing, but good enough for most people - these don't pretend to Pro headphones and at the price they are better than other closed ear headphones I've tried. However they do fit pretty tightly against the ear, so you may want to take that into consideration.

Downside, the build quality is poor. This is my 2nd pair of these headphones, the first pair cracked, the build quality is poor - you have to be especially careful folding/unfolding them. Thankfully Philips gave me my money back on the original set, I don't think I was the first person to complain about the build quality.

I use this headphone in an office environment. I bought it for two reasons, firstly to prevent my colleagues from hearing my music, secondly to lower the office noises which I hear (I am in an open area).
This is why I was searching for a closed headphone, when I came across this one which promised to actively cancel the external noise.
Well, all the passive noise reduction works as expected because of it being closed. However, I don't think the active technology is worth its price. It would be better to buy a cheaper closed headphone with similar sound quality or a similarly priced closed headphone with better sound quality.
Firstly the active noise cancelling does cancel the background drone well (caused by A/C, printers, and people) but this is the kind of noise my brain cancels automatically. Secondly it also cancels the lower sound components from voices but it seems to amplify the higher tones, thus making it actually easier to understand them. Also it doesn't cancel keyboard rattle, and loud or high noise. AND, in return you get a hissing white noise, which is annoying in quiet pieces of music, where you need the cancellation most. It also seems to be more tiring to my ears. I haven't used the headphone outdoors, so I do not know how it cancels travelling noises.
Other disadvantages of the phone are the thick cable to the pretty heavy unit that contains the electronics, the battery, and the volume adjustment. The latter is not smooth and seems to act different at lower volumes on both earshells, whether or not active cancelling is switched on.
About its sound quality? I have compared it to an older traditional open high-end headset (sennheiser HD 560 II). This far superior then this philips headset, much clearer. However, this does not prevent sound leakage to the outside at all, and my collegues consider that annoying.... :-(

Althought the sound perfomance is good, and particularly good for blocking aircraft cabin noise, the build quality of these headphones is shockingly poor. The plastic of the headband is incredibly fragile, and the stresses of folding and unfolding the phones means they come to pieces within six months. This occurred on my phones, and those of a colleague who also bought a pair for use when travelling. I would avoid Philips phones in future for these reasons.

I've just been given the Philips in-ear noise cancellation headphones, and the quality is so poor that I had to warn people if the technology in these earphones is the same.
The sound produced through the headphones is completely lacking in bass, and the volume so reduced compared to a normal set of earphones that I had to crank the volume on the player to the maximum, which introduced distortion in addition to the poor bass quality.
Maybe these headphones decrease ambient noise when used only as a noise blocker, but I wanted them to improve the sound quality of music on the move with my portable MP3 player. They did exactly the opposite.
Avoid!