Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony MDRNC22 In Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones With Monitor Switch To Hear Surround Sound

I bought these earphones with the intention of wearing them in the gym. There is a lot of background noise (including loud music) that I wanted to cut out so that I could listen to recordings of the spoken word.

I would first address a couple of points mentioned by earlier reviewers that concerned me when I decided to buy the earphones.

The first was that there is a background hiss - true but if it's quiet enough to hear the hiss you don't need the noise cancelling turned on.

Secondly that the wires on the earphones were thin - They are no thinner or more fragile than any other earphones I've got.

Thirdly that the ear pieces were very thin and fragile - the ear pieces are no different from a set of waterproof headphones I've got from another manufacturer.

Fourthly that if your ears got sweaty the earphones slipped. They do slip occasionally (maybe twice an hour) but it is very easy to notice and push them back into place.

The headphones work wonders. I an not aware that I am wearing anything other than a set of normal earphones however, whilst the background noise doesn't seem muted, my audio tracks sound much louder and clearer. There must be a muting effect however because I don't hear if anyone speaks to me.

My one criticism is that the wires from your MP3 player to the unit and from the unit to the earphones are the same length. I find that I would like to have the unit near my MP3 player but the earphone wire is not long enough; conversely if I fasten the unit on my collar the wire to the MP3 player then isn't long enough! Making one wire longer than the other would solve this problem however this is not something that makes a major difference to the usefulness of the phones.

I would reiterate what other reviewers have said and what the instructions tell you. You must make sure that you have the correct size of ear piece for the phones and they must fit tightly to gain the benefit from the noise cancelling effect. The only way I found to judge which size was correct was to try them and see if the background was muted.

These are a great improvement over the previous [no noise cancelling] earplugs I had. Work beautiful in airplanes as well as several other noisy environments. There's even an adapter which allows you to use them with inflight entertainment systems. Only reason for not giving them a ***** is the cables get horribly tangled in storage [perhaps that's just me] and I worry that the problem I've had with other Sony headphones, where the fine wire breaks internally, is going to happen again - which would be a shame. That aside, I'm extremely pleased with them, and wouldn't hesitate in recommending them.

I have owned a pair of these for several months now and they are a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, they perform brilliantly, the difference between listening with the noise cancelling on and off is incredible but you have to ensure they fit snugly otherwise you'll notice no difference. I can only assume that was the problem for people that claim they don't work - they do! As for the hissing, I can only notice it when there's no sound, when they're being driven I can't hear any hissing at all.

What lets these earphones down for me is the design, firstly they have one earbud lead shorter than the other which means you're somewhat restricted on where you can clip electronics "pod", I find it always ends up having to be clipped to me with the controls facing downwards. They are also very tangly and I seem to spend ages untangling a bird's nest of cable every time I get them out, regardless of how carefully I put them away. I think a necklace type design would have been far better. Finally the little rubber buds come off far too easily, sooner or later I'm going to lose one.

Despite the poor design, I've still given these four stars because they are so effective, I just wish more thought had been given to the practicality of using them.

Used these on a number of long haul flights, and they have completely changed my oppinion of in-flight films.For something relatively cheap in comparison with the Bose, they offer small and compact solution to listening pleasure. Previously, I had to have films cranked up to the maximum volume with the headsets provided, and these, I have them on the lowest setting.

It is also important to have the correctly-sized buds - this took a while to select, after some trial and error, but once you have the correct ones in place, the sound contains the bass & balance that perhaps other uses complain about when they say that the sound is tinny. The buds do have to be well situated in the ear too. When using the noise-reduction, it does sound strange at first to have that sound cut.

My only complaint is the cost of the replacement buds, as I have literally just lost on in the past week, and researching the cost now, I really regrest not putting a small amount of superglue to keep them in place - live and learn! Also regret not buying a 2nd pair from a well-known department store who were selling for less than 30 pounds.

Though they come with an additional dual adapter for the airlines, most newer airlines have the std 3.5mm stereo socket.

I got these noise cancelling headphones to pair up with the Sony NWZA816B 4GB video Walkman MP3 player for use on long plane and train journeys and they go together brilliantly, the headphones giving a really good quality, well-balanced sound. With the noise cancelling switched on, the headphones cancel out most but not all of the background noise but then you'd probably be looking at paying over £100 for a pair of heavy over ear type headphones to do any better. The huge advantage of these little beauties is comfort and portability - and their great value too.

The headphones also come with an adapter that enables you to plug the headphones into a plane's entertainment system. This gives you the advantage of the great quality sound and noise cancelling abilities of these headphones whilst watching movies - you'll never have to use those cheap, low quality airline headphones again!

A few people have commented here that the headphones hiss when the noise cancelling is switched on. This is true but the low volume hiss is infinitely better than having to listen to the loud background noise on trains and planes. With some relaxing music playing, you'll find yourself dosing off on those long haul flights with no problem.