Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony MDR-NC500 Digital Noise Cancelling Headphones

First off I have read both existing reviews and am a little suprised at the negative one. Maybe a Bose owner perhaps? Anyway I have tried these out purely as an upgrade to my existing headphones I use for travelling with and quite simply I'm stunned at just how good the noise cancelling ability is. The box says 99% and to be quite frank I thought this a little bit of marketing nonsense, but having tried them in a noisy enviroment - the ability to remove outside sounds was almost spooky. Over the last few years I've had previous (expensive) Sony noise cancelling headphones, Panasonic and currently Sure types. I've also tried both of the Bose ones on the market as well. All are now redundant if you can afford these. Sound quality is excellent but that is expected at this price - maybe not audiophile at home level, but way superb for flyers or those who need to get rid of background noise. Not small it has to be said, so if using them on aircraft you have to accept a level of inconvenience. As far as I'm concerned on a long haul it's a small price to pay for almost total removal of engine and wind annoyance. And as a side benefit they pretty much remove the dulcet tones of screaming kids too - that alone is worth the price.

I'm also very suprised by the negaitive review. Especially seeing as I decided to upgrade from my Boss Quiet comfort 3 after having a demo of the NC500's at T5 and reading some more reviews. These headphones are simply amazing!! Whilst the Quiet Comforts were cumftorble, many things annoyed me i.e. the way the NC function reduced with battery life (which isn't particularly long for a two way journey) and being unable to use them once the rechargable battery died. No question, if you can aford these / justufy them, go for some for the MDR-NC500. Here's a review I found helpful before finally deciding to purchase:

Comfort
Doesn't matter how great a pair of headphones sound, they must be comfortable to wear especially when they're canceling out noise on long haul flights. My first comfort impression: they're surprisingly light when wearing. Usually big over-the-ear headphones are uncomfortably heavy; but not these. The ear-cup padding is relatively thin and firm, but still comfortable. The padding on the top head strap has this same firm feel and is more than adequate. A month ago on a SF to Paris flight, I wore these headphones for a continuous 10 hours before I started to notice discomfort. So I can safely say they pass the comfort test.

Sound Quality
Now I'm no audiophile, but I do enjoy a crisp vibrant sound. It must be noted that these headphones always have the noise canceling feature on, so they aren't exactly like a pair of normal headphones. The overall sound quality is great, but it's not astonishing. With volume at medium level the depth is there with a clean undistorted sound. In the higher volume levels the headphones start to produce very light noise and some minimal distortion. But this is at very high levels which I couldn't handle for more than a few seconds. Even though the headphones are expensive, it's excusable that the sound quality wasn't amazing because the noise canceling totally makes up for it.

Noise Canceling
I'm still a bit confused to how this "digital technology for noise canceling" exactly works. But I do know it works very well. It's my understanding that it converts the analog signal digitally by using a digital processor, and then it can apply different environmental filters based on the surroundings. When you first turn the headphones on they use the standard non-environmently filtered noise canceling. This setting worked well, but by clicking the AI (artificial intelligence) button located right next to the power switch, the audio cut out for a second then came back even better. The AI NC mode uses an automatic environmental filter mode where it can detect the HZ range of noise and apply a filter to mask it. There are three different modes, one for a plane, one for a train/bus, and another for an office/study environment. I did play with the different manual modes for a bit but found that the automatic setting could choose the right one for me, so I had no need for the manual settings.

Once I figured out the AI NC feature I started to enjoy the headphones even more. I could barely hear the roar of the jet's engines, but at the same time I could slightly hear important outside sounds, like my girl friend asking me to get her ice cream. I tested the noise canceling against a pair of $200 JVC HA-NC250 on-the-ear noise canceling headphones. Compared to the JBLs, the Sonys were amazingly better. The JBLs let in more outside noise and had a slight distortion/buzz in sound. The Sony's clarity and overall enjoyment was much better.

Accessories
These headphones come with a huge carrying case that is packed full of accessories. The case is so big that it makes carrying it sort of a hassle, but it does have every accessory you could ever need. It's got an in-flight adapter, 1/4" stereo adapter, 2 3.5mm stereo cords, a charger, and even a AA battery powered adapter for when you run out of internal juice.

These are quite simply amazing, awesome, magnificent. Superlatives fail to describe the quality of sound from these headphones. The digital, ai-enhanced, noise-canceling is utterly remarkable.

Before settling on these I had previously owned Sennheiser PXC 300's, and while they were also very good, leaving them on a plane left me with a need for replacements. I considered the BOSE QuietComfort 2 and 3, but after testing them, and encountering a wealth of negativity associated with them, I plumped for these Sony MDR-NC500D's.

I can't recommend these highly enough. Bass, mid-range, and high-end are flawless. The fit is extremely comfortable. I use these, mostly, at my desk with the AC plugged in, but there is a built-in battery with a 15-hour life, and a plug-in 2*AA caddy to extend this by another 12 hours or so. If you're out of power the headphones don't work at all, but this is not an issue for me.

If you're in the market for an upgrade, and have the budget, get a pair of these. You won't regret it for a moment, they really are that good.

Owning the bose quiet comfort 2 I thought that I would have to settle for sound reduction at a level that was okay but not exceptional (although at the time I thought it was) then I tested these at heathrow terminal 5 and was amazed at the performance.
One week later I came across them again in Tottenham Court road tried them again and had to buy them, agreed if you are used to listening to music through audiophile quality headphones costing more than these cost without the noise cancelling you may notice a difference, if however like most people you want good sound reproduction and excellent noise cancelling I dont believe there s currently a product to beat these.
I really dont have any idea how the negative reviewer had such a bad experiance unless perhaps he bought a dodgy fake copy. Both the sound quality and the noise cancelling performance is superior to the bose (which I previously loved)
your choice but if you hv any doubs these can be tested in many specilist stores and I think you will agree with me after hearing the impressive capabilities.
I have never bothered to write a review before but the strange nature of the negative posting forced me into writing this.

In short, the noise cancellation on these headphones is quite amazing, you've got three manual modes and automatic one. Virtually eliminates low frequency hum and reduces mid and hi-frequency one as well. Works great in noisy office space, they're quite comfortable to wear as well. Sound-wise they're not audiophile quality but still pretty good. Noise level from electronics is also low. The only cons is that you cannot use these headphones in passive mode. Owned Sennheiser PCX250 before and while they're not bad Sony MDR-NC500 is in my opinion much better, definitely worth the price tag.