Keeping Out the Noise, Letting In the Sound
I have owned the Soundcore Q30 for over a year now, but only recently have I done detailed tests of the active noise cancelling function. Compared to top-of-the line active noise cancelling headphones, they are very affordable. But are they good enough? Well, in my experience, if your main reason for getting ANC headphones is …
Read moreAnker Soundcore Q30 Review: ANC Test and Q20 Comparison
AirPods Pro 2 have an upgraded, powerful active noise cancelling function that can make a gas-powered lawn mower, many power tools and other machinery and even music bass appear a lot quieter. Sometimes the results are stunning. Perhaps you are wondering: “Why not get rid of earplugs and ear defenders and use my AirPods Pro …
Read moreWhy I Wouldn’t Use AirPods Pro for Hearing Protection
The objective of headphones with adaptive transparency mode / adaptive awareness mode is to allow you to hear your surroundings as you would without headphones while at the same time reducing loud noises. Wouldn’t that be great? Walking around town and being aware of traffic but not stressed out by excessive honking, sirens, loud motorbikes, …
Read moreHow Can Adaptive Transparency Help Noise Sensitive People?
More and more noise cancelling headphones and earbuds are being advertised as having adaptive noise cancellation. But is that just a sales pitch or are we getting some real benefits? I recently experienced several such adaptive noise cancelling headphones and earbuds. The results were sometimes stunningly good, but in other situations the same adaptive headphones …
Read moreAdaptive Noise Cancelling: Better Than Old-School, Fixed ANC?
Very few Bluetooth earmuffs allow you to take a phone call in a high noise (>90 dB) environment. Having now tested the 3M Pro-Comms (90546-SIOC) against a lawn mower, saw, and router, I can report that these do the trick: callers can hear me when it gets loud, and I can hear them. Until very …
Read more3M Pro-Comms Electronic Hearing Protector Test and Review: Finally a Good Mike
A few readers have contacted me because they were being kept awake by chirping and trilling crickets, so I have decided to look more closely into blocking out the night time songs of common crickets. I thoroughly enjoyed conducting the experiments described below. This is intended to be both a problem solving article for you …
Read moreHow to Block Out Cricket Noise so That You Can Sleep?
In this post I am reporting on my tests of the 3M Pro-Protect electronic hearing protection earmuffs. I got the version with gel cushions and a noise reduction rating (NRR) of 26 decibels. The Pro-Protect are level-dependent hearing protection earmuffs: They passively reduce noise via their ear cups like other earmuffs. In addition, they use …
Read more3M Pro-Protect Electronic Hearing Protector Test and Review: Awareness Mode and Bluetooth
The Worktunes Connect+AM/FM (aka Worktunes Wireless) do not come with a built-in battery, so you get to choose (and replace) your battery depending on how much you use the headset. Many other headsets have a built-in rechargeable battery. This is convenient, but when the battery doesn’t hold a charge anymore or malfunctions in other ways, …
Read moreWorktunes Connect+AM/FM Battery Options Tested: Battery Life, Recharging, and Installation
In this post, I am reporting on my noise reduction test results for two top active noise cancelling headphones (ANC headphones) when worn over foam earplugs. If you are bothered by environmental noise but your headphones (or earplugs) alone don’t block enough noise, this post is for you. I often wear noise cancelling headphones together …
Read moreWearing Noise Cancelling Headphones Over Earplugs: How Effective Is This?
In this post I am reporting on my performance tests comparing noise cancelling headphones, over-ear noise isolating headphones, and in-ear noise isolating earphones. Apart from noise reduction charts, I have also included tips based on my experience to help you decide which headphone type is right for your use case. Let’s get right to it. …
Read moreActive Noise Cancelling vs Noise Isolating Headphones [Tested]