Let's start with what is good about these guys. To begin with, are comfortable and seem to have a robust design and a beautiful black soft-touch finish. While the headphones are not as flexible as the Bose QuietComfort 15s, are a little 'thicker and stronger does not hurt their level of comfort and perhaps more attractive to some.
Aside from their black coloring, the NC1100Bs look similar to the QC15s (and QuietComfort 2s), with the same over-the-ear design and earcups that swivel and fold flat to fit in a simple black case. The resulting package is slightly bigger than a CD wallet, which makes it easier to tote, though it's still not terribly compact. As you'd expect from a set of headphones that are designed for frequent travelers, Able Planet throws in a two-prong in-flight adapter.
Like with Bose's active noise-canceling, the earcups' cushions effectively sealed off our ears from the noisy environment. Flipping on the noise cancellation dampened the noise even further. While the NC1100Bs aren't as effective at canceling out noise as the QC15s, they did noticeably muffle the sound of a very loud air conditioning that this reviewer has in his office (it isn't quiet as loud as the inside of an airline cabin, but not too far off).
With Bose's noise-canceling headphones, you have to engage the noise cancellation to listen to music, so the music dies with the battery life. Fortunately, this isn't the case with Able Planet's headphones; you can still listen without the noise canceling engaged, but you'll notice a distinct improvement in sound quality with it turned on (two AAA batteries that are housed in the left earcup power the noise-cancellation circuitry).
It's worth noting that like the Bose headphones, the headphone cord is detachable. Also, with the NC1100Bs, you get an inline volume control, which is nice.
On the downside, as we noted in our Bose review, the only problem is that because these are over-the-ear headphones that offer a tight seal, it can get a little steamy inside the cups, especially on hot days, though they "breathe" pretty well for over-the-ear headphones. On long plane rides, your skin will also get a little moist underneath the cushions, so expect to take them off for short periods and give your ears a little air.
But the bigger issue we had was with the sound quality. Though it's not bad, we found that the headphones overemphasized the bass--there was just too much of it, and it was far from tight (the words we like to use here are "boomy" and "muddy"). Also, we felt that the treble just wasn't all that detailed and had a tizzy edge to it.
If the average listener put these on in a store, he or she would likely feel satisfied with their fidelity, and we agree that they sound better than the smaller headphones that claim to suppress external noise. The problem is that these guys cost $300, and there's tough competition when you get into that price range, so we listen with a more critical ear than we would with a cheaper set.
We are always looking for good performance noise-canceling headphones Bose to hit from his throne. The Able Planet NC1100B able to lead a healthy and solid design OK, but not as good as the QuietComfort 15s and retail for the same price, better sound, more comfortable, and offer improved noise cancellation.
headphones should be durable, because most of the time i buy headphones then their either of
ReplyDeletethe ear stops working or they start producing noise which is very irritating. Bbest headphonesare those which should tackle these problems for long time.
WOW! Thank you for sharing this nice post of yours. I was looking for guides and ideas in buying my new headphones. I want the best in ear headphones and thank you for this, It will be a big help.
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