subject: Jvc Hanc250 High-grade Noise-cancelling Headphones [print this page]
By Jack R. Ford.,
I bought the JVC HANC250 High-Grade Noise-Cancelling Headphones expressly to use on a long airplane trip. The price at a local giant electronics store was much higher than I paid through Amazon. Thank you Amazon! The headphones do make a small difference in noice reduction but not enough to warrant even the price on Amazon. The earbuds that came with my Ipod work just as well on noise reduction and better in sound quality without the annoying hessing noise, (see below).
The correct discription for this product would be an on-ear, not over-ear headphone with some noice reduction with the use of air hessing noises that combine with your music to give you the sense that you have noise reduction. The hissing noise is a distraction from the music for us older folks (62) who are beginning to have some difficutly hearing every little sound because we have been used to cranking up the volume for 50 years now. (I do not require hearing aids yet, just getting older).
Because they are not over-ear or in-ear devices there are gaps when the earphones are on your ear, these gaps allow any noise near by you to become amplified as it makes it though to your ears. If you have tiny earsa this may not be an issue for you. I actually found the music better for me without the noise reduction feature on.
I was super excited to get these headphones and they delivered on sound quality and noise reduction, but only for a few weeks. I live in a college dorm and noise reduction is very important to me. Obviously loud noise is a factor in my life and I expect the noise canceling system to work under many strenuous environments. Unfortunately, the capabilities on this model seem to be very sensitive to loud noises and high pitched sounds, which is apparent when (silly as it sounds) someone sneezes, yells, or a door slams.
Such sounds seem to overload the system and cause it to malfunction. The results of this malfunction were permanent and caused the headphones to create very painful high and low pounding/popping sounds when the noise canceling function was on. This made listening to music impossible because I couldn't even hear the music, let alone ignore the noise and discomfort being created by the malfunctioning system. I returned the first pair I bought and exchanged them for a new set, which malfunctioned in exactly the same way as the first.
So this time I'm going to try a different brand, and in the future I think I will totally avoid JVC. I recommend you do the same.
