The Sony MDR-NC11A is a noise canceling ear bud style headphone package. It has little microphones on the outside of each ear bud that hears outside ambient noise, and cancels it by making the opposite noise inside the ear bud. Talk to your local physics teacher for a demo. It's like how if you keep dipping two fingers in still water 6 inches apart, the little circle/waves from each finger you make will run into each other. When they run into each other, they cancel each other out. That's kind of the principle about this noise cancellation technology.

This comes with a little bag, airplane duel-plug adapter, and extra detachable ear bud covers. The detactable rubber covers come in 3 different sizes for ear canals. There is a control box with volume control that is located in the middle of the cord, between the plug and the headphones. You can clip this to your shirt or pocket, or it probably will drag your earbuds out of your ears, which happened to me many times. But I do feel self-conscious when I have it clipped to my shirt, as it is a little geeky. :) You have to get a AAA battery.

Many people have had problems keeping the ear buds in. They are a little heavy, due to the noise cancellation technology. I've found the best way to insert the earbuds it to pull your ear out and backwards to make your ear canal a little bigger, and then nestle the bud in. Even so, you can't jump around too much.

Does it cancel noise? It does! If you are in a subway, plane, or a server room with lots of fans, you do block out a big portion of the ambient noise when the noise cancellation is turned on. I think this would be great on a plane, where the droning really gets to me. I've personally used this on the subway and server room.

However, the noise cancellation causes a HISS. If you are listening to a book on tape or a pause in the music, you can hear the hiss well. However, it's not really noticeable if the music is constant and pretty loud. You can notice it if you listen. My beef is if I wanted to block out the ambient noise, I didn't want to replace it with another noise. I don't like the control box. The cord is just long enough to stuff that in my pocket, but it still will pull out my earbud sometimes. I think I will look into the Sony MDR-EX71SL or Sony MDR-EX51LP, which is the same earbud tech without the noise cancellation. I think that would work fine for me.


My experience with these headphones haven't been great. The Sony MDR NC11A noise cancellation earbuds are a little ungainly, with the control box/volume control, and the heavier than normal earbuds. The noise cancellation might be good for a plane ride where you aren't walking around, or a train commuter, but the price is a little high. I like the earbuds alot and they alone block ambient noise well. I WOULD recommend these if you are looking for a cheaper version of the BOSE noise cancellers and you spend time sitting in planes/trains. I WOULD NOT recommend this if you want to block out daily sounds while you walk around town.


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