£50 for a pair of headphones/headset?

Yes, no need for an amp, if you don't want one. Just grab some rechargeable batteries as you said. :)

Just going back to one of your earlier questions. There is a microphone that picks up the outside sounds, then the headphones NC circuitry creates a 180 degree copy of the outside sound. These sounds cancel each other out, so the user only hears what is being played through the headphones, and not outside noises. This is the reason for the slight hiss.

NC is not 100% going to block out everything, but it does do a very good job. :)

Edit: I think most NC HP's cancel out 70% of noise, after doing a bit of reading. That probably depends on where they are used though. As Uriel mentioned, they are best at cancelling out drone noise. I guess using them at a club or something, as a test, they wouldn't be very effective at all, as music changes too quickly.
 
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That's awesome. but how does it counter those sounds without delay? Or is the delay so minute that it's unnoticable.

Bought them, with a 3m 3.5mm extension and a splitter, just got confirmation of shipping! Looking forward to testing them out, i'll jot a review here after just for future searches.

Thanks a lot all,

S
 
Noise cancelling works best for drone type noises like plane engines or fans. It doesn't work particularly well for sudden noises, partly because of the delay issue.

You can hear it when noise cancellation is on. There's a slight hissing sound but it's usually quieter than background noise anyway. Thankfully the closed design of the headphones passively attenuates noise anyway, so you don't just rely on the active noise cancellation to block out sound.
 
The noise cancelling is excellent for blocking out my cpu cooler fans, they tend to drone a bit above a certain rpm, with NC on the noise totally vanishes, as for the slight hissing noise, after a few weeks of use i dont even notice it now.
 
gurusan said:
I just ordered a pair of these for just shy of $70...I'm eager to see what they're like. Looking forward to some bass-heavy cans to compliment my more neutral Senn HD-580s
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I bought the XB500's earlier in the year and I'm pleased as punch with them :) I generally use them on my iPod more than anything else. I'd use them on my PC more if I could work out where the awful crackling machine like noise is comeing from.

I think it's all down to the on board realtek audio card though, considering getting a new sound card in the near future.
 
So, got these Friday.

The build quality is top notch. Amazing case, comes with 3.5mm to jack converter plug, and also a flight adaptor, 2 3.5m spaced apart a couple cm with a single 3.5m input. (excuse my bad understanding)

The lead is short, around a metre, get a 3.5mm extension, it can be unplugged and stored in the hard case with the headphones for traveling - looks smart.

Tried them on and completely blown away with the close cup style, (first ever set of closed headphones) they block out so much even without noise cancellation on.

I turned it on and it makes you feel everyone's further away, seems like it shifts mid freqs down so voices seem deeper, but enables a higher freq treble. All in all it makes them LOUDER, and hides any whirrr'ing fan noise amazingly well. It will not on the other hand, hide any inconsistant noises, it's more of a vibration cancelation.

Ears get hot after an hour or so; as expected, but caused me some earache; it's unlike me to experience things like that. Nevertheless, took them off for a few minutes and haven't experienced anything similar since.

One thing I noticed was when mixing down music, things sound completely different with NC on and NC off as to what would be coming out of the speakers. It takes a little getting used to when things sound too trebley on headphones yet fine on the final mix.

Overall really good though, high quality essence about them from the get-go. Well worth £50. I'd value at around £80-£100. Perfect for gaming and casual music listening.

Any questions I've subbed to the thread.

S
 
Glad you are pleased. I'm eager to try out some Goldrings myself.

Behemoth said:
I bought the XB500's earlier in the year and I'm pleased as punch with them :) I generally use them on my iPod more than anything else. I'd use them on my PC more if I could work out where the awful crackling machine like noise is comeing from.

I think it's all down to the on board realtek audio card though, considering getting a new sound card in the near future.
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Well I got my XB700 and so far...not so impressed. Yes there is great bass but the mids and highs seem very recessed. I think I have fallen in love with my HD 580s more than I thought I had.

I do notice the XB700s are awesome with hip hop, trip hop, and trance though...where my HD 580s were only so-so. Anyway I am building a new amp specifically for the XB700s so hopefull that will improve them.

Also BTW the crackling on your PC is probably due to the cans being only 24 Ohms. The low impedance is difficult to drive as they draw a lot of current, so unless you have a decent discrete sound card that's probably the reason for the crackling.
 
I thought it might be the rather useless onboard card causing the crackle, well hopefully going to be in a position soon so that I can afford a complete new build and I can add a sound card into the build and not use onboard.
 
gurusan said:
The Xonar DG looks like great value and it has a headphone amp as well
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The Xonar DG's amp will suffice for most headphones but wouldn't drive NS1000 well enough. Most mediocre ones would probably be happy with it though (and the sound quality difference between an onboard and DG is huge).
 
A friend of mine managed to get a set of sennheiser 650s for...well let's just say if he'd bought something for £9.99 he'd have enough change out of a tenner to get them :p

So bladdy annoying. I've had to make do with a set of Goldring ns1000s, which were £50 one day and then went up to £70 when I went to buy them :mad: lol need them for uni though so not much choice.
 
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