 NoiseBuster NB-FX
Noise-Canceling Headphones
Take a walk down a busy New York City street and headphones
are ubiquitous. Judging by the number of white earbuds, so is the Apple iPod. The
ever-increasing popularity of portable digital audio devices means that people are
spending more time listening through headphones, and while many are happy with the earbuds
supplied with their player, some are seeking out better ways to enjoy their private
listening. Luckily for you in that latter group, there are many options available, and
paying careful attention to the features of the various types of headphones is the best
way to pick the phones that are right for you. NoiseBuster’s NB-FX noise-canceling
headphones ($69 USD) have some interesting features that might make them the right choice
for many readers.
Design
In many ways, the NB-FX resembles the average headphone:
black plastic with bronzish grilles near the earpieces, soft black cushions on the
earpieces where they meet the ears. The earpieces are not circumaural; that is, they
don’t cover the ears but rest on top of them. The cord extends to each earpiece,
which is standard with headphones. I greatly prefer when headphones have a single cord
going to one ear (as in the AKG 501), but that is the minority of headphones, so the
NoiseBusters can’t be faulted for this.
On closer inspection, the NB-FXs do distinguish themselves
from other headphones. First, they fold in two places -- each earpiece can fold up, and
the top of the headband folds in half, to make a compact package that fits into a nice
little travel pouch (supplied). Other headphones fold up -- the Sennheiser PX 100s and PX
200s come to mind -- but the NB-FXs are much bigger and, as we’ll see, offer more
features. Second, the NoiseBusters come with an airplane jack adapter, making them ready
for travel without an extra trip to RadioShack.
Third, above the right earpiece is a small compartment that
houses one AAA battery (supplied) to power the NB-FX’s noise-canceling circuits. You
don’t need a battery for the phones to work, but you do need it to use the
noise-canceling feature. On the rear of the right earpiece is a switch to turn the
noise-canceling on and off, and a small light above the switch to remind you that
you’ve left the circuit on when you remove the phones. The system isn’t
foolproof; early in my trials, I left the noise-canceling circuit on for up to a couple of
hours because I hadn’t noticed the warning light. Still, the battery lasted a very
long time.
The engineering behind the noise-canceling feature is
enough to make any technophile geek out. Inside each earpiece is a microphone that picks
up the noise that would enter the ear. The microphone transmits that information to the
noise-cancelling circuit, which then creates a soundwave identical but in opposite phase
to the detected noise. This new "anti-noise" is then output through a speaker in
the earpiece. When the "noise" and "anti-noise" meet, they cancel one
another out, which greatly reduces the outside noise heard by the wearer.
I was skeptical about the effectiveness of all this. When I
received the NoiseBusters I inserted the battery, put the phones on my head, and turned on
the noise-canceling. (When you do this, you hear a high-pitched whine in the headphones,
but this is masked as soon as music starts to play, with some exceptions discussed below.)
I then called my wife, who was in another room. I didn’t hear her answer until she
entered the room I was in, and even then, she was much less audible than when I turned off
the noise-canceling. If you tire of music, you can use the NoiseBusters as a SpouseBuster.
Listening
Because headphones are most often used with a portable
player of some kind, I auditioned the NoiseBusters with my iPod playing Apple Lossless
files. I used the NB-FXs in all the places I use my iPod and Etymotic ER-4P phones:
walking the dog, working out at the gym, relaxing in my backyard. I found the NoiseBusters
too big and bulky for the gym, where they tended to slip forward while I was using cardio
machines. But when I walked the dog, they made it easier to talk with people because I
could easily slip them off my ears.
When I listened to The Prodigy’s latest release, Their
Law: The Singles 1990-2005 [CDs, XLCD 190], two discs of the dance/rock hybrid’s
greatest hits, the NoiseBusters did well at keeping the music pounding forward, with bass
that played deep but lacked a little refinement. On the title track, for example, the
heavy bass and drum line that begins 30 seconds or so into the song certainly got me
moving a bit quicker, but the bass and drums were also relatively indistinct from one
another. "Firestarter" presented Liam Howlett’s vocals cleanly, and the
relentless drive of the entire album flowed nicely.
I don’t usually like to listen to orchestral music on
headphones, so I have very little of it on my iPod. However, John Williams’
orchestral score for Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith [CD, Sony
Classical SK 94220] is one of my son’s favorites, so I keep it on the iPod for those
times he borrows it. The all-too-familiar opening theme seemed a bit bland: the soundstage
was more two-dimensional and lacked some of the dynamic punch than I’ve heard through
more expensive headphones. Still, the sound was polite and detailed, each instrument
clearly delineated from the rest. On "Battle of the Heroes," the opening horn
line had a decent timbre, and single vocal lines from the chorus could be easily
distinguished.
I’ve had a soft spot for Duke Ellington & John
Coltrane [CD, Impulse! IMPD-166] ever since I first heard it. The concerns I had when
listening to symphonic music through the NB-FXs disappeared with small-scale jazz. The
sound was much more three-dimensional, and the piano-cymbal-sax opening of "In a
Sentimental Mood" immediately relaxed me. The piano and cymbal had a nice texture,
and Coltrane’s tenor had a nice warm, round tone. Instruments weren’t as
precisely delineated as they can be through more expensive phones, but I was using these
to listen to music, not to master a recording. Keeping that in mind, the NoiseBusters did
their job well.
I had a slight problem when I used the NoiseBusters to
listen to podcasts consisting solely of people speaking: the high-pitched whine from the
noise-canceling circuit remained audible in the background. That won’t matter if you
don’t listen to audio books or podcasts, but it’s something to keep in mind if
you do. Whether or not the whine will be too annoying or a small price to pay for the
added isolation is something you’ll have to decide for yourself. And you can always
turn the noise-canceling on for music, and off for books or podcasts.
I let my son use the NB-FXs to watch a DVD in the minivan
during a long car trip. When he uses his usual headphones he often complains he can hear
the car stereo while he watches the movie. That complaint disappeared with the
NoiseBusters. They might be too expensive and too isolating to encourage their regular use
by your children, but on long car trips, the NoiseBusters could lead more toward family
harmony than to discord.
Comparing
I compared the NoiseBuster NB-FXs with Etymotic’s
ER-4P ($330, often significantly discounted) and Grado’s SR-60 ($69). The Etymotic is
an in-ear model; the Grado, like the NB-FX, rests on the ear and doesn’t encircle it.
To keep things simple, and to use the headphones as most users probably will, I used my
iPod playing Apple Lossless files.
The Etymotics are expensive, and usually I wouldn’t
compare a product to something costing more than four times as much, but the ER-4Ps
provide an alternative kind of isolation. Instead of using electronics to keep the noise
out, the Etymotic approach is to provide a tight seal between the in-ear speaker and the
ear. Outside sounds simply can’t enter your ear to bother you. This passive approach
worked better in my tests, but it has some disadvantages: Whenever anyone speaks to you,
you have to unseal at least one ear to hear them. If you’re listening at home and
your spouse asks you a question every few minutes, this can get annoying and has
occasionally left my ear a little itchy. Perhaps the best thing to do is to simply ignore
the questions, but eventually the spouse will shake or poke you, as I know from
experience. And if you’re out for a walk with in-ear monitors, not only is the level
of isolation a bit creepy (you’ll never know if someone is behind you), but the
design is also inconvenient.
The Grado SR-60s offer a livelier sound than the more
polite NoiseBusters, but forget about isolation. Playing The Prodigy’s Their Law
through the Grados gave more defined bass, but also a brighter overall presentation that
favored the treble region. This could produce listening fatigue over the long haul. My
concerns about soundstaging and dynamic shifts were lessened with the Grados. However, my
wife hates them -- whenever I use them and she’s in the same room, she can hear the
music too. I don’t listen to music at high levels, so this leakage makes it
impossible to use the Grados in public places, such as the subway or the library. But your
spouse won’t have any trouble getting your attention.
Conclusion
The NoiseBuster NB-FX occupies an interesting place in the
headphone landscape. At $69, they’re the same price as the Grado SR-60s, which I
preferred on sonic grounds. But the Grados leak sound like cut arteries, and in both
directions. If you need isolation, that leaves the NoiseBusters, other noise-canceling
phones, or in-ear models to choose from. The other noise-canceling phones I’ve seen
are all significantly more expensive than the NoiseBusters, and in-ear designs are also
usually more expensive and are a pain in the neck to take in and out. So if you want
isolation but also want to be able to quickly converse with others (for instance, if
you’re wearing them at work, traveling, or out for a walk about town), then the
NoiseBusters seem to be the best choice.
...Eric Hetherington
Prices of equipment reviewed
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