Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing - a waste of money
Review: As other reviewers have pointed out here (see E.K.Clark's detailed appraisal), these earphones hardly offer any more noise reduction than you would get with much cheaper soft 'earbuds'. Frankly the noise cancelling effect is so slight that it's difficult to tell whether the unit is switched on or off. I've tried them on planes and trains, and they fail to significantly reduce engine noise, voices or air conditioning noise.
This is the first time I've been disappointed by a Sony product, and I felt quite betrayed after believing the claims for noise reduction on the package. Claims of 'reducing noise by 70%', and 'peace and quiet wherever you go' are extremely misleading. Sony should be ashamed of themselves.
To make matters worse, the wires are stiff and far too long to make them comfortable to use even as ordinary earphones.
I can't understand the positive reviews posted here. I can only assume that the reviewers have never tried the 'ordinary' soft rubber earbud phones (Sony MDR-EX70LP), which do as good a job of sealing out noise, at a third of the price.
Sony, I want my money back.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for What It Does!
Review: Been playing with it for a couple of weeks, and finally got it to work great. It _doesn't_ filter out fan, A/C, computer noises at work, but seems optimized to filter out airplane engine noise. Took it on a cross-country 5-hr flight, and it was like I wasn't even on an airplane! Using the earbuds needs some experience. Don't jam them all the way into your ear canal; they work best by having the silicone flanges create a bit of suction in your ear canal to keep them in. That gives the proper amount of physical noise reduction for the circuitry to cancel the rest of the low frequency noise. I had to re-seat them every 30 minutes, though. If you're working-out, sweating and shaking your head alot, they won't stay in place; but then, they're not designed to. The big Bose $300 N/C earmuffs work better, but these and an MP3 player are both small and light enough to fit in a shirt pocket, and really make airplane travel enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Great set of small NC headphones! Plays well with iPods!
Review: I am quite pleased with these little 'phones. I was given an iPod and since the included buds were just abysmal and since I travel a lot....well, it was a prudent purchase :-) I have three sets of Noise Cancelling headphones (the others are sennheiser and panasonic) and these little MDRNC11's have a very similar ability to dim ambient noise in a MUCH smaller package - perfect for my dawn and midnight runs and they are great on the airplane, the bus and the office. After a great deal of futzing with the included (and VERY comfortable) silicone ear moulds the sound is now fantastic on my iPod. I am still listenint to MP3's (or MP4's) so the sound is not audiophile quality but I am quite happy with what I hear. In other reviews some of the folks has mentioned the bass-heavy nature of these drivers - yes, they are a tad bass heavy, but on the iPod the "acoustic" setting rounds them out very well. The vast majoriety of music I listen to is classical and jazz. The opening track of "Jazz at the Pawnshop" is littered with lovely ambient noises that come through very well. As this is a pretty standard track for demoing audiophile sound systems, I would say that for $100 I got a heck of a bang for my buck :-) Again, MP3's (even the ones from apple.com) still sound like MP3's, but these little buds reproduce the music with elan. If you need a personal Oasis in your daily life I can think of many worse purchases in the headphone market. FInal tip, shop around :-) -J
Rating:
Summary: wretchedly poor sound quality
Review: I bought these (Sony MDR NC11) to replace the earbuds that came with my iPod. When I tried them on, they were comfortable and stayed in my ears snugly. However, I was shocked to discover that the sound was tinny, unbalanced and weak. The Apple earbuds that came with the iPod had far superior sound quality. Turning the noise cancellation function on or off seemed to make no difference. I promptly returned these to Amazon.com. The Sony MDR NC11 Fontopia earphones sound horrible. Do not buy them! Better sound quality can be had for 1/3 of the cost.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't pay full price
Review: I got mine 2 weeks ago and here is my report. BOTTOM LINE: with these headphones, noise cancelling is achieved PRIMARILY by good, tight fit (i.e., just get the cheaper non-noise cancelling circuitry type). As it says in the manual, the circuitry only cancels low frequency sounds like AC unit drone. When in use at Starbux, neither voices nor the milk steamer will be cancelled. Based on my senses, Sony has attempted to attack high frequency noises simply by boosting high frequencies of your music (i.e., a big part of the "noise cancelling" relies on INCREASING noises...which can be damaging and also means it is not effective when music is not played through them). In combination, (tight fit, low freq cancel, high freq boost) you get decent isolation at the expense of altered EQ, extremely limited ability to reduce ambient sounds without playing music, and a STEEP retail price. Again, the cheaper in-ear sony phones without the circuitry are a good alternative if you are unwilling to splurge for the Bose. I have had the opportunity to try the twice as expensive Bose unit...NO COMPARISON. The Bose headphones are absolutely amazing. TRUE noise cancellation. They work stunningly and do not rely at all on music being played through them. Don't try them on at a store without having $300 to spare because you won't want to leave without them! I'm still saving up for mine...
Rating:
Summary: Great product!
Review: I have been using these pair of headphones for more than a year, and I must say that I never regreted since the day that I bought them. For those people that say that they are uncomfortable, I must say that I do not agree. I wear them all the time: when I am walking, doing exercise and sleeping and nothing has happened. The noise cancelling works fine too, It works magnificently. Ever since the first time I wore them on the plane, I must have them when I am traveling or it will drive me nuts (and I do not have to put the volume very high either). I also use it a lot when I am studying, becuase my the place I live is very noisy and this has been my salvation. This product is small and efficient, I really recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: they do nothing
Review: I just bought these today and I can't wait to return them. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Bose, perhaps they just don't work. I can barely perceive any difference in the sound - just not worth the cost. They actually made me appreciate the earbuds that came with my iPod.
Rating:
Summary: Noise Canceling Feature does not work
Review: I just purchased these while in Japan. I was ready for a noise free - or somewhat reduced noise - flight back to the US. I was saddened to find out that the noise canceling feature had little to no effect. Even worse, there was almost no bass being reproduced making the music sound very weak. My first generation iPod earphones where better than my these expensive Sony's.
Rating:
Summary: Very Pleased
Review: I just received my pair last week and couldn't be more pleased. Their size makes them as inobtrusive as regular ear bud headsets but they are light years away when it comes to noisy environments. Lately I've been doing a lot of work in Starbucks using their wi-fi access, and most times the noise was just incredibly deafening. Forget about using traditional ear-buds in these environments, you would do harm to your ears with the volume necessary to drown out the competing noise. The MDR-NC11 seems to block noise in two stages: 1st, the earbud fits into the ear canal with a self-sealing mechanism (I was extremely leary of this at first, but unlike the other reviewer I find the fit very comfortable and snug), this blocks a tremendous amount of noise, then the 2nd stage is the electronic noise cancelling unit, which works as well as any other I've encountered (haven't tried the Bose systems). The two systems work in sync to reduce more noise than I ever thought possible. I love this headset and won't bother ordering the new Bose system. I wasn't looking forward to wearing a huge pair of noise cancelling headsets out in public & now I realize I don't have to.
Rating: 
Summary: good for subway ride, not for street, bad controller locatio
Review: I own a set for a year, this is the only one can COMPLETELY blocks the subway's noise
on the other hand, it makes annoying noise, like cover your ears and moving, that it's not recommend to wear on the street
it comes with 3 different size of silicon adaptor, make sure install the one is the most comfortable, or the audio quality and noise-cancelling will be degraded
about hissing that other users states, I don't notice (bad hearing?)
and I have a complaint for controller, it should be fit on belt or waist, but the cable is short to the earpiece, then if you put the controller on the shirt pocket, the cable will be too short to the player (if you put it in your pants pocket)
if you feel comfortable with EX series or KOSS the plug, you'll be fine with this
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