By TAN KIT HOONG
intech@thestar.com.my

This pair of headphones does an impressive job cancelling out the noise so you can focus on the music.

BEING a geek, the concept of an active noise-cancelling headphone has always intrigued me - after all, what could be cooler than a headphone which samples external sounds, then in a split second produces a destructive sound wave that effectively cancels out the external noise.

So you can imagine that when the Audio-Technica QuietPoint active noise-cancelling headphones came in, I was pretty interested to try them out.

Beyond just the coolness of the technology, active noise-cancelling headphones are actually quite practical if you're a frequent traveller - the technology works especially well to cancel out the constant loud drone of aircraft engines.

The thing is that active noise-cancelling has a pitfall - often,the music you're listening to has a slightly muffled effect, as if it's being heard from behind a door.

This was the case with a few active noise-cancelling headphones I have tried - while the noise cancelling on those headphones were excellent, my music had a little less clarity than it should have.

So does the Audio-Technica QuietPoint have the same drawback? I had the perfect opportunity to test the headphones on a recent intercontinental trip.

Frequent traveller pack

The Audio-Technica QuietPoint headphones are actually very similar to the more famous Bose QuietComfort active noise-cancelling headphones - not only are the names similar, but the packaged accessories are also pretty much the same.

Much like the Bose, the Audio-Technica comes in a nice zip-up semi-rigid case with a full complement of accessories for the frequent traveller.

Apart from the headphones, there's both a short and long audio cable, a full-sized stereo jack adapter and even a twin-pronged audio adapter for plugging into airplane audio ports.

The QuietPoint runs on batteries, or rather a single AA-sized battery, although it's used mostly for the active noise-cancelling.

The battery compartment is accessed in a rather nifty fashion - you basically rotate the outer side of one of the earpieces counter-clockwise to reveal the battery compartment inside.

Once installed, just flip the little sliding switch on the left earpiece and you're ready to go.

TOO LARGE: The headband on the QuietPoint has limited adjustment and sticks out quite far on the sides.

The comfort is pretty good - the earcups are made of a soft leatherette material which completely encloses your ears.

However I did find that the headphones were a little limited in adjustment - my head is pretty small and even so I had to extend the headband all the way out.

The design is also such that it makes the headband jut out sideways a little more than other headphones.

Audio quality

So how was the audio quality? It was surprisingly good to be honest.

With the active noise-cancelling on, music was still clear and the midrange was forward enough that it didn't sound like it was coming from behind a door.

A colleague commented that the bass levels could be better, but since I lean more towards understated, natural bass, I was fine with it.

In fact, it's fair to say that I really liked the sound quality of the Audio-Technica.

Incidentally, the headphones actually still work even when the noise cancellation function is turned off, but I don't recommend that you listen to it like this - for some reason, audio quality sounds a bit tinny when the noise cancelling is not turned on.

On my twenty-hour intercontinental flight, I used the QuietPoint for about ten or twelve hours straight - sometimes listening to music and at other times, just as a way to cancel out the constant (and as it turns out, very loud) hum of the aircraft engines.

Amazingly the headphone batteries lasted the entire trip and even a couple of weeks later, the battery still hasn't run out in spite of (admittedly sporadic) use since the trip.

As far as the noise cancellation goes, Audio-Technica claims that the headphones can cut out about 85% of ambient noise and I have no reason to doubt this claim - the headphones successfully cut down the loud drone of the engines to a barely audible hum.

The main advantage of active noise cancellation over passive methods like earplug-style earphones is that you won't also hear yourself - if you've ever tried those in-ear earphones, you'll understand what I mean.

Conclusion

So yes, the Audio-Technica QuietPoint headphones are pretty good - apart from the solid noise cancellation, the semi-hard case and extensive bundled accessories extend the value of the headphones quite a bit.

One thing I haven't mentioned is the price -at RM959 it's not cheap by any means, but it is a lot cheaper than the comparable Bose QuietComfort headphones which will run you quite a few hundred ringgit over RM1,000.

In a nutshell, if you're a frequent traveller looking for a set of decent active noice-cancelling headphones, you won't go far wrong with the Audio-Technica QuietPoint.

Pros: Effective noise cancelling; good audio quality; lots of bundled accessories; good battery life.

Cons: Limited headband adjustment.