irst experience with Sony ANC phones, and I anticipated good ANC functionality and a solid sound profile. At the price point ($300 as I write this) they need to be excellent to be worth any kind of consideration. These were a huge shock to me: the ANC is nearly on par with Bose and the sound profile is solid, giving better results than I imagined.

I will address the ANC function first, then the sound profile, and afterward I will discuss design and features. I apologize ahead of time for being long-winded, but I’d rather give too much feedback than not enough.

The ANC function is, in a single word, outstanding. Bose is the standard by which I compare others and very, very few headphones get anywhere near the same level of noise cancellation as my Bose sets (QC-15 and QC-20i, by the way). Those that get close usually have the same weird pressure sensation for which Bose is known. My primary test is a loud fan that I use for generating white noise when I want to drown out everything around me at night. I turned the fan on high speed, plugged the Sony’s buds into my ears and turned them on. I put them in ANC mode and the fan all but disappeared. All that remained of the noise was a faint, higher-frequency hiss (distinct from the ANC hiss which I will explain later). Of all the phones I have used, this set and the Bose are the only ones to wipe out that much noise. I also went into the bathroom and turned on the ventilation fan to test, and these phones again wiped out a large majority of the fan noise. For this fan, the Bose sets have a very slight edge but you have to be looking for it to notice.

The main difference between the Bose sets and these is the utter lack of that weird pressure sensation with these. If you don’t like that sensation but you want very high ANC, these are simply excellent. Like a lot of ANC phones, these generate a faint hiss that you really won’t notice unless you’re not feeding any sound at all to them and you’re listening for it.

The sound profile is also quite solid. Usually with ANC phones, because of the cancellation of certain bandwidths the phones compensate by twiddling the sound profile to fill in what was dropped, and usually this means overcompensation in the bass range (if you use Dre Beats, you know exactly what I mean). Heavy bass gives me headaches so I avoid headphones where the bass has been given too much boost. With these, Sony did not overdrive the bass at all but it’s still very solid and full - love it. The midrange is very warm and rich and music has the right depth. The highs are very bright and clear but not piercing. Overall, I am very pleased with the sound profile - not audiophile quality but closer than most.

In terms of design, these are a wireless earbud product with a neck harness. So, these are neither on-ear or over-ear phones. The harness and slack but adjustable wiring to the actual earbuds ensures that they can be set up so they won’t tug or pull when you’re working out, running or otherwise doing physical activity. Being wireless, there’s no cord to tangle up either. And, one size really does fit all which is a problem with some regular phones. The neck assembly has a leatherette padding that is soft and will not chafe.

The Bluetooth functionality works great. I paired these to my phone and they paired and connected in less than 5 seconds which is really all I could ask. After a full power-off, I turned them back on and they immediately connected to my phone again. I have no complaints there.

One of the really interesting features of these is the ability to turn off the ANC and use them without any cancellation, but they have another unusual mode that I have only seen in one other pair of phones - they have an “ambient sound” mode that you can turn on that dampens the feed in the buds and slightly increases the surrounding noise without turning off the ANC. Assuming the volume is not turned up too loud, this allows for carrying on a conversation without turning off the feed. I will say, though, that listening to my own voice coming through in this mode is disconcerting.

I do not know yet how long the battery in these lasts. So far I have not run them all the way down.

Included in the box are the phones themselves, a conversion cable so that they can be used with an audio jack (handy when Bluetooth is not an option), a cable for charging, an in-flight audio adapter, several silicone tips fo the buds so you can get the size right, and a protective carry bag.

The carry bag is the only complaint I have with the whole package - it offers little protection from drops and crushes. If you only are concerned about keeping everything together and keeping the set very clean, the bag is acceptable, but if you need better protection that consider getting a third-party hard case or use the original packaging box.

Sony got these right and even at the price tag these are easy to recommend. They’re comfortable (more comfortable than I expected for ear buds), they have excellent sound and the ANC function is outstanding. I prefer these to my Bose phones and will be using these instead.

2 (I'll pause so you can roll your eyes at the name). The SB2 set has been going strong for a good two years. I've used them nearly daily at work and they go strong for a good 8 hours at least. I've used them while running and mowing the lawn, they've never let me down. When these Sony's came across my Vine, though, I couldn't pass them up.

Generally I like white electronics. I just like the clean look of them. I was provided the Gold set for review. I had some concerns about the color, but I'm not one to look a pair of free headphones in the buds so I didn't hesitate. The gold is actually REALLY nice. It's sort of a muted/tarnished gold and light tan/brown. I think the gold makes the headphones look like a pair of 300 dollar headphones more than the black does. The gold isn't like the rose gold iPhones guys, so don't worry about looking a little less masculine if you're wearing them. They're very gender neutral and sleek looking.

In the box you get the headphones, a full package of replacement ear cushions in both translucent beige and solid black that come in three different sizes, a nice cloth carrying case, charging cable (standard micro usb) and wired adapters so you can listen to non-bluetooth devices (their example is in-flight movies - the headphones still have to be on and charged for wired mode). It's as nicely packaged as you'd expect, my headset was a little over half charged out of the box - which I appreciate because I wanted to test them immediately.

The sound. Holy crap, I honestly didn't realize what I've been missing. Don't get me wrong, I never felt like the SB2s I've been using were lacking. I always felt they had a nice sound quality. However, the difference between the SB2s and the Sony's are night and day. I realize the Sony's are 3 6 times the price and should be different, but I just didn't expect this level. There's an app that you download that controls a lot of the sound settings.

It automatically detects your environment and adjusts the noise cancelling accordingly. This is particularly impressive. I work in a facility that uses large machinery that can be rather loud. With the noise cancelling enabled you can literally hear the HVAC background noise and machines fade into nothing. It's an eerie sort of experience, but in a good way. When I'm listening to the music even at low volumes, none of that background noise is interfering with my experience. Even if you're not listening to music, the noise cancelling works. As I stated, you can have it automatically calibrate the noise cancelling for you, but you can also control the levels manually. You can have it focus on voices so you can still hear when people are speaking to you. There's 20 levels of control including adaptive control that will automatically adjust depending on your location and what's going on around you. It's an incredibly sophisticated system.

There's also the ability to adjust the sound position. It's a visual display where you can select whether you want the sound to come from; in front, front-right, front-left, rear-left, rear-right and headphone. This is another odd, but cool experience. When I select rear-right, for example, I could swear that I have a stereo with speakers behind my to the right blasting music. I half expected my co-workers to turn and look to see where the music is coming from. There's several preset surround sound settings as well. You have to choose sound positioning, surround sound or nothing. You can't have both for obvious reasons. I prefer concert hall as I feel that the sound is most rich. Arena really sounds like the recorded music is live. It's incredibly impressive. There's an equalizer function as well with multiple presets as well as the ability to fine tune custom presets to your own preferences.

All of this has to have the Sound Quality mode set to "Priority on Stable Connection". The "Priority on Sound Quality" setting surrenders control to the headset. I prefer the "Priority on Stable Connection" and the ability to set the individual features myself. The last setting is DSEE HX. This is Sony's technology that upscales mp3 sound quality. It's intent is to give you (almost) the lossless sound quality experience while maintaining the space saving advantages of mp3 files. I have it set to auto, I'm not sure why you wouldn't use it, but the option is there. I can definitely attest to it working. I can hear things in tracks that I've never heard before. It's really cool, almost like you're re-discovering your favorite songs.

The range on this is simply phenomenal. The bass is really full and clear. It's easily the most impressive I've experienced in earbuds and rivals the best cans I've used. We're talking absolute clarity here. Listening to more vocal-heavy selections such as the Moana soundtrack you'll notice background flourishes and nuances that you've never picked up on, the vocals are pretty incredible and you might as well be sitting in the recording studio with them, Aesop Rock's "the Impossible Kid" sounds full and punchy, you'll truly appreciate the volume of sound and technicality of Coheed and Cambria's "Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV" ("Welcome Home" blew me away) , Cradle of Filth's "Lilith Immaculate" was assaulting - as it should be - setting the surround to Arena for this track is a MUST, Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" is just flawless - specifically with the noise cancelling to bridge the pauses.

Signal range is very impressive. I got around 60 feet before the sound started cutting in and out. They're very light weight and comfortable to wear. Controls are located on the inner side of the neck and easy to get used to. A quick tap of the power button will play a voice that tells you how much battery you have left, which is pretty cool. You can set the collar to vibrate when you get a call. It's a pretty strong vibration and can be a little jarring the first time it happens, but you'll definitely know that you're getting a call.

Overall, these are - hands down - the best headphones I've owned. I just simply have nothing to complain about. They've exceeded my expectations in every aspect. If you're looking for a solid set of bluetooth headphones, you've found them.

一般我喜欢白色电子产品。我只是喜欢他们的干净的外观。我收到了金色的产品。我对这个颜色有一些担忧，但还是我毫不犹豫。金色实际上是非常好的。这是一种无声/失明的黄金和淡褐色/棕色。我觉得这个黄金耳机看起来像是一个比黑色更多的300美元的耳机。黄金不像玫瑰金的苹果手机，所以不要担心，如果你穿着它们看起来不那么男性化。他们非常性别中立，看起来光滑。

在箱子里，你可以得到耳机，一个完整的替代耳垫用半透明的米色和纯黑色，有三种不同的尺寸，一个不错的布手提箱，充电电缆（标准微型USB）和有线适配器，所以你可以听非蓝牙设备（他们的例子是在飞行中的电影 - 耳机仍然必须打开和收费的有线模式）。就像你期望的那样，它的包装很好，我的耳机从盒子里拿出来有一半的费用 - 我很欣赏，因为我想立刻测试它们。

声音。废话，我真的没有意识到我失踪了。不要误解我的意思，我从来没有觉得我一直使用的SB2是缺乏的。我一直觉得他们有一个很好的音质。然而，SB2和索尼之间的区别是白天和黑夜。我意识到索尼的价格是3 6倍，应该是不同的，但我只是没有想到这个水平。有一个你下载的应用程序控制了很多声音设置。

它会自动检测您的环境并相应地调整噪音消除。这特别令人印象深刻。我在一个使用大型机器的设施里工作，这个机器可以很响。随着噪音消除启用，你可以从字面上听到暖通空调背景噪音和机器淡入淡出。这是一个令人毛骨悚然的经验，但是方式很好。当我在低音量的情况下听音乐时，没有背景噪音干扰我的经验。即使你不听音乐，噪音消除也是有效的。正如我所说，你可以让它自动校准你的噪音消除，但你也可以手动控制水平。你可以专注于声音，所以你仍然可以听到人们在和你说话的时候。有20个级别的控制，包括自适应控制，将根据您的位置和您周围发生的事情自动调整。这是一个非常复杂的系统。

还有调整声音位置的能力。这是一个视觉显示，您可以选择是否要声音来自;前方，右前方，左前方，左后方，右后方和耳机。这是另一个奇怪的，但很酷的经验。例如，当我选择右后方的时候，我可以发誓我有一台带有扬声器的立体声音箱，放在正确的爆破音乐中。我有一半希望我的同事转身看看音乐来自哪里。还有几个预设的环绕声设置。你必须选择声音定位，环绕声或什么都不要。你不能有明显的原因。我喜欢音乐厅，因为我觉得声音最丰富。竞技场真的听起来像录制的音乐是现场。这令人难以置信的印象深刻。还有一个均衡器功能，以及多个预设，以及根据自己的喜好微调自定义预设的能力。

所有这些都必须将音质模式设置为“稳定连接优先”。 “声音质量优先”设置将控制权交给耳机。我更喜欢“稳定连接的优先级”以及自己设置各个功能的能力。最后的设置是DSEE HX。这是索尼的技术，提高MP3音质。它的目的是给你（几乎）无损的音质体验，同时保持MP3文件的节省空间的优势。我已经设置为自动，我不知道为什么你不会使用它，但选项是在那里。我绝对可以证明它的工作。我可以听到我从未听过的曲目。这真的很酷，就像你重新发现你最喜欢的歌曲。

这个范围是非常惊人的。低音真的很清晰。这是我耳塞中最令人印象深刻的，也是最好的对手。

lready written about the incredible noise cancelling feature - so great. I didn't know about the atmospheric pressure optimizing that you can use when you're flying - seriously awesome. The 10 hour battery life - excellent. And the ambient sound mode so that you can hear things around you without taking your headphones off - super cool. But I think the part I like the best is that I can control all these things from my smartphone - and there is so much more that I haven't even gotten to yet - these things are so simple to use yet so complex they'll surprise you how many amazing things they can do! I don't even understand the "smart listening" auto settings that automatically adjust the ambient sounds based on my activity - sitting, walking, etc - these are just so incredibly awesome! Oh, and the hands free calling with vibration notification - yup, that too! No, these won't be the least expensive in ear headphones that you'll ever buy, but I'll bet they'll be the best! Also comes with a variety of earbud sizes so you can find the ones that fit you just right. Seriously, I think they thought of everything!