AUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-ANC3 QUIETPOINT NOISE-CANCELLING HEADPHONES
by Boon
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| Al models the ATH-ANC3 QUIETPOINT |
There are two predominant reasons behind why I wear headphones around 90 percent of the time I'm on a motorcycle. The first is that I am sick to death of hearing my R6 fall apart beneath me. The second is that I have had a tonne of ear problems as a child and wind noise fucks with my head quite a lot, so they often serve as earplugs for commuting/going fast. When a set of Audio-Technica ATH-ANC3 Quietpoint noise-cancelling headphones were plonked on my desk, I was quite curious to say the least.
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Kit includes airline adapter and alternative sized rubber tips |
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Holding down "Monitor" turns off noise cancelling: a handy feature for motorcyclists with three hands |
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The business end after being sautéed in a jus of Boon's earwax |
This trick little gadget from Audio-Technica will set you back $249. For that rather hefty price, you're getting yourself the actual headphone units themselves with the noise-cancelling box; a detachable .5m extension cable; a two-pin airline adapter so you can use the earpieces during flight; a protective carrying case (which, incidentally, works quite well to protect the headphones when fat lumbering oafs like myself go seeking things in their room); different sized rubber tips for a "custom" fit; and a battery to run the whole thing.
The noise cancelling provided by the headphones really is a great feature and works well. Any outside sound not being pumped directly into your ears is picked up by tiny little microphones mounted in the earpieces themselves. The little gizmo box attached to the 'phones then creates a "noise-cancelling wave that is 180-degrees out of phase with the ambient noise". Depending on the situation in which you are using the equipment, the results can be quite subtle.
On top of this, the actual sound barrelling through the earphones into your listening hole is top-notch -- machinegun double-kick of death, horrid treble-intensive guitar shredding, moaning vocals --- it's all perfect and clear.
I went for a little spin over the weekend, concentrating predominantly on the effects of the headphones. I could still hear what was going on around me and thought that it was buggered, but when I hit the monitor button (which turns off the noise-cancelling effect as long as you have the button pressed) I realised what a massive difference it was making and understood the perspective of it.
The noises I needed to hear were still there -- horns, engines, incoming idiots on bikes -- but reduced. Obviously this poses all the safety issues you can possibly think of, but that's the price you'll be paying. It doesn't have to be killing ambient noise all the time, though -- it can be turned off whenever you please. Plus, if you run out of batteries, they will still function like regular earphones.
The moulded earpieces delve quite deep into your ears and, with a helmet wrapped around my head, began to push after about half an hour in the saddle with the medium-sized tips. This didn't hurt but was noticeably uncomfortable and it was only after the helmet came off after an hour that it turned into proper pain. I swapped the tips over for the smaller ones and the pain went away. They still sealed nicely in my ear and the snugness remained but all the irritation went away. If you're going to grab a set, it's worth playing around with the sizing as it makes a world of difference to the comfort levels.
The Audio-Technica ATH-ANC3 Quietpoint noise-cancelling headphones are beaut off the bike, too. Maybe your office is full of dullards who babble aimless crap day in and day out without a care for anyone else around them. These headphones will cut it all out. Even with absolutely zero music flowing through them, the noise-cancelling features shut everyone up and provided me with a near silent working environment. It's the next best thing to having your own private office in an open-space business layout with the added bonus of being able to play your music as loud as you like.
So there you have it. As far as riding with goes, the noise-cancelling feature works perfectly at eliminating a great deal of outside noise -- a little too perfectly, maybe, for riding. This is a serious safety consideration I would suggest you think about before laying down such a decent sized wad of cash. However, when making the decision, you must remember that this feature need not be constantly on. They are perfectly capable of acting as regular earphones.
Using them in any other situation, they are unstoppable. The noise-cancelling is brilliant -- it lets you block out nearly everything else around you and focus 100-percent on the sound flowing into you. They are comfortable and rugged and the sound quality is brilliant. If you're in the market for a set of high-end headphones, the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC3 Quietpoint noise-cancelling headphones might just be for you. You can grab a set of black or white ANC3s from Audio-Technica dealers nationwide, including Myer and Domayne and online at headphones.com.au or wickeddigital.com.au.
