For my birthday, my wife bought me a very nice pair of Senneiser noise canceling earbuds. They actually were the top of the line. A few months later, Newegg sent my wife email and left a message saying that the earbuds were recalled. They sent a postage paid return label, apologized, and gave us a $20 credit. I sent them back and started searching for a replacement. Looking for any active noise canceling earbuds was quite hard as there are very few; the price range was pretty huge, so I could get basically whatever I wanted. I searched and searched and ended up settling on the Audio-Technica ANC23
Normally when I work, I forget to turn on music and only sometimes wear headphones (it depends on if my son is running around making a lot of noise). So, I use the earbuds when I travel. I don’t travel all that often, but this year, I’ve traveled 7 times (most of them after I bought the ear buds). Once I put the earbuds in my ears during a flight and turn them on, the airplane noise immediately is drowned out and the flight becomes a lot more comfortable. I’ve found that with the Comply tips that come with it, the earbuds are quite comfortable.
I always keep the earbuds in my bag and am not sure I would want to fly without them.
Pros
- Comfortable.
- Inexpensive (they’re now down to less than $40.
- Good noise cancellation.
- Good pasive noise isolation.
- Compact.
Cons
- No microphone or volume buttons like the iPhone (it has a manual volume control).
Summary
My only real complaint for these earbuds is that I bought them for $75 less than 6 months ago and they’re now down to $39 on Amazon. I found that these were almost as good as the $250 Senneiser earbuds my wife gave me. If you can wear earbuds (earbuds don’t fit in some people’s ears), these are a no brainer for anyone that occasionally travels or wants some quiet when working.