Good performance for a reasonable price

I was looking for a set of noise canceling headphones to replace my Aiwa HP-CN5 (they are pretty uncomfortable on long flights, don't stay well on my head and have an annoying hiss - but they are 1st generation so I did not have too many choices when I bought them).

I went down to my local Target and Best Buy stores to check out the different options, and found a set of Sony MDR-NC11 for about $100. I brought them home and found them almost impossible to put on comfortably, and they sounded HORRIBLE - So I promptly returned them.

When I went back to the store, the Philips set was sitting right next to the Sonys so I figured I would give them a try, and at $60 I did not think they could be too bad.

I got them home and did a quick comparison with my Aiwa set...

1. The passive noise cancelation - The cup covered my ears a lot better and did not place as much pressure on the lobe just outside my ear canal (part of the reason the Aiwa's got uncomfortable). They did a remarkably good job blocking out noise without even turning on the active noise cancelation system.

2. The active noise cancelation - I have not had a chance to test these in an airplane yet, but they did really well when canceling out the noise of my refridgerator, the A/C compressor outside and my neighbor's mower. I am really looking forward to my next flight so I can really test it out, but based on the performance so far I am sure I will not be disappointed.

3. The sound quality - In my side by side comparison of the same song, I found that the Aiwa set produced slightly better high and medium range reproduction, but the Philips had better bass. Typically I would be using these in a noisy environment anyway so I just want the headphones to sound decent and have reasonable bass - which the Philips set provides - I do not think it will win any audiophile awards. One huge plus over other sets I have tried is that even when the noise cancelation system is turned on, there is no annoying hiss!

Overall, I would highly recommend these headphones, they are compact enough when folded down to make them easy traveling companions, they have a reasonably good sound performance, with good passive and active noise cancelation at a reasonable price point.