233621 H501 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones with Microphone, Wired Over Ear Headphones Stereo Headsets with Case for Smartphone, Laptop, Tablet, PC (Space Grey/Upgraded)

These are the best, most comfortable and useful headphones I've ever owned. They've been discontinued but they still turn up every so often.While these are corded headphones (which I prefer anyway) the cord is detachable so if you want noise cancellation but aren't planning on listening to anything, you can remove the cord and it won't be dangling around.The noise cancelling is quite good, probably not as good as $300+ noise cancellers, but it gets you most of the way there. Not being bluetooth, a single AAA battery provides many hours of noise cancellation but bring a spare battery on a long flight. There is a switch to turn cancellation on or off and a green LED shows when it's on. The headphones sound great whether it's on or off.You get two cords, one for a standard stereo miniplug, and the other with an inline remote with volume up, volume down, and pause buttons, plus a microphone that works with most iDevices. I have a Lightning-to-audio jack for the newer iDevices without built in headphone jacks and these work great with that too.They also come with a hard shell case, and the ear pads rotate sideways to fit flat in the case. There is a little pouch that velcro's into the inside of the case which will hold the cords and airline adapter.After many years of use, the ear pads split open, like others have complained about. I just replaced them with replacement pads for the Audio-Technica ANC7 and they fit perfectly. There are several sellers of these, I bought them from Defean.The process is straightforward:Pull off the old ear pads. Yup, just pull them off. They are held on with adhesive. It may take a bit of effort. If all the adhesive doesn't come off of the headphone, clean them up with tweezers or an exacto knife.There is a ring of memory foam around the ear hole of the pad (mine was white). You'll want to cut that off with an exacto knife, preserving it as you go, as close to the pad as you can get. Pay attention to the positioning of the foam ring in relation to the old adhesive as you'll want to duplicate that on the new pads.Then take the tape backing off of the new ear pad and carefully stick the memory foam ring so that it only covers the inner half of the ear pad adhesive. Then carefully place it in the headphone and press together, working your way around, seating the new ear pad with your thumbnail.Then do the other side.Afterward I put them into the hard shell case and zipped it up for a while to help the new adhesive set.The new pads are not quite as thick or as buttery as the original but they still feel great.My favorite headphones are good as new.

The noise cancelling is very effective and the sound quality is very good, I think. I use these headphones in my work as an editor on a daily basis, and I need to be able to hear minute differences in speech occurring in a variety of settings. This set does the job, no question. And they are very comfortable. The only reason I gave four stars is because the pivot joint randomly broke yesterday, rendering the headphones pretty unusable. With daily use in my job for over two years, though, I really can't complain. And with such an attractive price, I'm purchasing another set because these work so well. The padding around the right ear did come loose some time ago, but that didn't hinder the performance or the comfort. Bottom line, good value for the price and a solid performer. I wouldn't even mind paying a few dollars more if they could improve the product by fixing the pivot joint issue and strengthening the seams around the ear padding.

It was really hard to pick a specific brand and model because there are so many available. I have never owned noise cancelling headphones before - I never needed them before. But now that I work in a cube, it is just too noisy to focus on my work! These have pretty much saved my sanity at work! Important things to know... The cord is very long, and kind of heavy. It is not hard wired in, but the opening where it plugs into the headphones is quite narrow - so far I haven't been able to find a replacement cord that fits... I will keep looking! The battery life is impressive! I frequently forget to turn these off when I go home at night, but they will still work for days - I'm guessing over 80 hours on a single AAA battery, though I've never actually timed it (when you get that many hours, why keep track?) They are a bit bulky - but that can be a good thing because people know I'm wearing them when they "sneak up" behind me in my cube! They are a little bit heavy, but not enough that it causes any stiff or soreness or anything - and I have neck issues, so that's kind of important. The actual ear coverings are very soft and comfortable. I can wear these all day without any ear soreness at all - and all of the other headphones I have tried caused me discomfort, so that's really saying something. Without the noise cancelling option on, I can still hear background noise, even with music playing. But as soon as I switch on the noise cancelling, it makes a world of difference. You can still hear surrounding noises, but they are greatly reduced. With noise cancelling AND music, I can't hear anything outside my own head - not even that hyena that sits at the front desk (I know you know what I mean!) Initially I noticed an intermittent "shuffling" or light "cracking" noise when I moved. I don't know what it was, but it has resolved - maybe I didn't have the plug all the way in - but I thought I had checked and re-checked...? Now he peace that these headphones have provided me is priceless. I honestly was ready to quit my job, and now I am so much more comfortable. To me, these are worth their weight in gold!

As regular headphones, these are awesome and I can barely hear any outside noise when I have them on and am playing music. However, the noise-canceling feature was troublesome for me. It was amazing at first when I turned that feature on and had total silence. But after a few minutes, they made this horrible screeching noise in my ear that would only stop when I turned off the noise canceling feature. Then when I turned it back on, the batteries were dead. This was a brand new pair of batteries. So I have no idea what happened there, maybe I got a dud. I am afraid to that feature again because the noise was super loud. However, I decided to keep them because they are really nice as regular headphones for music. But if you are expecting a high-quality noise-canceling feature, don't buy this and spend your money on something else.