These are the perfect noise-cancelling headphones for commuters
The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
SonySony makes a pretty wide variety of Bluetooth headphones, but at the top of the line are a pair named "h.ear."
The first thing I noticed about the headphones was their design. Less elegant than the pair of B&O Bluetooth headphones I've been using, the h.ear's have way more attitude and flair. Made of plastic, the ear cups can fold into an included hard carrying case.
Just because they're plastic doesn't mean they feel cheap, though; they still feel really solid both around my neck or on my head. My favorite aesthetic feature of the h.ear headphones are their color. I understand that black and gray are the traditionally cool colors for tech, but I've been rocking a foxy pink pair of headphones that look great.
The h.ear's are over-the-ear headphones, which mean the ear cups cover your ears completely. Thankfully, there's enough padding around the ears, and give to the headband, that these are a dream to use for extended periods of time. In fact, they're more comfortable than the Bang & Olufsen headphones I mentioned earlier.
When it comes to sound, these aren't the best pair of Bluetooth headphones I've ever used, but they're great. If you really listen, and know what to listen for, you can notice some sort of audio enhancement and compression, but it's not excessive. There was also some light distortion every once in a while, but that probably has more to do with the way some of the songs I was streaming were mastered. When I listened to higher-quality music from my personal library, this was a non-issue. What I will say is that the h.ear headphones produce a very "full" sound; there was no big bias between the bass and treble, and when I had these on, I could tune the entire world out.
Many Bluetooth headphones have controls on one of their ear cups, but they can be finicky, cheaply made buttons that aren't worth the trouble. This couldn't be less true of the h.ear's, whose volume rocker, play/pause, and skip track trigger are so good I want them on every pair of headphones I try. The buttons all work flawlessly, and they're intuitive to use. I found myself taking my phone out of my pocket fewer times while reviewing these headphones than any other pair I've worn. Seriously, they're that good.
The final feature I'd like to address is noise cancelling. The h.ear's don't noise cancel passively or automatically, the noise cancelling mode has to be activated by pressing a button on the left cup. All you need to know is that it works really well. I've worn these during my commute on the NYC subway system, and I couldn't hear anything other than my music, even when a boombox was blasting music a few feet away from me. It was actually bizarre to see people reacting strangely and having to take the headphones off only to hear Andrea Bocelli's music bouncing off the walls.
If you're looking for headphones with a bold sense of style, solid sound, and great extra features like noise cancelling and good built-in audio controls, I can't see you being disappointed by the h.ear's. If you're a true audiophile stickler, you might want to look elsewhere But in that case, you also already know no wireless pair of headphones can truly compete with a wired pair.