Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: noise, canceling, headphones | Themes: Audio/Video Players, Digital Entertainment
3. Creative Aurvana X-Fi
The Creative Aurvanas, which weighs 2.2 lbs. (1 kg), come packaged in a large box with a fold-out cover touting the X-Fi and 3D features. Packaged with the headphones in the rigid travel case are two AAA batteries, a combination airline plug and mini-to-RCA phono plug adapter and a very useful five-ft. headphone extension cord. There is a multi-language guide included, warranty and disclaimer pamphlets and one curious instruction sheet in a very different language other than English that appears to tell someone how to connect headphones.
The goodies that come with the Creative Aurvana X-Fi and the strange instruction sheet, possibly for a different product, in a different language than English.
Some of the unit is covered with a black leatherette or black plastic color and the cups are silver. The oblong, cover-the-ear headphones aren’t as long as those in my Sennheiser HD-580s. Someone with large ears would be in trouble, as the Aurvana just fit my ears. The outside of the right earpiece has a sliding on/off switch, and separate push buttons for noise reduction, the X-Fi Crystallizer and the 3-D spatializer, which Creative calls CMSS 3-D. Each of these buttons is illuminated with a small, attractive blue LED when on. It’s a little difficult to be sure which button you are pushing when the earphones are on your head.
The Creative Aurvana X-Fi turned on showing the blue LED lights, and the center pack that contains the adapters and the headphone extension cable.
The width and depth of the headphones are adjustable via the sliding extensions under the top band. Though the top band has memory foam, I think the cushioning is too light for headphones of this size and weight. Unlike the JVC and Sennhesier headphones, which fit my head very comfortably, the Aurvanas may be designed for a broader head, as they rest more on the top band. I have fallen asleep with the Sennheiser headphones many times, but could not do so with the Aurvanas.
The earpieces fold flat for storage and rotate up and down - you have to do this on the left to place the batteries via a sliding cover - but the earpieces do not move as comfortably as the Sennheiser or JVC models. Battery life is claimed to be nine hours.
The included JVC and Creative travel cases, compared.
The X-Fi Crystallizer is similar to the stand-alone device that Creative sells separately for improving the sound of lossy file formats, such as mp3. It is supposed to increase the frequency of peaks that were compressed via a lossy ripping process. That device, though, has a detented knob to select from a 0 to 100% effect. There is no such adjustment on the headset. I believe the effect to be at about 50%.
- Previous page JVC HA-NC250
- Next page Use and Listening Tests
Related albums
Google Ads
Comments
- 1 / 2
- Next
-
Then I found in the ear models passive cancellation models from Etymotic and Shute. These are much smaller, much cheaper, cancel noise better and don't require batteries. To top it off, they don't alter the sound in any way. Both Etymotic and Shure make recording studio headphones and earplugs. This is an area where unaltered sound is very important. The only thing you have to get used to is the "deep ear insertion" required to get a good fit.
In other words, get a pair of Shure or Etymotic and you'll be just as happy, plus you can take your significant other out for dinner a couple of times with the money you saved.
As for the comment about shildren being to young to fly I was traveling with my parents before my first birthday and often after than and they never had a problem. I suggest rather than assuming the children are to young look at the parents and figure out what they are doing wrong or pitty the childs ear infection.
The JVC HA-NC100 Noise Canceling Headphones are my favorite because of the retractable cord which is always the perfect length. Noise caceling is minimally better on the big Bose model but the added convience of the retractable cord make the JVCs much more convient at about one fifth the cost. I hate the redundant cords of the other models and there isn't much difference in the noise canceling features.
You could have done some scientific test as well. Put a microphone inside a plastic head and give actual results how much background noise we can hear.
Do your review properly and complete, or rename the topic.
I would love to see a complete noise canceling headphone review.
Very informative review. On other forums it has also been reported that the earpieces of Bose QCII earpieces tend to shed small black bits after three years or so.
Separately, the closing remarks on kids in airplanes seemed a bit too flippant. The corollary is that parents should only take family vacations by car (assuming they own one) for the first seven years, and certainly never take a tropical beach vacation (which is about the only practical destination with young kids). It also suggests that a country's foriegn representatives and embassy staff should be inexperienced or lifetime childless, since a career diplomat who has a family must, of course, relocate. (That was me with the 3 year old on that 12 hour trans-pacific flight.)
If kids on planes are a problem for you, I suggest you look at the plane seating diagram and locate away from the crib locations (usually at the front wall of the economy section). Because babies are put there, airlines also tend to put other minors close by. Seating yourself at the back, or ponying up for business class, should help you out. If you have been using your frequent flyer privileges to book at the front of economy you may have been partly responsible for your own misery.
Also note that it is kids who will pay your future pension plan (even if you have are "fully funded" private plan), since investments and factories are useless if there is no one in the workforce to make things run. You can't live by eating your pension plan reports - there is a real economy behind the paper that needs a constant inflow of new workers to match the deaths and retirements. Families do a job for us all.
This comment makes me envision a grossly overweight unshaven AWESOME person reading 'Dangerous Women' that always gives dirty looks when something they dont approve of happens. Thanks for completely ruining this article with that line.
I agree with the poster above on the in-ear headphones (Shures and Etymotics). Way better sound, much smaller, and do a great job of blocking all noise. I used to use noise-cancelling headphones, now I use Shure E3c's.
Guess you don't have kids eh? Too bad your parents had some?
What're parents supposed to do, live under a rock for 10 years (assuming they have only one child). Travel is a necessity in todays world. I had to bring a 6 month old with a mild fever across country on a plane packed with male business travellers, and she wailed all four hours. It was more miserable for me by far than the people next to me, because I was the one so embarrassed. I apologized to the older gentleman next to me so much, he said "Listen, don't say you're sorry. That's what being a father is, and the baby can't help it. Anyone who gives you a hard time about that is selfish, and doesn't deserve your apology anyways".
You're old enough to travel at 6 months, and if it bothers you so much that people do, try first class, or a pair of these headphones - and try and be a little more emphathetic and professional when you close your article.
It was a decent read till the jab at the end.
People interested in peace & quiet who travel a lot are likely are of a mature age and so must find ways to include family in all that travelling, espeically with everyone so spread out over the world.
That would be the audience to write to; and to avoid writing not only incredibly snide but judgemental and uninformed opinions on their lifestyles as your punchline!
As for noisy kids on airplanes? .. take their parents earplugs out
Bose's second generation headphones hardly do any noise reduction at all. The noise reduction in the Bose QC2 and QC3 headphones (if it even exists) sounds just like the passive noise reduction in the Bose Tri-Port headphones that you get from a cover the ear design. You get considerably worse sound quality than the first generation Bose noise canceling headphones to boot. Uncompressed CD audio sounds like a 64K MP3 file on the Bose QC2 and QC3 headphones.
I thought, at the time, about buying noise-cancelling. But, didn't want the restrictions of sound quality, plus the hassles of batteries & battery life.
- 1 / 2
- Next
-
I'm not sure why you didn't compare any of their noise canceling products.