Sennheiser PXC 250-II Foldable Closed-Back Stereo Mini On-Ear Headphones with Noiseguard Active Noise Cancellation

This is the second pair of these Sennheiser PXC250 headphones I've purchased. On a recent trip to the Far East I discovered at the airport that I'd left my old Sennheiser travel headphones at home. I reluctantly paid £80+ for a pair of PXC250 at Currys duty-free shop, a good move as the same pair in Frankfurt airport and Hong Kong were £160. They don't have quite the same range as my original travel headphones, but they do have an effective noise cancelling feature, great not only for in aircraft use, but for anywhere there is a constant background noise. They don't eliminate all background noise but do reduce it to the point at which it becomes unnoticeable.The noise reduction system and volume booster uses a AAA battery which has a fairly short life, I used 4 on a four week vacation. The headphones can be used without the battery, but the volume level is quite low and of course there would be no noise cancelling without battery power.The headphones, aaa battery and aircraft adapter come in a small good quality padded carry case. There is a simple instruction booklet.This pair is for my wife, who covets my pair. I had intended buying them on my next trip through Birmingham Airport until I saw that Amazon offered them at the same price. Highly recommended.

I bought a pair of these to try to make working in a noisy crowded office more tolerable.My conclusions so far:- Air conditioning noise, computer fan noise: very effective at screening out this low frequency noise.- Talking, shouting: partially effective at screening this out, particularly with co-workers with deep voices.- Crisp packet rustling, cereal-bowl scraping: not very effective at blocking this noise:- Coin sorting: not very effective at blocking this noise.- Farting, burping, yawning: moderately effective at blocking this noise.- Sneezing, coughing: not very effective at blocking this noise.It's still necessary to play music through the headphones in order to effectively exclude most human-created office noises.Because they sit on top of the ears, they are quite light and comfortable, but larger headphones that completely enclose the ear would probably block sound more effectively.

I've had these headphones for the last 3 years (just got round to reviewing them now) and they're in use 3 or 4 times for a couple of hours at a time a week and they've performed beautifully since I first got them back in May 2011. The noise cancelling unit works tremendously well wherever you are and especially on trains or planes allowing you to more-or-less forget where you are and just enjoy your audio. Sound quality is very good with a good bass and clear tone. The battery lasts a long time but keep a spare handy as the sound difference when you haven't got the noise cancelling switched on is very noticeable. These headphones are light to wear, very comfortable and fold up neatly to be stored away. I would highly recommend these Sennheiser headphones as I've not found anything better at the price point.

Worked fine drowning out background music but tried listening to music on iPhone with tv on in background hardly reduced noise at all. As I bought it for long flight I needed something to cut out background conversation and clearly this would not work. Also there is a hiss without music on so no good if you just wanted to dull noise whilst you sleep. I found the ear pads wanted to twist away from my ears which was annoying. Returned them. Very disappointed

Had those headphones for about a month now and I think they are rather good value for money!Fit me well, sit firm on my ears and the active noise cancellation is very decent compared to others I have tried. The batteries last very long (not sure exactly how long, but I don't change them that often).Sound seems OK to me but I am not claiming on having a particularly sensitive hearing. I know some people commented it is not brilliant but for me they sound good and is exactly what I want and need!!Also, they come with a small carry bag, which I didn't realise when ordering them (I ordered one seperately).

I`ve been using in ear buds for years and always had to turn up the volume on my MP3 player to drown out the background noise of the world today.Then i discovered noise cancelling headphones!!These Sennheisers are perfect, small in size but big on sound! came with a nice carry case which has plenty of space to store my iphone 4 when travelling. The noise gaurd feature is some thing the improves the quality of the music you play, and the on ear design makes sure the world stays outside without being uncomfortable and warming up your ears.These are a must buy to the true music lover.

I had a previous set of these headphones for about 8 years so when they became 'crackly' l decided to buy another set about 11 months ago. Unfortunately the cable is already fractures with wire exposed. Very disappointing as l am very careful about how l handle and store them. However the sound quality and noise reduction is fantastic so l'm very torn as to whether l would buy them again. Depends what response l get from Sennheiser customer service.

I've had these headphones for a year now and I rate them highly. The noise cancelling does have some leakage, however this is a function of them not being fully over ear as they are designed to be compact. The AAA battery has lasted since I bought them and you can choose to use the noise cancelling function. If you remove the battery, you can still use them as headphones (which is a feature not common to all noise cancelling headphones). The sound is excellent, I have used them with my iPad, laptop and iPhone and they sound equally great. Compact, great sound and excellent value for money. I recommend these and I will buy them again (I might be waiting a while though as they are 100% reliable)