Customer Reviews
WORTHLESS 
2008-03-26
After only 3 uses, the earphone broke away from the headband while the set was in my airline carry-on, without any undue physical stress on the case. Since I owned these more than 90 days, Maxell so-called "customer support" told me they could do nothing about this and that the only thing I could do, short of getting this repaired locally, is to throw them away since the plastic connector was broken beyond repair. Never again!!!
Cheap Headphones, there are much better options for the money 
2008-01-01
I've never felt a need for noise cancellation headphones, but I received these as a gift. Fortunately, no one spent a lot of money on them, because they really seem cheap to me. The construction is flimsy, and they're bulky. Maxell might as well have included a paper sack to carry them in, as the bag that comes with them is not much more than that. It offers no protection to the headphones at all.
I just can't see packing this kind of bulk in my scarce carry-on space. I don't see any payoff for the bulk in terms of the sound that you get: these simply sound quite mediocre with the noise cancellation off. With noise cancellation on, the sound is even worse. It's flat and lifeless.
I had recently purchased a pair of Sennheiser PX-100s. They sound vastly better for the money. They fold down super-compactly into a nicely-designed case and even cost a few bucks less.
I don't know about the expensive noise-cancellation headphones, but I would rather have a better pair of regular headphones for this price.
not really a noise cancelling headset 2007-12-06
I am not an audiophile, but I do care about the sound I hear. I bought this headset last week mainly for the time I spend removing snow in winter. I wanted a headset that covers my ears well, while sounding OK. I thought this noise cancelling phone would be a great choice, especially because my snowblower is terribly loud. Well, it does cover my ears comfortably well, but unfortunately thats all that is good about this headset. It isnt particularly great sounding, and the biggest disappointment was noise cancellation - rather the lack of it. It is hard to perceive much difference between NC being on or off!! It does suppress some, so I know it is on, but it can hardly suppress anything real. I quickly gave up any hope about its use with snowblower, but I then found it cant do much about the sound of my home's furnace as well - which is barely audible even without a headset.. bummer.
I have a Sony MDR-NC6 that I have been using for the past 2 years or so. It still works great, just that it doesnt have a cupped headset to cover my ear. If that is not one of your criteria, I highly recommend it. It sounds way better, is cheaper (at least now it is), noise cancellation works great too. See my review there.
Maxell HP-NC1 Noise Cancelling Headphones 
2007-03-12
I love this product. I specifically bought it for a long flight to Hawaii and I wore them almost the entire trip. They were very comfortable.
Great Sound - Suspect Wiring 
2006-01-06
I LOVE the performance of these very comfortable headphones. They do an excellent job of eliminating aircraft noise while at the same time delivering excellent cd and dvd audio. Whether you buy these or not - it must be said that noise cancellation headphones are worthless unless they cover your entire ear and this model is perfect sized.
The one drawback I have is that the first pair I owned only lasted about 6 months (of admittingly heavy travel use) because the cord broke at the point where it connects to the mid-cord battery pack. The connection integrity is pretty poor.
I like these phones so much, and they deliver performance only slightly below my boss's BOSE phones that I have already bought a second pair and am hoping that being extra careful during use and when packing that I get much longer life out of them.
Horrible battery pack 2008-06-19
I previously had a pair of Sony noise-cancellers. The big downfall of the Maxells are the battery pack. It's about half-way down the cord. If you use them at a desk and move much, you'll constantly pull the pack off of the desk and it'll fall with a sharp jerk to your headphones. The Sonys only used a single AAA battery but the Maxells use two. So, Sony was able to put it in a compartment on the headphone band with no aggravation. Oddly, the Sonys seem to have much better battery life for me. The Maxells do enclose the ears much better to help block sounds, but they do start to hurt your ears after prolonged use. If you wear them for hours at a time, the similarly priced Sonys are easier on the ear. I'm not wild about the way the Maxells fold up, either. The Sonys kind of spin in and make for much flatter storage. Another problem with the Maxells is a loud creaking sound from the plastic. Often just moving your jaw seems to produce a loud plastic-on-plastic noise that comes through quite loud. With a slight re-design, Maxell could have a nice set of headphones. Wait until then or try another brand.
good for the price 
2008-05-30
I was looking for something to use on an airplane that didn't cost me and arm and a leg, so when I came across these, I figured it was worth a try.
They worked very well for what I purchased them for, they blocked out a lot of noise on the plane.
The only thing that did happen was that I must have accidentally turned the noise cancellation switch on after my use and so for a whole week of my trip they were on in my bag. So of course on the way home I had a dead battery and no spares. I was still able to use the headphones, so it wasn't too bad. Just make sure that switch is off and always carry those extra batteries.
THEY SUCK!!! 2008-05-05
this was my second pair of noice canecelling headphones. my first pair were made by sony, but can't remember the model. the noise cancelling was not as good as the sony's but they are far more comfortable...EXCEPT FOR THE ON-CORD BATTERY HOUSE/NOISE CANCELLING CONTROL!!! that was the dumbest part of this product!!! it just hangs heavily from the headphones unless you put it in your pocket. then it takes up valuable pocket space, especially in the summertime when you don't have coat pockets to put some things in. the sony pair had the battery housing and controls built right on the head phones. i read in another review that this is a belt clip...don't believe the hype. there is no clip on this thing. the sound was mediocre and the noise cancelling was inferior to the sony.
also, as previously stated, my left ear is gone. sometimes it comes on when the cord gets bumped around in my pocket to the right position, but otherwise it is gone. i don't know how something like this could happen after a few months of use, but it is not a good thing. i checked to make sure it wasn't my ipod that was broken by putting the headphones in my computer and sure enough it was the headphones.
Not worth your time 2008-04-27
I was going on a business trip, and didn't have time to get these in through Amazon. I had a previous version that went bad after four years, so I bought another pair (through Walmart).
Maxell really cheapened these up. The phone jack was flimsy, and started having problems after only three uses in my laptop. The fit around the ears was nowhere near as nice as the previous pair I had, and there seemed to be an intermittent (more on than off) constant tone around 9000 hz that was quite irritating.
Save yourself the time and aggravation with this pair, spend the money on a nice Audio-Technica unit (like I'm going to do) and get something that meets your needs for the long haul.
Great while they last, which isn't long 2008-04-03
I bought these in the second week of February. Today is April 3 and the right headphone is already on its death-bed. If I fiddle with the cord, I can get it to work, at least until it dies out again. It's an endless cycle of fiddling with the cord over and over again, only to have the right speaker die out again and again. I finally give up.
Any headphones that can't even last 2 months are not worth your money. I've also read other reviews where the same thing happened, so it's not like it was an isolated incident. Needless to say, I will not buy any Maxell headphones ever again and I suggest you don't either.
