Customer Reviews
Excellent noise isolation and cancelling - especially for bass response and clarity 
2008-10-12
I bought these to use with my faithful iPod which is full of music extending from:
* House, Elecro, Techno (minus, Trapez, Traum Records etc), requiring a decent and tight bass response and good crisp uppers for all those 808/909 kicks and bass lines and tight hi hats
* Classical to new and old Heavy Metal (Gustav Mahler to Iron Maiden :)
* Indie/rock/acoustic (e.g. The Eels, 1980's Ska bands, Punk)
* Abstract electronics (Venetian Snares, Luke Vibert, AFX, Mr 76 etc - lots of Warp records stuff)
I'm also a DJ and musician, so have experience with a wide variety of listening conditions, studio monitors, studio headphones, and my faithful Sony MDR-V700 cans when mixing vinyl techno/house. I'm also VERY careful with my ears and use custom fitted earpieces for sound management at gigs and shows.
I travel quite extensively so what I wanted was:
1. Earphones that are comfortable
2. Excellent noise suppression - block general noise - people coughing, babies crying, annoying people chatting whilst standing near your seat on the plane etc.
3. Excellent noise cancellation
4. Excellent dynamic range given the spectrum of my listening library
5. Not over the top pricing
6. Good enough to not need extra amplifier to get a decent dynamic range (like some of my Koss Studio Headphones)
7. No fatigue both physical and due to the characteristics of the drivers - too 'brittle' a high end and its over after 30 minutes - think cheap JBL monitors crushing the mids and highs into a distorted mush. I can't stand that. Since noise canceling is an acoustic process, it was important that this didn't mush up my choons :)
8. Sturdiness - nothing worse than a cable getting snared and having to "tie" it to get a proper contact. Nooooo !
I've had quite a few different pairs of noise canceling phones in the past - the very early Philips over the ear ones (both two recent models which i was quite happy with) being the ones I'd settled on and used for about 5 years due to value and meeting most of the above. However, since one of my two pairs plastic broke - they were about 5 years old and used heavily, and I was not too happy about the need to drive them quite hard from my 80G 5G iPod to get a decent level which also meant that it introduced a bit of distortion - the iPod amp isnt actually that great by the way - I decided to look at some other options including Sennheiser top of the range, Bose QC range, the current Philips as well as Etymotic and Shure passive noise canceling. I was prepared to invest in something decent up to $400.
Anyhow, after much research and trying a few out my conclusions were:
* the Bose models were nice, but hugely over the top in price given their performance - especially whilst they did well in noise canceling, this appeared to be at the expense of phase alignment and actually changing the EQ spectrum quite vividly. Sounds were good but a it sounded like a kind of flattening effect across the mids which for my music which in the main tends to be somewhat "V" in EQ was a bit odd sounding. I just felt given the price it should have been much better.
* Sennheiser - excellent all round but could not help feeling way too expensive (and a bit bulky)
* The Philips models were the same as my old ones - still perfectly serviceable but still a little lacking and needing driving a little hard - but can be had for pretty low dollars
* The Audio Technica just stood way above the rest on the price/sound quality/value/curve. The downsides are slight and similar to all the others anyhow: Yes, as with ANY noise canceling headphones since we are dealing with an acoustic process by which sound waves of any reasonable magnitude arriving at the earpiece in the range say up to 1500 Hz (aircraft engine noise, train noise, most conversations) are rapidly inverted and "played" into the earpiece at a level to actively cancel out anything arriving at your eardrum - more or less - there are bound to be acoustic artifacts and changes in EQ spectrum/Phase and so on.
However the AT's were much nicer in this regard. Couple this with the nice rubber noise isolation buds (use the largest you can to block noise and have them slot nicely into your ear canal), pressing the "NC on" button is pure bliss. One thing I did note- if you connect them to nothing and use them, you will "hear" the noise cancelling process - but this is eliminated when the music is created or if you are in even a slightly noisy environment (e.g. bar, cafe, restaurant, shop).
So, I actually ended up buying both the in-ear buds listed here since they are so compact and hugely effective for creating my own silent or music filled world on trains and planes, as well as the AT over the ear ones - ATH ANC7's. The latter are very comfortable if a little compact over the ear and have excellent performance also - and nice cabling - removable cable and a nice case that also happens to fit my ipod inside too.
Paid $99 for the in ear via one of amazons sellers, and $127 for the over the ear ones. That's TWO pairs of really excellent headphones for less than the Bose or Sennheisers which were getting into la la land on price.
So, I can get close to my Studio and DJ can performance out of these and its made my ipod and other music listening experiences (eg. plane's movie system) really quite pleasurable. I can also use them to sleep on a noise plane or train - so effective you have to watch to make sure you don't miss announcements like your stops. If push came to shove, I reckon I could easily use the over the ears for a bit of inpromtu DJ'ing if I had to - they are really great in this regard as they work perfectly without being powered - unlike some others. So, both be used when batteries are dead too.
Hope this helps - just a happy customer of these nice cans.
Mark
Unbelievable - better than Bose on-ear 2008-10-08
I had to write a review for these! They are incredible. I bought them before a trip to Europe from the US 2 weeks ago, and they were fantastic at reducing the noise of the plane. But the most incredible part was that when the AA stewardess brought around the Bose on-ear headsets in business class, I did a comparison and the AT's were significantly quieter than the Bose. Of course the over-ear Bose are even better so I suspect they would blow the AT's away. Still, a product this good and this compact is well worth $100. And the case has room for your MP3 player if it's flash, so everything travels in one case, which is awesome. I travel a lot, and wish I'd discovered these babies a long time ago.
Great product; BUT can not be used with computer 
2008-09-25
They do an excellent job cancelling noise. Audio quality seemed great to me. I have used them on very long flights, walking on busy streets, working on noisy offices. They were able to cancel noise from crying babies, people snoring, people talking and laughing loudly. I loved them!
BUT when used with the computer, they make an awful constant buzz/crackling noise (with the noise-cancelling mode on, off and even without battery). AT technical support informed me that it is a common problem with high sensitivity (low impedance) headphones.
Great headphones 2008-09-24
This headphones was great at reducing the noise on the airplane. On my trap from New York to Tokyo on a Boeing 777, I first tried the airline's supplied noise canceling headphones, they were ok at reducing the engine noise, but when I changed over to my Audio Technica headphones - WOW - a Big difference in sound canceling & quality from the Audio Tech. This headphone is Highly recommended.
Like it 2008-09-23
I go on long business trips about every other week and love this product for airplanes. It seems like no headphones ever fit my ears correctly, so they don't completely block out the noise, but they do a good job of blocking out enough so that my ears aren't ringing after long flights.
love it! 2008-09-23
Audio-Technica's ATH-ANC3 QuietPoint Active Noise-Cancelling In-Ear Headphones reduce distracting background noise by 85% while offering superior sound. Engineered to create a comfortable listening environment in areas with high ambient noise, these in-ear headphones feature a miniature microphone in each earpiece that picks up ambient noise. Electronics in the control box create a noise-cancelling wave that is 180-degrees out of phase with the ambient noise. While it acts like a noise eraser, the control box cancels out the annoying sounds that surround you without diminishing the audio you want to hear. Monitor switch deactivates noise cancellation audio Audio functions in passive mode even without battery Sleek control box offers on/off and monitor switches and clothing clip Two-pin airline adapter connects to in-flight entertainment Hard carrying case protects headphones & accessories Y cable includes an adjustable sleeve and extension for secure and comfortable fit A single AAA battery powers noise-cancelling electronics Gold-plated mini-plug provides exceptional corrosion resistance, superb conductivity and low noise Driver Diameter - 12.5 mm Frequency Response - 15 - 22,000 Hz Sensitivity - 104 dB Impedance - 90 ohms QuietPoint Active Noise Reduction - Up to 20 dB AAA (alkaline) Battery - Up to 50 hours, typical (alkaline) Weight - 40 grams (1.4 ounces) with battery
my first review 2008-09-19
My Sony nosie cancelling earphones died after a few years of good use and decided to spend a few extra bucks for what apperared to be a higher quality set. They are great, more comfortable with less hiss, plus the case is really nice. I have used these at concerts with the echo cancelling turned on but not plugged into anything. They act as earplugs and you can actually understand what is being said. This is the first time I have reviewed a product on amazon, and everybody else is so helpful I thought it was time to pitch in. So why not start with an excellent product.
poor quality 
2008-09-16
I recently purchased this ATH-ANC3 in ear headphone for my upcoming trip overseas after reading all these great reviews about it and I thought I gave it a try. I was really disappointed about the poor quality.
The first pair arrived in the mail has loud popping noise whenever the switch was turned on. It was apparently defective, so I returned and exchanged it for another one. The second pair arrived shortly after I returned the first one. It did not have the same popping noise as the first one, but when the noise canceling was turned on it produced some static hiss sound which is very distracting. I understand that this might be common for some noise canceling phones, but it gets so bad that sometimes it's almost as loud as the noise it canceled which defeats the purpose. I am not sure if this is also a defective one. My guess would be not.
I have tried Bose QC2 and QC3 in the store and I was really impressed with them. Now I own a Panasonic RP-HC500. It's working just as good as the Bose models and there is virtually no static sound. I haven't tried the ATH-ANC7 yet as I am discouraged by their quality control.
Excellent for the price 2008-08-30
Excellent noise reduction for the price of these in-ear headphones. They also sound almost as good as my Bose in-ear style headphones and will work as regular head phones if turned off or the battery is dead.
This is better than the Shure SE530 2008-08-27
I've been listening to this earphone and the Shure SE530 for a month or so. The SE530 is very decent, but I found the soundstage rather lacking, especially for an earphone that cost almost 4 times as much. On the Audio Techica, the audio is crisp and clear. With any good album, you're immediately transported away into another world.
The noise cancellation works very well. I can't hear quarreling couples in front of me on the bus. It's very portable, with the minor irritation being you're able to hear wires hitting against each other.
You can use rechargeable batteries with it, even if the manual says otherwise.
The audio quality makes up for the extra bulk you're carrying. This earphone is worth every cent of your money. Test it out if you're able to before you buy to be safe, but that's not really necessary.
