( 29 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 17 2009
I bought a pair of these from Amazon in 2005 and used them for about four years, almost exclusively in-flight. For what you pay here, you get an incredible product. But in the end, I upgraded off of them, and you probably will sooner or later as well. You are getting a lot of bang for the buck here. It turns out this was also once the Sharper Image noise-canceling headphone (model FJ450) selling for about seventy smackeroos in the airport malls. Just change the plastic sidetrim pieces (to neon blue) and ta-da, it's rebranded as a Kensington. And it was also once marketed under the Creative Labs brand name. So the product's got a long build history ... suggesting they've got a lot of bugs long worked out. I found them comfortable to wear. They'll fit any size head. The center/bridge piece has bend/give to it, the earpieces have pull-out extensions, and the ON-the-ear pads were more than comfortable over many coast-to-coast flights. I was quite pleased with the sound, given the price. They fold up for stow in a quick and uncomplicated process. I don't know that I would call them noise-cancelling, but rather noise-REDUCING headphones. When I would flip the NC function on, yes, the roar of the jet engines was diminished, but not entirely gone. The NC function also seems to throw in a bit too much white noise. Scrimping on the build quality is what ended my affair with these Kensingtons. On one flight, the straight rubber strap that crosses from one side to another (to hold it snug) snapped and broke. A few more flights and the plastic (TOTALLY plastic) hinge that allows the earpiece to rotate and fold up for storage, that also broke. With some serious dosing of SuperGlue, the hinge is back on ... but it cannot be rotated for stow. So the Kensingtons were relegated to the office for occassional Internet music enjoyment (and they are about to get replaced for that as well). Some serious higher-end shopping research resulted in the purchase of the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 QuietPoint Active Noise-Cancelling Headphones, which has turned out to be an awesome product/solution. Seriously, check them out! The sound quality is off the charts and they seal off and/or cancel out every drop of sound during an airplane flight. Though they don't fold up, the earpieces turn so it packs flat into a well-thought-out, quality carry case ... and the superiority of the product makes it well worth putting up with something less compact. And yes you stand out wearing a large set of over-the-ear headphones. Once, I was given an airline employee discount in the airport food court ... simply because I had them draped around my neck (well, I had a suit and tie on also). But I really don't care if other travelers spot them as a bit odd/huge, I mean the whole purpose of these things is to tune all of them out anyway! Currently, the A-Ts are out of production, but it looks as though the company is going to do a slight spiff on them ... and then re-release them as the ATH-ANC7-B. I snagged them here at Amaz. for about a Benjamin and a quarter. I've compared the A-Ts to that other certain well-hyped & heavily-advertised brand of noise-cancellers -- which are hanging everywhere from Best Buy to airport kiosks so you can try them out -- and these A-Ts sound better ... and at less than one-third the price. My guess is that, for NC headphones in the under-seventy-five category, you can't do better than these Kensingtons ... that's what most everyone else is charging for what you get here in these Kensingtons for barely more than twenty-five smackers ... but give serious consideration to dropping the extra dough to get the Audio-Technicas.
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Posted: Jul 17 2009
I bought a pair of these from Amazon in 2005 and used them for about four years, almost exclusively in-flight. For what you pay here, you get an incredible product. But in the end, I upgraded off of them, and you probably will sooner or later as well. You are getting a lot of bang for the buck here. It turns out this was also once the Sharper Image noise-canceling headphone (model FJ450) selling for about seventy smackeroos in the airport malls. Just change the plastic sidetrim pieces (to neon blue) and ta-da, it's rebranded as a Kensington. And it was also once marketed under the Creative Labs brand name. So the product's got a long build history ... suggesting they've got a lot of bugs long worked out. I found them comfortable to wear. They'll fit any size head. The center/bridge piece has bend/give to it, the earpieces have pull-out extensions, and the ON-the-ear pads were more than comfortable over many coast-to-coast flights. I was quite pleased with the sound, given the price. They fold up for stow in a quick and uncomplicated process. I don't know that I would call them noise-cancelling, but rather noise-REDUCING headphones. When I would flip the NC function on, yes, the roar of the jet engines was diminished, but not entirely gone. The NC function also seems to throw in a bit too much white noise. Scrimping on the build quality is what ended my affair with these Kensingtons. On one flight, the straight rubber strap that crosses from one side to another (to hold it snug) snapped and broke. A few more flights and the plastic (TOTALLY plastic) hinge that allows the earpiece to rotate and fold up for storage, that also broke. With some serious dosing of SuperGlue, the hinge is back on ... but it cannot be rotated for stow. So the Kensingtons were relegated to the office for occassional Internet music enjoyment (and they are about to get replaced for that as well). Some serious higher-end shopping research resulted in the purchase of the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 QuietPoint OVER-the-ear noise-cancelling headphones, which has turned out to be an awesome product/solution. Seriously, check them out! The sound quality is off the charts and they seal off and/or cancel out every drop of sound during an airplane flight. Though they don't fold up, the earpieces turn so it packs flat into a well-thought-out, quality carry case ... and the superiority of the product makes it well worth putting up with something less compact. And yes you stand out wearing a large set of over-the-ear headphones. Once, I was given an airline employee discount in the airport food court ... simply because I had them draped around my neck (well, I had a suit and tie on also). But I really don't care if other travelers spot them as a bit odd/huge, I mean the whole purpose of these things is to tune all of them out anyway! Currently, the A-Ts are out of production, but it looks as though the company is going to do a slight spiff on them ... and then re-release them as the ATH-ANC7-B. I snagged them here at Amaz. for about a Benjamin and a quarter. I've compared the A-Ts to that other certain well-hyped & heavily-advertised brand of noise-cancellers -- which are hanging everywhere from Best Buy to airport kiosks so you can try them out -- and these A-Ts sound better ... and at less than one-third the price. My guess is that, for NC headphones in the under-seventy-five category, you can't do better than these Kensingtons ... that's what most everyone else is charging for what you get here in these Kensingtons for barely more than twenty-five smackers ... but give serious consideration to dropping the extra dough to get the Audio-Technicas.
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Posted: Jun 26 2009
I have 4 kids who are a PITA while driving anywhere. I got one headphone for each of them during road trips and they now quietly listen to their music, watch their movies or play their games in silence :-) Well worth the money...high quality item.
