Practice Safe Sound

My son went off to college, and I re-inherited the lawnmowing task that I happily passed on to him when he was a young teen. At least now, I thought, the job would go faster if I could listen to podcasts while mowing.

I hit the turf with my iPod and my favorite Sony MDR-A30 folding walkman-style headphones. Not surprisingly I had to crank the iPod's volume up full to hear anything over the din of my Deere. I knew that this could not be healthy for my middle-aged ears.

I decided that a pair of noise-cancelling headphones was in order. I knew that they might not be of much help with lawn mower noise, because noise-cancelling headphones do most of their cancelling work in the lower frequency range (below 1000 hertz)... but I do a lot of air travel, and I knew that they'd be great for that purpose. If they had some effect on the lawnmower... well, added bonus.

THE SEARCH FOR SMALL

I checked out the Boses. Nice sound, but too big and too expensive. Same with the Sonys. I listened to the Sharper Image noise-cancellers... didn't care much for the sound quality and they were still too big. I really wanted something as small and trouble free as my sport-walkman headphones.

SMALL IS GOOD

Then, I found the Sennheiser PXC 300. Small and foldable, they are easy to transport. Soft leatherette ear pads form a seal around the ear canal (not the whole ear) and begin the process of isolating you from outside sounds. Light weight along with soft pads on the headband make them quite comfortable to wear for extended periods.

One of the reasons for the Sennheisers' diminuative size... the noise-cancelling electronics and the two AAA batteries that drive them are contained in a separate cylindrical package (about 5" long and 5/8" in diameter). This electronics "module" has a belt clip that swivels, so you can wear it oriented vertically or horizontally. One end of the module has a sliding power switch and a red LED power light. Carrying the module around can be a bit of a pain at times, but that's the trade-off for having much smaller headphones. The whole package is still much easier to pack in a briefcase than those huge Bose headphones.

OK THEY'RE SMALL. HOW DO THEY SOUND?

It doesn't matter how small the headphones are, or even how good a job they do at cancelling noise, if they don't sound good. The Sennheiser PXC 300s sound quite decent. Not audiophile quality, not even as good as those huge Bose Quiet Comfort headphones, but quite usable. The response is smooth, the bass is deep, but not overemphasized. Unlike with my Sony headphones, I can turn off the equalizer in my iPod and have pleasing accurate sound. That is, when the noise-cancelling circuitry is turned on.

Unlike some other noise-cancelling headphones, The PXC 300s are designed to continue working as standard headphones with the power turned off. That way, if your batteries die halfway across the Atlantic, you can still listen to Radiohead. But there is a noticeable difference in the frequency response of the headphones with the power turned off... primarily a little less bass, and a little less punch in the upper midrange/treble.

The active circuitry does add a small amount of hiss and a very slight amount of harmonic distortion to the audio... not enough to be a deal-breaker, but it is there. I heard the same kind of issues on all of the noise cancelling headphones I tried.

NOISE OR NO NOISE?

I just got back from a 5 day trip to San Francisco with my new Sennheisers. On the 5 hour (each way) airplane ride, they did a magnificent job of cutting the airplane noise. I was able to listen to delicate acoustic music (Ralph Towner) with my iPod at 1/2 volume, and still hear the subtle harmonics of the 12-string. With my previous headphones, I was limited to choosing loud rock (Jethro Tull), with the iPod cranked up full to overcome the loud airplane ambience. The difference is stunning.

I used the included dual 1/8" mono adaptor to plug the headphones into the airplane's armrest audio system, and was able to enjoy the surprisingly entertaining movie (The Illusionist) without having to crank the volume up to uncomfortable levels.

The batteries lasted the entire trip.

We'll have to wait until next spring to learn if the Sennheisers will have any effect on the lawnmower.

I've noticed that some other noise-cancelling headphones can put an uncomfortable "pressurized" feeling on your ears when they are activated. These Sennheisers do not suffer from this.

The Sennheiser PXC 300 comes with a nice zippered storage case, the aforementioned dual mono adaptor and a 1/4 phone adaptor. Batteries are included.

If size and price were no object, I'd probably choose the Bose headphones over these. But at this price point, and in this size range, there is no better way to practice safe sound.

UPDATE 12/7/07

A couple of months ago, while mowing the lawn, my iPod fell off my belt clip, and forcefully ripped the mini-plug off the end of my PXC 300's cable. I sent the headphones back to Sennheiser, fully expecting to have to pay for the repair... I explained to them that the incident was clearly my fault. Today a package arrived with a brand new pair of replacement headphones, including a new case and set of adaptor plugs. No charge. THANKS SENNHEISER!!!

Another update: The PXC-300's noise canceling IS effective enough that you can comfortably listen to music or podcasts while mowing the lawn with a John Deere 14SB 21" walk-behind mower.