AT 84

REVIEW

AUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-ANC7 QUIETPOINTI wish I’d had a pair of these 10 years ago when I first started working on large festival stages. It’s almost impossible to work in that environment and protect your ears; the noise levels are often extreme and no combination of earmuffs and plugs seem to help. I used to wear both – determined as I was to protect my hearing – but unfortunately this only created other problems: an inability to hear my work colleagues properly and oodles of bass frequencies. It was a claustrophobic and isolating world – tiring and yet largely ineffective.

Now, finally, the solution is noise-cancelling headphones. The latest offering from Audio-Technica in this field is the QuietPoint headphone. These cans do an amazing job of cancelling out noise from the surrounding environment – be it a PA, a jet engine, a noisy office or a chainsaw – by analysing external sound via two small mics on the outside of the earcups, and replaying a phase-inverted equivalent in an attempt to cancel the sound before it enters your ear.

The QuietPoints do a remarkable job; significantly reducing loud, booming PA stacks to weedy little critters with no brain-addling bass frequencies whatsoever. Massive environmental bass is almost entirely eradicated, and the result is a vastly quieter and much ‘thinner’ sound overall, providing the wearer with a safer, clearer and quieter working environment. Hoo-bloody-ray.

But these headphones aren’t just great high-end ear-muffs, they’re also good for critical listening. Like almost every Audio-Technica headphone I’ve worn in recent times, the QuietPoints have a nicely balanced and smooth tone, providing clear extended bass frequencies and a relaxed high end.

The QuietPoints work conventionally with or without the noise cancelling electronics switched on too, unlike some others that won’t replay audio unless the phase-cancelling is engaged. The only issue I’ve had is that when you’re listening to music and switch them on; the volume jumps significantly and becomes more aggressive in tone – almost akin to slamming a mix through a Waves L2. But, overall, these are great little headphones and versatile to boot. Andy Stewart

Price: $445

Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au

REVIEWS: IN BRIEF

BOSE PANARAY 610M & 310M FLOOR MONITORSThe wedge market is top heavy – by which I mean, the ‘knock your head clean off’ sector is well serviced. Every decent PA manufacturer needs at least one thumpingly loud floor monitor and they’re inevitably big and expensive. Alternatively, you have the bulky/cheap moulded variety that are more at home at the end of poles (for FOH duties) and look ugly on stage. Curiously, it’s much harder to find low-profile, high quality compact floor monitors.

But for any stage that’s not overpoweringly loud, you’re better off having a wedge that’s compact and can’t be driven to frighteningly-loud levels. Solo performers, duos, small club stages, churches, schools, orchestra pits, theatres… If you’re not competing with 130dB of backline then why have a monitor that’s pushing enough air to inflate a jumpy castle?

So it’s a big hello to the Bose Panaray 310M and 620M: incredibly light, amazingly compact and, sonically, beautifully transparent.

Which could be the end of the story, but this is Bose we’re talking about and Bose can’t release a product without some sort of smarty pants proprietary technology. The 620M features two 5.25-inch drivers with six 2.25-inch drivers in a proprietary ‘Articulated Array’ speaker design (the smaller 310M combines a 5.25-inch driver and three 2.25-inch). The cabinet shape and Bose’s penchant for combining multiple smaller drivers, means these monitors display three very different dispersion characteristics depending on whether you place the cab in ‘portrait’ mode (for a narrow individual throw) or ‘landscape’ mode (two permutations for a wider group monitoring).

These monitors are quite a revelation. They’re loud enough (113dB @ 1m and 111dB @ 1m) for any small-scale setups and (in the case of the 610M) many medium-sized stage applications, and offer a very smooth, hi-fi response. Don’t imagine these babies will walk into an on-stage role where SPL is everything, and they don’t enjoy being kicked about (at 6kg and 10kg respectively, they tend to roll away). But where reasonable SPL and a clear full-frequency sound are what matter most, these could be just the ticket. Christopher Holder

Price: Panaray 310M: $599; Panaray 620M: $899

Bose Australia: 1800 659 433 or www.pro.bose.com

BELKIN TUNESTUDIOWalk into Harvey Norman in the near future and sitting in the cabinet alongside docks, socks, FM tuners, purpose built hi-fis and microphones, there may be a Tunestudio (by the iPod accessoriser extraordinaire, Belkin). The Tunestudio is a recording interface that uses iPods with Voice Memo capability to record a stereo track in 16-bit/44.1k.

The Tunestudio has four input channels; two with XLR or line inputs, switchable phantom power and 60dB of gain. The third channel has stereo line inputs and the fourth features RCA connectors at line level. Each channel has a three-band fixed frequency EQ, pan pot and level control. While the lack of transport controls can be overlooked at this price point, not being able to solo or mute tracks to check individual sounds is frustrating.

A USB connection provides digital I/O to a computer. The implication here is, you can still record/monitor via your PC even if you’ve not got your iPod with you.

Speaking of which, the Tunestudio’s monitoring is a case of ‘good news and bad news’. While it provides ample control of the various hooked up sources – there are six separate knobs for iPod playback, USB-to-computer control, mix ratio between iPod and USB, headphone level, monitor level and master level – it’s let down by a lousy headphone amplifier. (The recordings themselves sound good, but there’s a noticeable lack of fidelity when monitoring from the Tunestudio as opposed to directly from the iPod.)

So, why should the Tunestudio be any different to any other hard drive recorder? Well, all-in-one hard drive recorders are portable, to a point, but the point of the Tunestudio is simply that it incorporates the portable hard drive of a generation: the iPod. So, as well as being ‘plug & play’, the iPod-centric Tunestudio is also unplug-and-play. Record your band, podcast, or DJ set; unplug your iPod, plug in your headphones or take it anywhere in this iPod-obsessed world and you’re sure to find some car, hi-fi or computer to plug it into and play. And with simultaneous recording on the iPod as well as computer, it’s a handy backup tool that fits in your hand. Mark Davie

Price: $399

CMI: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au

Lately, it seems like every manufacturer wants a piece o f the market for high-end noise-canceling headphones, a business invented and more or less dominated by Bose. Last year, I reviewed that company's QuietComfort 3 headphones and was nearly breathtaken by their $349 price, but they proved so likeable I was hard-pressed to hammer them for being expensive. As I wrote in my review for Sound & Vision's Web site, the QC 3s, which boast a lightweight on-ear design, were extremely comfortable for lengthy listening sessions ( for me, at least). And their sound was cannily balanced, providing just enough o f a bump in the upper bass to give a sense o f fullness (but not boominess) with most recordings and just enough o f a rollof f in the highs to avoid sizzle that can become fatiguing. By year's end, I had probably logged several hundred hours with my QC 3s, and we honored Bose with one o f our 2006 Editors' Choice Awards.

Recently, Audio-Technica and Sennheiser, two companies that know a thing or two about both headphones and good sound, introduced models that take square aim at the same customer. The subject o f this review, the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 QuietPoint noise-canceling headphones, sell for $220 — about 35% less than the QC 3s — and, as you'll read, also proved highly recommendable. But whereas the Bose phones create a seductive sound that many listeners will find appealing, the A-Ts have a re freshing accuracy that speaks to a completely di f ferent experience. You might call these two headsets the yin and yang o f noise-canceling phones.

FFEATURES The ANC7 headphones feature a nice black-and-silver, sculpted earcup design made o f an obviously high-impact molded plastic. A small slider switch with a blue LED on the left cup activates the noise-canceling circuit. A couple of small mesh screens on each cup protect the embedded microphones used to process the ambient noise. The phones have a nice solidity to them; the pivots for the earcups are thick and strong, and they gave the impression o f being able to withstand a fall (although I didn't test this). The earpads are covered in faux leather and also appear to be made of top-grade materials.

Like the Bose phones, the ANC7s come in their own hard case with a velvet-covered, molded insert to protect them for storage and travel. Make no mistake: These are not compact phones, and they require a serious commitment o f brie fcase or backpack space to carry around. The ANC7s' case is well finished in black woven canvas, and there's a zippered web pocket that Velcros to the inside cover to hold the 1.6-meter (5.2-foot) headphone cord and the two plug adapters that come with the phones: a mini-to-dual-mini for airline use and a mini-to-quarter-inch for a receiver or preamp. As with the QC 3s, the cord is fully detachable so the phones can be used for noise canceling alone without a dangling wire. This cord has standard stereo mini-plugs on either side, but Audio-Technica has thoughtfully made one a right-angle plug; either works at the headphone end so you can reverse the cable as needed to accommodate your source.

Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7QuietPoint Noise-CancelingHeadphonesby Rob SabinMay 2007

United-States - may 2007

From the Sound&Vision website :http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/av/2237/audio-technica-ath-anc7-

quietpoint-noise-canceling-headphones.html

Unlike the QC 3s, the ANC7s do not include a battery charger. No harm done — you don't need one: The phones run on a single AAA battery that loads into a clever pop-up drawer on top of the right earcup. This design means there's no lid to fumble with or drop under the seat o f the commuter in front o f you on your morning bus ride. Battery li fe is claimed to be up to 40 hours, and a replacement, should you need one, is as close as the next convenience store.

Also unlike the Bose models — including both the QC 3 and its predecessor, the QC 2 — the headphones still work when the noise-canceling circuitry is turned of f . You won't get any noise cancellation, and you'll find the sound a couple of dB lower in volume, but you will get sound. That can make a huge di f ference midway through a transatlantic flight when your battery unexpectedly gives out.

Another critical di f ference is that these are around-ear headphones vs. the QC 3s' previously noted on-ear design. Frankly, I was a bit skeptical about their long-term comfort when I first put them on, but they proved to be light enough in their pressure fit and so ft enough in their padding not to be bothersome over some pretty good hauls. Ultimately, though, they are both larger and heavier than the QC 3s and don't quite share the featherweight, forget-they're-there quotient that the QC 3s enjoy. (I can't say how they compare directly with the QC 2s, which also have an over-ear design.)

PPERFORMANCE The most immediate and obvious sonic trait I heard when I first put on the ANC7s was their outstanding midrange and, especially, high-frequency detail. No matter what I listened to — rock, pop, jazz, country, classical — it was like a veil had been li fted from the music compared with the sound on my reference QC 3s. On the delight fully delicate rendition o f "The Girl from Ipanema" by Rosa Passos and Ron Carter on Chesky's compilation o f The World's Greatest Audiophile Vocal Recordings, the fine brushwork on the cymbals was reproduced with their metallic shimmer intact, something that was crushed and compressed on the QC 3s. The A-Ts also reproduced this track, and others on this well-recorded CD, with a bit more air and spaciousness than the Bose phones did.

When I switched over to Giles and George Martin's amazing audiophile mashup o f classic Beatles hits on Love, I was blown away by the detail in the guitar and percussion taps that start o f f the "Blackbird"/"Yesterday" medley and by the degree o f intonation and detail revealed in Paul McCartney's vocals. The massed strings in the CD remix o f the Mercury Living Presence recording o f Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2 played back with a kind o f rich body that at least began to evoke the real thing — and again, with a spaciousness that gave the individual sections and instruments an extra measure o f three-dimensional realism. The solo oboe had that gorgeous reedy quality that gives the instrument its signature sound but is so o ften lost in electronic reproduction. As an added bonus, these large headphones proved surprisingly e f ficient: I was able to drive them to pretty high volume, and get pretty good dynamic peaks, from a low-power flash-memory music player.

Aside from matters o f comfort, about the only time I longed to return to my QC 3s was when the big timpani came in on the Hanson symphony — or, say, when I paid close attention to the lone string bass that accompanies Christy Baron's "Ain't No Sunshine" vocal on the Chesky disc. The little bump that Bose programs into the upper bass may not be accurate, but — in headphones, anyway — it massages the eardrum in a most satis f ying way and adds some much-needed body to instruments in the lower register. No headphones can really be expected to produce low bass, but when I listened to the Hanson recording on the Bose phones, there was that distinct flavor o f drum echo behind some lightly struck kettledrums — whereas on the A-Ts, the sound could have been mistaken for plucked string bass. And when I really was hearing plucked string bass on various jazz recordings through the Bose phones, there was extra impact and body that gave at least an illusion o f deeper bass and, perhaps more important, kept me from yearning for more. Don't get me wrong: What was there in the A-Ts was extremely detailed and accurate, but it didn't have the full presence o f the QC 3s.

Beyond sound quality, I found both headsets to be about equal in their ability to quash typical background noise on commuter trains and planes I traveled on. The A-Ts, with their closed-ear design, provided better

TThe Short Form

Price $220 / audio-technica.com / 330-686-2600

Snapshot

These premium-grade noise-canceling headphones deliver accurate, detailed sound at an attractive price.

P lus

•Outstanding midrange and high-frequency clarity •Excellent spatial detail •Operates without battery power i f necessary

Minus

•Could use more bass impact

Key Features

•Large-aperture 40-mm drivers with neodymium magnets •Flat- folding design for portability •Hard carry case •1.6-meter (5.2-foot) headphone cord •Adapters for airline and home component use •Runs on a single AAA battery •Weight: 7.1 oz (without cable and battery)

passive noise-reduction — but when turned on, both sets provided an essentially quiet canvas from which the music flowed, and they're considerably better than several less expensive noise-canceling phones I've auditioned.

BBOTTOM LINE Okay, all you inveterate and deep-pocketed iPod fanatics: It's time to line up and pick your Kool-Aid. Will it be the Bose QuietComforts, with their lightweight on-ear design and perhaps less detailed and revealing yet ultimately more balanced and lush sound? Or will you opt for the Audio-Technica QuietPoints, with their more highly detailed and o ften exhilarating, purist audiophile approach? Not to mention their considerably more attractive price tag. Don't ask me to pick for you — I could no more do that than select your lunch menu. (Will that be the corned beef or the salad, sir?) But what I can say is that if you're in the market for high-quality commuter headphones, both these models are worth your strong consideration and audition. It may come down to what feels comfortable on your head or what just feels right to your ear. But in the end, the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 is a serious piece o f work at a seriously good price.

60 nap (a föld körül)Melyik a leg-drágább hifi eszköz?A fül! Az Audio-Techni-ca kampány-ba kezdett a fül megóvásá-ért. Előadáso-kat tartanak szakmai fóru-

mokon, emellett az akció jegyében be-mutattak egy új, aktív zajcsökkentős fej-

hallgatót. Egy-egy hangos rockkoncert, vagy disco est után 16 óra múlva rege-nerálódik a hallás. Azonban a túlságo-san nagy hangerő okozta roncsolás ma-radandó halláskárosodást okoz. A sétáló zenelejátszó szintén veszélyforrás lehet, mivel ezeket a fülkagylóba helyezhető mini-hangsugárzókkal hallgatják, ame-lyek nem szűrik ki a háttérzajt. Az ered-mény: egyrészt az agy alaposan lefárad a folyamatos „bió-zajszűrés” miatt. Ráa-dásul, ami még ennél is rosszabb, ilyen-kor sokan feltekerik a hangerőt a zaj túl-

harsogására, amely viszont maradandó károsodást is okozhat. Az Audio-Tech-nica ezeket a mini fülhallgatókat kiváltó új fejhallgatója, az ANC7 aktív elektro-nikája akár 85 dB-el képes a háttérzajt csökkenteni, vagyis gyakorlatilag telje-sen kiszűri azt. Tömegközlekedési esz-közökön, buszon, vonaton és repülőn is hasznos eszköz pihentető zenehallgatás-hoz, nem mellesleg – főleg az aktív zaj-csökkentő bekapcsolása nélkül – egé-szen jó fejhallgató.

Matók István

Hungary - may 2007

“Which one is the most expensiveHiFi device? The ears! Audio-Technica started a campaign forprotecting our ears. They makepresentations within the forums ofthe industry, and they introducedtheir new noise-canceling head-phones. After a loud rock concertour ears need 16 hours for rege-neration. Sometimes the too highsound causes permanent hearingloss. Walkman can also be dan-

gerous because it has inner-earloudspeakers without cancelingthe noise of the environment. Theresult: the brain gets tired becauseof the ‘bio-noise-canceling’. Moreserious problem is that the volumewill be increased in this case whichcan cause hearing loss. Replacingthese mini headphones, the newATH-ANC7 from Audio-Technicawith its active electronics is ableto lower the background noise by

up to 85dB. It is useful for relaxingand listening to music during tra-veling by bus, plane, train etc. Mo-reover – mostly without turning onthe electronics – they are reallygood headphones.”

Matók István

From the Magazine :

Sztereo Sound & Vision

Act i ve No ice-Cance l l ing Headphones | Nob l e Peace Pr izes

Back in the day, act i ve no ise cance l ing meant a quick roundhouse fo r the p roud grandmother in the m idd l e seat. Then came the Bose QuietComfort headphones, the fi r st to cut the clamo r by generat ing a sound wave oppos ite the ambient buzz. Bose st i l l makes a sweet headset; we'd rate the QC2 at a more - than-so l id 8 out of 10. But we recent ly tested four new mode ls and found that Bose is no longe r k ing of the r ing. —Joe Brown

AAudio-Technica ATH-ANC7P r imar i l y a p ro aud io

company, Aud io -Techn ica wanted i ts ent ry into th is arena to boast the best

poss ib l e sound qual i t y — with o r without the no ise cance l ing act i vated. Thank

you, neurot ic Japanese eng inee rs. Thank you. WWired Amazing sound,

ba lanced and sweet, from Sego v ia to Snoop Dogg.

Lightwe ight and comfortab l e. Batte ry st i l l k ick in' afte r two weeks of

near l y constant use. Oh yeah: exce l l ent, clean

no ise cance l ing. TTired The only new mode l w ithout a monito r button.

$220, www.aud io -technica.com

SSennheiser PXC 450We a lmost cou ldn't get these phones because Sennhe ise r was st i l l obsess ing ove r the

no ise -cance l lat ion data. Boy, d id i t pay off.

WWired Bombast ic no ise cance l ing. Ove rs ize cups f i t l is teners from Dumbo on down. Mon ito r button

usefu l fo r hear ing the capta in apo log ize fo r

ineffect i ve a i r -cond it ion ing and impend ing doom.

TTired Uncomfortab le earcups made me sor r y

that secur i t y had nabbed my box cutte r. Pressure

on the cans — as when snooz ing aga inst the

window-summons te r r i fy ing feedback

shr ie k. $450,

www.sennhe ise r.com

PPhilips SHN9500/37Ph i l i ps' p roduct

deve lopment team t rave rsed the g lobe and too k 86 mo lds of human

ears f rom eve r y inhab ited cont inent. They

created the ult imate ave rage ear shape and

made these headphones to f i t i t.

WWired Supe r comfy fo r l ong st retches. B locks a

surp r is ing amount of no ise just by v i r tue of the i r shape. A l r eady a barga in at l i st, but we found 'em on l ine fo r 95

bucks! TTired Sounds muddy once you switch the power on.

Ove r la rge case is a bette r tambour ine than headphone ho lde r. No ise

cance l ing gets buzzy when batte ry is low.

$160, www.ph i l i psusa.com

SSony MDR-NC60When we f i rs t og led these e xqu is i te l y

crafted cans, we almost fo rgave Sony fo r push ing

ATRAC3. When we put them on we wer e r ight back to b itch ing about

Memo ry St icks and UMDs. Like most of Sony's

r ecent aud io endeavo rs, these look far bette r

than they pe rfo rm. WWired Oozes fi rs t -c lass, from the swank leather

case to the smoked meta l accents. Decent

sound. TTired Hisssssssssssss. The on ly pa i r we tested that p roduces an aud ib l e hum when no ise cance lat ion is switched on. There is just no e xcuse fo r th is k ind of

behav io r. $200, www.sonysty l e.com

From the Wired website :http://www.wired.com/gadgets/gadgetreviews/magazine/15-06/pl_test

United States - may 2007