Tired of background noise interfering with my music and podcasts, I went on a hunt for the best budget active noise cancelling headphones. I ended up buying Taotronics Active Noise Cancelling Headphones.
Below are the considerations I made in my purchase decision and my recommendation for a best buy.
What are active noise cancelling headphones?
There are two types of noise cancelling headphones.
Active noise cancelling headphones effectively ‘listen’ for outside noise and then play a ‘cancelling’ frequency into your ears. This prevents you from hearing the actual noise. Pretty cool!
Noise isolating headphones, on the other hand, block out the noise by physical means. That means they physically block sound from getting into your ears with the material that they are made of.
Noise isolating headphones are normally cheaper, as there is less technology involved, but they’re also normally not as good.
Should you get wired or Bluetooth headphones?
One serious consideration I made when researching the best active noise cancelling headphones was whether to buy wired ones or the Bluetooth option.
At first I thought Bluetooth was the way to go. I usually listen to music and podcasts on my iPhone 6, which will likely start to slow and need replacing at some point this year.
So there’s no way I was going to spend a lot of money on a wired pair, only to have to buy another set when I upgrade and no longer have a standard headphone socket on my phone (thanks Apple…).
I thought Bluetooth would fix this particular issue because they connect wirelessly instead. But Bluetooth headphones need charging.
Wired active noise cancelling headphones need charging too. However, I found that the wired ones still work as standard headphones when out of charge. The Bluetooth ones? Not so much.
The best budget Bluetooth ones I found all stated that they are useless as soon as they run out of charge. And the charge lasted less than 10 hours, so that’s not going to work for a long haul trip.
In the end I decided to go for the best budget active noise cancelling headphones that I could find, and accept that they would need to be sold when I upgrade my phone.
What are the best active noise cancelling headphones?
Just about all of the reviews out there cite the Bose QuietComfort 20 as the absolute leader in active noise cancelling headphones, but they are far from a budget option.
(Update 11/01/2020: I’ve ended up buying some Bose Headphones – read the review.)
The market leading pair cost around £220/$250. By all accounts they are worth the price tag so if you spend a significant amount of time on planes, trains and buses they could well be the best choice for you!
Personally, though I do travel quite a lot, I’d rather spend a few hundred pounds on a trip than on some earphones.
I ended up buying the Taotronics Active Noise Cancelling Headphones and I’m really pleased with them!
At only £40/$45 they are cheap enough not to break the bank and they’re also really good. At their own admission, they aren’t as amazing as the much more expensive Bose QuietComfort. Of course they aren’t – they are significantly less of an investment. But they are good.
I haven’t tested them on a plane yet (I’ll update this post after I do) but they effectively cut out background noise, especially if it’s constant – like on a bus, a train, or just general office chatter!
What’s in the Taotronics Active Noise Cancelling Headphones box?
Earbuds in different sizes. The Taotronics Active Noise Cancelling Headphones come with three sizes of soft earbud and three sizes of tips. I have tiny ears and often find listening the music for long periods makes them sore, but these are super comfy and the best I’ve had.
A charger. Yep, you need to charge your headphones. But don’t worry, they still work as normal headphones when the active noise canceller is out of juice. There’s a USB charger cable in the box.
Plane converter. Sometimes on a plane you get those double headphone sockets, which often means you have to use the headphones provided by the airline. But these come with a handy adaptor so you can always plug in and watch your favourite movie.
Drawbacks of Taotronics Active Noise Cancelling Headphones?
The Taotronics Active Noise Cancelling Headphones aren’t the best active noise cancelling headphones (that prize probably goes to the Bose ones), but I believe they are the best value for money.
They are great at cutting out constant background noise, but aren’t so good at cutting out sporadic noise – like a lorry going past on my walk to work.
The only other down side is that, because there’s no background noise, you can find yourself really zoning out of the world. That’s going to be fab on a long haul flight, but a bit disorientating in the office when your boss suddenly taps you on the shoulder…
Otherwise, they’re really great!
My verdict? Worth more than the budget price!
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