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Comment by shell0x

11 hours ago

Noise canceling headphones are absolutely a game changer. I work from home in a very noisy downtown apartment with poor soundproofing and I’d never get anything done without ANC. I haven’t had the chance to try the AirPods Max yet, but I do wonder how it compares to the Sony headphones.

Unfortunately ANC only works on some sounds. In the suburbs you have leafblowers and cars driving past you on the sidewalk, and ANC removes everything /else/ which makes them stand out even more.

  • Leaf blowers and cars driving past are exactly the kind of thing that ANC works well on, a fairly constant noise. It doesn’t block out other kinds of things well. At least it always seems to go that way for me, so I can’t relate to your comment at all. My experience seems exactly the opposite and I have trouble imagining it differently for anyone else, because it works well against a constant noise kind of in the bass range.

    • >Leaf blowers and cars driving past are exactly the kind of thing that ANC works well on, a fairly constant noise.

      I can tell you haven't heard a leaf blower in a while, if ever. The revving the operators inevitably do causes it to bounce up and down over the spectrum at completely random-seeming intervals. Punches right through ANC, windows, doors, walls.

      As if that's not bad enough they pollute more than a gigantic SUV because of how much oil they burn being a two-stroke.