Sony MDR1-RNC

The world of noise-canceling headphones is littered with Bose wannabes, so it's refreshing to see a pair that has its own look. The Sony MDR1-RNC offers solid noise cancellation and excellent audio performance, but its $499.99 (direct) price is tough to swallow. There are similarly priced models out there that do more, and lower-priced models that are comparable in audio performance and noise cancellation. The only real disappointing feature of these comfortable, distortion-free headphones is the high price.

Design
The MDR1-RNC looks very similar to its non-noise-canceling sibling, the Sony MDR-1R. Both feature a minimal, stately design that uses matte black surfaces and plush black leather on the earcups and headband to create a luxurious look and feel. Aside from the Sony logo, the only real design flourish is a metallic red band on each earcup that's eye-catching without being flashy or tacky. The MDR1-RNC, even during long listening sessions, is exceedingly comfortable.

The included audio cables (there are two) attach to a 3.5mm connection point on the left earcup, which also houses the power switch and LED status indicator. The right earcup holds the USB connector for the power cable.

The power indicator works in a counterintuitive way, but you get used to it?rather than tell you how much power you have left when you turn the headphones on, the MDR1-RNC gives you this information when you power it down. Three blinks of the power indicator means full, one blink means low, and rapid blinks means dead. It makes sense?then you know when you're finished using them whether they need juice, but turning them on and quickly off to assess the battery status is a bit backward.

Unfortunately, the pricey MDR1-RNC, despite being rechargeable, doesn't ship with a charger, instead you get a USB charging cable. The less-expensive Bose QuietComfort 3 ships with its own. Still, this is better than the use of a disposable AAA battery, an all-too-common default for noise-canceling headphones.

The MDR1-RNC ships with a nice array of accessories, including two detachable cables (one with an inline microphone and remote control), an airline jack adapter, a USB charging cable, and a small zip-up pouch to hold the cables?all of which fits inside a large, flat, zip-up case that the headphones also fold down flat into. There is no ?-inch headphone jack adapter, again, a headphone pair in this price range should have one, but this can be easily, inexpensively remedied by a trip to Radio Shack.

Call clarity through the cable with the mic and remote is solid?we're dealing with cellular fidelity here, but the earphones block out enough noise and the mic delivers your voice clearly to your call partner. The mic and remote work in both passive and active modes, so you don't need to have the noise cancellation activated to use them. The majority of noise-canceling headphones lack phone controls, so this feature is a plus.

Performance
On tracks with serious sub-bass content, like our low-end test track, the Knife's "Silent Shout," the MDR1-RNC does not distort in active noise-canceling or passive mode. At top volumes, it remains clean, providing a powerful, but not overwhelming, bass response. The low end is by no means flat?there's definitely some boosting here?but it's also not as intense as it would be on a heavily boosted pair, like the Denon Urban Raver AH-D320.

On Bill Callahan's "Drover," his deep baritone vocals are delivered with a crisp, treble edge that lends them strong definition. Often, headphone pairs with too much bass boost will make this song sound a bit muddy, with Callahan's vocals getting lost in the mix, but here they are center stage. The drumming is lent a nice low-end presence that gives the percussion a bit of thunder without competing with the vocals and guitar for the spotlight.

Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild" sounds excellent here. The kick drum loop is graced with a punchy attack and a healthy sustain, while the underlying sub-bass synth hits have plenty of deep low frequency presence without overly exaggerating things. The vocals from Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Frank Ocean are all crisp, clear, and in the forefront, despite the mix being extremely dense.

On classical tracks, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances", the higher register strings, brass, and percussion are the stars, with a bright-but-never-harsh presence that highlights the growl of trombones and the bowing of strings. Lower-register strings have a nice roundness to them?a bit of bass boost, but nothing unnatural sounding. The large drum hits at the end of the piece can sound comically intense on a overly bass-boosted pair; here, they have just the right amount of low-end push, making them sound powerful and natural simultaneously.

The MDR1-RNC uses Sony's "AI" noise cancellation circuitry, which chooses between three different modes of cancellation (aircraft, train, or office) depending on what type of environment you're in. A gimmick? Sure, a bit of one?why not just eliminate as much from all frequency ranges as possible all the time, like most competitors do? Also, you cannot choose your mode manually, it decides for you. But gimmickry aside, the circuitry works well at eliminating large bands of ambient noise, and it does so without generating the high-pitched hiss that we tend to associate with lesser noise cancellation circuitry.

The overall audio performance of the MDR1-RNC is wonderful?it lends itself quite well to a variety of music genres, gracing them with some crispness and a touch of extra low-end, but the sculpting is never overboard, and the delivery is always free of distortion. Combine that with solid noise cancellation, and you have a winner. But there's the price.

Just about all of the competition costs less. The Bose QuietComfort 15 delivers slightly more effective noise cancellation, but can't match the MDR1-RNC's sonic performance. For the same price as the MDR1-RNC, the Sennheiser MM 550-Xalso delivers wireless functionality. In other words, we love the Sony MDR1-RNC, but it's not priced in accordance with its features and abilities. Our current favorite is much more affordable: The AKG K 490 NC delivers excellent audio performance and noise cancellation for half the price of the MDR1-RNC.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/iY-VYHB0xZg/0,2817,2417624,00.asp

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