I wanted some noise cancelling headphones for working at home; the nice weather has brought with it a lot of people making noise in my neighborhood. I saw that Rtings tests noise cancellation, and sorted all 500 of their reviews for noise attenuation and found the Razer Opus were close to the top. I don't agree 1000% with their rating methodology but for NC it's pretty solid, and they even provide the sound files they used to measure.
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tests/isolation/noise-isolation-cancellation-passive-active
The best measured attenuation come from the Sony WH-1000XM3, which provides 29.9db. Being an audiophile, I can't really stomach spending $300 dollars on a bluetooth headset..seems gross...so I got the Razers for around $120. They provide 27db attenuation. ASR recently measured the Bose QC 35, which gives 27db as well.
One thing I notice about the noise cancellation is that turning it off and on doesn't make a huge difference since these headphones are so well sealed to begin with. I will say that my keyboard is inaudible when I use these headphones, but all told, it is incredibly effective.
Now, this headphone commits a number of audiophile sins. For one, it's made by a gaming hardware company. For another, it's bluetooth (although with aptx/aac). Having said that, it's clear that the DSP in these things is doing quite a bit, and the default "THX" equalization mode is pretty innofensive. I use them with the android wavelet app with a little bass boost, but even without they sound pretty decent for a closed headphone. After having used them for a bit, I do find the high noise rejection to improve immersion, it's just a shame they don't sound as airy as my Sennheisers. I highly recommend the Wavelet app, by the way.
I'm not necessarily endorsing the Razer's, I think they're great for the money, but I do wonder if the DSP equalization and ANC can have better sound than a traditional passive headphone?
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tests/isolation/noise-isolation-cancellation-passive-active
The best measured attenuation come from the Sony WH-1000XM3, which provides 29.9db. Being an audiophile, I can't really stomach spending $300 dollars on a bluetooth headset..seems gross...so I got the Razers for around $120. They provide 27db attenuation. ASR recently measured the Bose QC 35, which gives 27db as well.
One thing I notice about the noise cancellation is that turning it off and on doesn't make a huge difference since these headphones are so well sealed to begin with. I will say that my keyboard is inaudible when I use these headphones, but all told, it is incredibly effective.
Now, this headphone commits a number of audiophile sins. For one, it's made by a gaming hardware company. For another, it's bluetooth (although with aptx/aac). Having said that, it's clear that the DSP in these things is doing quite a bit, and the default "THX" equalization mode is pretty innofensive. I use them with the android wavelet app with a little bass boost, but even without they sound pretty decent for a closed headphone. After having used them for a bit, I do find the high noise rejection to improve immersion, it's just a shame they don't sound as airy as my Sennheisers. I highly recommend the Wavelet app, by the way.
I'm not necessarily endorsing the Razer's, I think they're great for the money, but I do wonder if the DSP equalization and ANC can have better sound than a traditional passive headphone?