Review: ATH-ANC3

September 8, 2009 by Beatweek

New in iProng Labs: a hands-on review of the new ATH-ANC3 noise canceling earbuds from Audio-Technica, priced at $169…

review by Bill Palmer

It’s the classic traveler’s dilemma: do you lug along full size cup-style noise canceling headphones, which surround your head with enough anti-noise to make an airplane’s engine noise almost disappear, or do you save room in your carry-on by settling for in-ear earbuds that do a nice job of blocking out normal ambient noise but are overmatched on an airplane? The middle ground comes in the form of Audio-Technica’s ATH-ANC3, a set of earbuds that employ the same noise canceling technology as full-on headphones. 

 Putting the ATH-ANC3 earbuds up against Audio-Technica’s own ATH-ANC7b full-size headphones, I found that the depending on how loudly I turned the music and what kind of music it was, these earbuds were about half to two-thirds as effective at silencing nearby loud noises – but then the laws of physics alone more or less predicted that these little earbuds wouldn’t be as effective at noise canceling as giant headphones. In my other tests I found that these earbuds were much more effective at blocking out loud noises than even the best in-ear earbuds I’ve tested. 

 Audio-wise, the ATH-ANC3 offers roughly the same sound quality (background noise not factored in) as the best sub-$100 in-ear earbuds I’ve tested, but didn’t measure up to the best earbuds in the $100-$150 range. In other words, you’re paying about $69 extra for the noise canceling functionality, which means you’ll need to put it to good use in order to get your money’s worth. On the other hand, Amazon currently offers the ATH-ANC for $101, so if you can nab these at that price then you’re essentially getting the noise canceling technology for free. 

 Well, not exactly free. You’ll have to tolerate the added bulk of a control panel on the cable that houses an included battery, which makes the ATH-ANC3 not exactly lightweight by normal earbud standards. But for those who’ve wanted noise canceling technology put didn’t want to put up with full-on headphones, these noise canceling earbuds may be viewed as a godsend – particularly when traveling.

*****

Learn more about the ATH-ANC3 at Audio-Technica.com.

*****

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Filed Under: iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes, Reviews
Tagged: ATH-ANC3, Audio-Technica, earbuds, earphones, in-ear, noise canceling

Comments

Walt French

I got away from the noise canceling style years ago but came up with an even more compact, higher fidelity solution: canal plugs.

I long ago settled on the Etymotic ER4-P’s — it was a Wozniak post back in the bulletin board days that turned me onto them — but Shure and other better-known shops make ‘em, too.

Advantages: better noise isolation than the “noise canceling” style, better fidelity, too. (An audiophile type I follow put them at the number 2 position on his list, bettered only by bulky studio-quality phones.)

Disadvantages: some people don’t like the feel of things so far into their ears; the isolation can be dangerous, even illegal, in traffic. Definitely not for bikes.