noise canceling headphones

Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:20 am   

A noise canceling headphone consists of a headphone,
plus an external microphone fed to an inverting input,
right?

Why does that cost $40 extra?

--
Rich

Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:20 am   

On 20/01/2012 3:20 PM, RichD wrote:

Does it? I think you probably mean that its price is $40 more than the
price of otherwise similar non-noise cancelling headphones.

Why is its price that much higher? Because the vendors think that that
price is the one that maximises their profit.

Sylvia.

Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:46 am   

On 1/19/2012 8:20 PM, RichD wrote:

You stock headphone doesn't have a power amp. For the noise cancelling
to work, it has to have an amplifier in it, so it is more than just
adding a microphone. A good system will have a delay line scheme rather
than just sum an external microphone.

I've had the original NCT headphones. OK, but it used a 9V battery (bad)
and the foam rotted (very bad). I had another brand for a while, but the
amp was noisy.

It is far cheaper just to get some etymotics and not have to cancel
noise in the first place.

The patent expired, so these are much cheaper nowadays. You no longer
have to buy direct either.

No extra battery required since it just blocks the noise rather than
tries to cancel it. It is aLways better to have a good sensor than tweak
a bad design with electronics.

Fri Jan 20, 2012 3:27 pm   

On Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:20:42 -0800 (PST), RichD
<r_delaney2001_at_yahoo.com> wrote:


I paid more like $150 more-- worth every cent.

Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:10 pm   

On 1/19/2012 11:20 PM, RichD wrote:

Well, not quite.

It also includes some signal processing, mixing
capability to properly blend the processed mic
signal with the incoming music signal, amplifiers
to power the headphone drivers themselves, the
mechanical packaging to hold it all together, etc.


It costs extra because of the signal processing,
mixing capability to properly blend the processed
mic signal with the incoming music signal, amplifiers
to power the headphone drivers themselves, the
mechanical packaging to hold it all together, etc.

Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:57 pm   

RichD wrote:

0) Why do you think $40+ is expensive for headphones?

1) there is more to it than that. Ask yourself why the audio
stuff at the beginning of "The Conversation" is Movie Science Fiction
(Scott Dorsey on r.a.p used to go on about this, to my
much-enlightenment ). I have never tried these things because I
don't believe they work.

2) Because that is what people will pay for them.

Guy I went to college with went to work for Evil Corporation "X", and
basically lived on the road for like ten years. Wasn't married, so
he was able to save almost everything he made. The point is that these
are a "travel" item and people who burn through a corporation's travel
budget can offset salary & bonus with such purchases, and the
resulting value to them is higher than for those of us who don't.

That is why the Sky Mall magazine is like it is...

--
Les Cargill

Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:31 am   

On Jan 20, Les Cargill <lcargil...@comcast.com> wrote:


Sky Mall magazine?

--
Rich

Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:31 am   

On Jan 19, RichD <r_delaney2...@yahoo.com> wrote:

And with exquisite timing....

http://tinyurl.com/NYT-headphones

My psychic powers amaze me -

(although I was looking at units below $100)


--
Rich

Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:53 am   

RichD wrote:


I gather you don't fly much?

http://www.skymall.com/shopping/homepage.htm?pnr=ING

--
Les Cargill

Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:03 am   

On Jan 20, 5:20 pm, RichD <r_delaney2...@yahoo.com> wrote:

cos that's not what it does! There is a dsp chip in their doing
adaptive noise cancellation.


Hardy

Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:05 am   

On Jan 20, 5:20 pm, RichD <r_delaney2...@yahoo.com> wrote:

You cannot just stick a microphone and invert the signal and hope it
will cancel noise. You need to match the amplitudes at different
frequencies and this requires an adaptive filter.


hardy

Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:08 am   

On Jan 19, 11:20 pm, RichD <r_delaney2...@yahoo.com> wrote:

F@(%*# noise-canceling headphones.

-ChrisCoaster

Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:37 am   

oh really?
are you sure?
have you tried it?

Mark

Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:43 pm   

Mark wrote:


Literature: Tales from the White Hart.


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:49 pm   

"Mark" <makolber_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:96b47b27-f3df-4e70-9af5-dff1fb6f9d6b_at_j14g2000vba.googlegroups.com...

It is unreasonable to demand that every truth be supported by personal
experience.

All that is necessary is to look at the technical details of
implementations of products that are effective.

If you are knowledgeable and experienced enough in other areas you can be
fully aware of the difficulty of the task at hand.

IOW, if you have evidence, background knowledge about how systems work, and
are capable of abstract reasoning, you don't need to do *everything*
yourself.

You can actually learn from other's people's experiences.

I've personally been abused and seen many others abused this way by
know-nothings this way for decades. Everytime another charlatan comes out
with a new utterly fantastic claim for a audio tweak, some lame-brain will
tell me that I can't possibly know that the tweak is BS since I haven't run
right out and bought the product and tried it for myself.

I don't need to eat crap to know its crap. The smell and appearance
suffices for me! Your mileage may vary.