Audio Technica ATH-ANC1

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Caractéristiques
Headphone Type	On-ear noise-cancelling
Frequency Response	10 Hz - 20 kHz
Speaker	Dynamic transducer
Impedance	130
Sensitivity	105 dB SPL
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Cable Length	1.2m
Weight	100
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Tristan François
Translator: Jack Sims
Test date: September 2, 2010

Why over-ear headphones interfere with noise-cancelling

Short recap:

- On-ear headphones are headphones that don't rest on the head but directly on the ear, which means the headphones are smaller and more compact than over-ear heaphones.

- The concept behind noise-cancellation is very simple indeed: take any audio signal and generate an antinoise signal, or destructive interference. This is then sent to the same point in space at the same time as the original signal and the two signals cancel each other out meaning you don't hear anything.

Applied to a set of headphones, you place a microphone to capture exterior noise just behind the earphone that emits the audio signal. The signal from the mircophone is then mixed with an antinoise signal that you generate to mirror the exterior noise and then mixed with the audio signal. The listener then receives their sound with the exterior noise cancelled out. Except that for optimal functioning, you must also have quality soundproofing, without which exterior noise will still be heard.

If you want quality soundproofing, you'll need a well-made headphone casing, as well as good contact between the headphone and the listener's skin. However on-ear headphones by their nature rest on the ear rather than over the ear and therefore getting good contact with the skin is difficult.

The ATH-ANC7bs were well-rewarded for their audio qualities and excellent noise reduction. With the ANC1s, Audio Technica has tried to offer noise-cancelling at an accessible price. This is quite a challenge.

Design and build: not really very comfortable, practical or nice to look at

To come up with a good value set of headphones, a few sacrifices have been made, which you can spot straight off. To start with, the design of this set doesn't go very far. Priority has been given to maximum effectiveness and it is true that they don't take up too much space once they've been folded up. The arch support however looks too fragile to hope that they'll have a long lifetime however. The same goes for the false leather used on the pads - not very nice to the touch and it will no doubt dry out rapidly and split when rubbed, cause sweat and so on.

Situating the batteries and the DSP that handles the noise-cancelling in the remote is a good idea and enables Audio-Technica to reduce the size of the headphones (the diameter of each headphone is smaller than the length of a battery). One problem, the cable is linked to the headphones on one side only, which makes you feel permanently unbalanced. It gives the distinct impression that it's not going to hold for long.

In terms of accessories, an extension and a plane adaptor are supplied. We'd have liked to see more.

Audio: on-ear and noise cancelling still incompatible

We can't help but be surprised at the choice of the on-ear design for these noise-cancelling headphones (see inset). After wearing them for just a few seconds our fears were confirmed. All the work done towards noise-cancellation is undermined by poor insulation. This was almost inevitable. The foam is too hard and the false leather needs replacing with more supple material to improve contact with the ear.

The audio choices are also bizarre. ATH have led us to expect a fairly neutral coverage of the spectrum, with a preference for high-end. Here, what you get is a flattering, unrealistic sound, mixed with definite lack of precision.

Last point, Audio Technica didn't (completely) fall into the trap of active noise reduction headphones: they do work even when the battery is flat. The sound does then deteriorate significantly however and looses power, which isn't necessarily surprising given that the impedance is announced at 130 ohms. This is a lot for a set of mobile headphones.

Coming up with budget noise-cancelling headphones is doubtless the grail for headphones makers. We haven't found it with the ATH-ANC1s. If you only have £80 to spend, better to look at some in-ears. You shouldn't have any difficulty in finding some nice in-ears with foam for insulation and excellent audio quality at this price.

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Pluses

Light

Minuses

Noise-cancelling ineffective

Sound not neutral

Poorly made