October
As you can imagine, the 69 Degrees office gets a little on the loud side from time to time so when the Digital Silence DS321D noise cancelling headphones by Wolfson Microelectronics landed on my desk it was a perfect excuse to block out everyone else and chill out to a bit of Nicola Roberts.
In their own words, the headphones feature
- Digital Ambient Noise Cancellation performance with HD quality music playback
- Stereo headphones with digital ambient noise cancellation and voice mic for phone calls
- Powered by Wolfson’s myZoneTM digital Ambient Noise Cancellation technology
- Multi-function call control button – answer and end calls or voice dial without touching your phone
- Rechargeable battery for maximum convenience on the move
- Small, light control pod with behind-the-neck wearing style for use out and about
- 3.5mm 4 pole audio connector for maximum compatibility
And boy, does it cancel ambient noise. Even with the rest of the office banging away at their keyboards and singing tunelessly along to the radio, I sat and ignored the lot of them as the Digital Silece DS321D’s made light work of blocking them out.
The HD quality of the sound is evident (FLAC and other lossless file formats really shine) as each tone is rich, expansive and super clear. The Bass response is punchy and deep but you can hear every note with none of the buzziness attributed to lower quality headphones. Don’t expect normal phone calls to be this clear (our mobile networks just aren’t up to it) but try a Skype chat to really experience how clear this can be!
I love the idea of the rechargeable noise cancelling pod which is charged via USB and delivers 14 hours of blissfully uninterrupted music (according to the manufacturers). There’s none of the popping, hissing and buzzing that can occur with noise cancelling technology; all in all producing a really natural sound that doesn’t sound in any way altered. The ear pieces themselves are as light and comfy as you’d expect from the price range and fit so nicely (in my ears at least) that I would have no problem using these as normal headphones without the noise cancelling tech.
Available in Black or White the DS-321D headphones are priced at £69.99 and can be purchased from the following places at the end of October: Carphone Warehouse, Play.com and Hughes Direct among others.
http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/digital-silence-ds321d
