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Picture this: You are on a plane. You already got through security without being fondled too much and you even had time to drink a beer at the airport bar long enough to meet some guy from North Dakota. Why did you lie and say you’d always wanted to visit North Dakota? Anyways, you brought your earbuds, and made plans to relax with some music and maybe take a little nap during your flight. But just as you’re settling in, you see someone holding a newborn baby walking down the aisle. “Oh, no,” you think, praying that they’ll be sitting in the back of the plane... and then it happens. They sit right next to you. Those cheap little earbuds you brought? Useless. They don’t stand a chance of drowning out that baby’s relentless screams. The screaming and the crying, the screaming and the crying—now you’re crying a little too.
End scene.
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Now, I’m not saying babies are bad or purposely a nuisance; they don’t know any better. They’re just the worst possible thing to bring on a plane! Of course, with Sony’s new noise-canceling MX5 headphones in tow, screaming babies go blissfully unnoticed.
Sony has officially outdone itself with their latest noise-canceling (and baby-noise-canceling) MX5 headphones. The MX5’s are engineered with Sony’s proprietary active listening technology that is leagues above other noise-canceling headphones I've used in the past. To be honest, I had always been under the impression that noise-canceling headphones blocked out ambient sounds because of being compressive around your ears, but turns out not all noise-canceling headphones are created equal.
Sony’s MX5 headphones use microphones to pick up low-frequency noise before it reaches the ear by playing ambient sound, effectively canceling out the invasive sounds. When I first learned about this technology, I thought about the negative long-term effects caused by all the increased noise going on, but it turns out, that the music you’re listening to is outputted at a lower frequency. This means it’s actually less damaging to your ears than just turning up the volume on your earbuds to make external noise quieter.
These next-level headphones truly mute (or at least turn down) the volume of the outside world, making a simple walk around the neighborhood feel like a cinematic experience or focusing while working from home with loud roommates well, possible. Sometimes I find myself just putting them on without music and letting the Active Noise Canceling feature drown out the city sounds on my walk to work. My ride on the subway used to feel like a nightmare with some guy blasting music from a speaker (why!?) and the lady next to me scrolling through TikTok on full volume. Now that I have these headphones, it’s a blissful experience where I can enjoy a podcast or song without feeling like I’m punishing my eardrums.
A Few Other Things I Like About Them:
- They’re equipped with AI detection Active Noise Canceling feature
- They’re extremely comfortable to wear for hours on end
- They have a super long battery life (30 hours)
- They’re voice compatible with Google Assistant, Siri, and Amazon Alexa
A Few Things I Don’t Like About Them:
- The black colorway (also comes in silver) smudges easily and often look dirty
- The lack of compatibility. The headphones don’t fold, so they don’t travel well without a carrying case.
All-in-all, I really love these headphones. I find myself looking for reasons to wear them while I’m working, walking, or if I just need a little break from the loud world.
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