Altec Lansing AHP712 Headphones w/ Active Noise Reduction

Reviews: Multimedia

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Bradford Day
Kurtis
Altec Lansing
Nov. 21, 2004

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Testing, Continued...

Games

I tested these headphones with a variety of first person shooter and driving games. The high quality headphones performed quite well. Although, without the added feature of a microphone, first person shooters are much less fun when you can't taunt your enemies or congratulate your teammates over Ventrilo. Voice chat aside, the AHP712s sounded pretty darn good while gaming. The exceptional bass traffic translates to some excellent helicopter sound effects in Battlefield Vietnam, not to mention the gunfire and explosions in Call of Duty: United Offensive. Colin McRae Rally 04 also sounded quite nice while I rattled my rally car to pieces. Concentrating on fragging my friends is usually enough to act as Active Noise Reduction, but flipping the ANR switch essentially immerses you in the game while boosting the sound quality. Like I mentioned above, if you try to game with the ANR turned off, you will find your game sounds muted and dim.

Movies

By now I am sure you are seeing a pattern. These headphones sound great if you have the ANR switched on. Movie watching doesn't stray from this pattern. Expect to hear distinct dialogue, hefty explosions and crisp sound effects from your favorite DVDs or other movie media. My old fall back, the freeway scene from the Matrix: Reloaded, sounded great over these phones while the bloody punches in Fight Club landed with satisfying thuds. Don't expect phenomenal surround sound mimicry with these headphones, but do leave the ANR switch in the on position and you won't be disappointed with the results.

Active Noise Reduction

To test the main feature of the AHP712s, I employed not only a variety of tests, but a variety of testing locations as well. Location number one wasn't terribly exotic, but offered a plethora of annoying sounds to drown out.

Test site #1: My Computer Room

My Computer Room houses a cooling fan-filled desktop. In addition, my Computer Room also happens to have one of the most annoying ceiling fans ever produced. I don't know if it's that the cheap-ass ceiling fan has been wired to a dimmer switch or if it is just a really crappy fan, but the damn thing is really quite annoying. A loud rhythmic buzzing emanates from it like some sort of broken bone saw.

Hoping to drown out the world's most torturous ceiling fan, I began my test sitting in front of my computer. I cranked the ceiling fan to the highest setting and upped the speeds on my computer cooling fans. I flipped the Active Noise Reduction Switch.

Much to my disappointment, I could still hear the buzz-saw-like ceiling fan. Although, flipping the switch does produce a remarkable effect. You can actually feel the noise reduction kick in... even with no music playing. Hit the switch and you will feel an effect similar to your ears popping when traveling at high altitudes. I must say that it is a bizarre sensation. However, after I initiated the noise reduction, I immediately noticed a reduction in sound, even if it wasn't the stupid ceiling fan noise. It took me a second to figure out what I WASN'T hearing. I could no longer hear the white noise droning of my computer fans. Of course turning on some loud Drum and Bass easily drowned out the whine of the ceiling fan.

Test Site #2: The Drive to Work

My second sound assay tested the AHP712s ability to drown out road noise. As I am not about to hop a plane to Phoenix just to test these headphones, I decided I would try them out on the road. For starters, I waited until my wife got our pick-up (a '97 Ford Ranger if you must know) up to about 55-60 mph. I then opened the windows to really get the annoying sounds a flowing. Hit the switch.

Once again, the loud, distinct sounds like that of the truck engine and talk radio voices were not drastically reduced. However the white noise wind howl and tire whine were effectively eliminated. At first I didn't even bother plugging the headset into a sound source. These headphones will actively reduce white noise on their own, no iPod needed.

Test Site #3: In the Laboratory

No, not TheTechLounge's testing laboratories, my office... I work in a rather noisy pharmaceutical research laboratory and all the whirring centrifuges, freezer units and fume hoods create a veritable symphony of incredibly irritating white noise.

Once again the background noise was eliminated. I could barely hear any of the equipment that I typically have to listen to on a daily basis. Blaring some loud and obnoxious punk eliminates all external sound sources and makes me forget I have a day job I should be paying attention to.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks & Testing
Page 3: Testing, Cont'd...
Page 4: Conclusion

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11 User Comments

1 - Posted by valvet on December 25, 2004 - 3:41 pm

Hi guys,

First of all, great guide! I made my choice and bought these and I must say, they're excelent!

I had a problem when I first plugged them in and turned on ANR, there was a loud whining noise on the background. After playing around I found out that if I touched the metal on the side or back of my cabinet the weird sound went away.. So, I experimented some more and found out that I had no "ground" on my power box in my room, which means that the light-net will interfear with the headphones and cause the noise when ANR is turned on.

I thought you might want to know this if anyone should ask about it, get ground on your cables! Its not very common here so I dident think much of it, all good now tho, sound is perfect.. again thanks for the great review.

Regards,
Michael

2 - Posted by Weavie on January 17, 2005 - 9:54 pm

Most of the reviews indicate good sound quality.

Are the Altec Lansing headphones as effective in air travel as the Bose???

3 - Posted by Kurtis on January 17, 2005 - 10:58 pm

Brad used them when we went to Vegas for CES and he said that he was very pleased with them during the flight. He doesn't have any Bose headphones to compare to, though.

4 - Posted by handrail on January 18, 2005 - 9:58 am

yes, with just the phones themselves i noted a very remarkable decrease in the white noise in the plane. if you play music or are watching movies on a laptop (like i was doing) you can't hear a thing. they really made the flight much much easier.

and actually i did get a brief chance to try out the bose ones. the guy next to me on the plane had a set. i couldn't tell much of a difference between the two as far as the ANR goes. i didn't get much of a chance to hear the sound quality of the bose ones as i only had the airline radio playing through them.

also, i had a chance on the CES show floor to try out Sennheiser's noise canceling headsets. they worked very well too, but once again, the difference between the bose, sennheisers and the altec ones was not that great. i would say the sennheisers were the best. one other thing to consider is that the altec ones are larger and more bulky than the bose and much more than the sennheisers. the bose ones fold up a little better than the altec ones.

hope that helps. if you are a frequent airline traveler, any one of these headsets will be a tremendous help. i still can't believe the difference not hearing that jet sound makes. i slept better and was not nearly as weary when i landed.

brad.

5 - Posted by Guest on March 3, 2005 - 10:22 am

How well do these compare with the Sennheiser PXC-250?

6 - Posted by PizzaDeliveryMan on July 13, 2005 - 3:48 am

hey there
an absolutely fab review! detailed and useful!
have you tried the KOSS QZPro or the Maxell HP/NCII ?
i am about to get a set and was wondering how the AHP712i stand up against the above-mentioned. they will be mostly for use with my IPOD (plus i do air travel frequently) and was wondering what should be my choice. i dont want to spend much because eventually i want to purchase the Bose Quiteomfort (what's your view on them?). Till then, i would like a set below 100USD and effective at giving good sound and ANR. i am very tempted by your skullcrusher review but i dont think i should go for them over the other options (viz. AHP712i, KOss QZPro or Maxell HP/NCII). please revert, your expert guidance will be most useful.
cheers!

7 - Posted by tdote on November 29, 2005 - 9:27 am

Terrific review! Is there any real difference between the AHP712s and the newer AHP712i? I use an IPOD when traveling, is the sound acceptable using the AHP712i?

8 - Posted by Reggie on February 10, 2006 - 8:24 pm

Hi everybody.I do not speek english very good.So sorry.I have this headphones and i have a question.When I turn on ANR I can hear sssssssssssssssssssss.Is it normal.It is not very loud but I can hear it as long as I turn up the sound.Thank you

9 - Posted by DanDubya on March 17, 2006 - 2:16 pm

Having owned and tried several types of ANR headphones, and being familiar with the technology, I can comment on your static/clipping issue when tapping the earcups. ANR operates by sampling the ambient noise with a small microphone exposed to the outside of the earcup. When you tap the earcup, it sends a shock through the system that is relatively massive compared to the vibrations of normal external sounds. The clipping or static you hear has to do with the system briefly "amping out" for lack of a better term. You've maxed out the input capacity of the mic, and the ANR circuitry will freak out a little bit as a result.

This may not be a problem on all ANR headphones, as each has a slightly different circuitry, and some may be more resistant to large-amplitude vibrations than others. I have tried on the Bose QuietComforts and they sound great, but I never tried tapping on the chassis, so I couldn't tell you if spending $300 cures the amp-out problem.

Hope this helps!

10 - Posted by gjoyce on April 23, 2006 - 9:15 am

The AHP712 is a good quality ANR headset. I compared them with my friend's Bose and we both agree I made the best purchase. The sound quality is great with an IPOD and has more than sufficient volume. I have worn them on overseas flights and can sleep with them on for hours. I have purchased two of these headsets (the latest is the AHP712i) because the first set broke from normal handling-this is the only weakness of the product that I am familiar with. The plastic swivel broke on one earcup. Although the headset was less than a year old and within the warranty period, Altec Lansing has not honored the warranty. They have sent me a less costly gaming headset as a replacement and will no longer answer my email or return my phone calls. So beware if you need warranty service you may not get it.

11 - Posted by handrail on April 25, 2006 - 1:02 pm

good to know. thanks a lot for sharing your experience with altec-lansing.

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