Audio Technica ATH-ANC7B Active Noise-Cancelling Closed-Back Headphones

• ATH-ANC7B QuietPoint noise-cancelling headphones feature ANC circuitry that effectively reduces environmental noise by up to 85%
• Lightweight, compact, fold-flat design is ideal for travel
• Ideal for use with Apple iPod, iPhone and iPod touch portable music and DVD players, laptop computers, in-flight entertainment systems, other devices
• Closed-back headphones feature large-aperture 40 mm drivers with neodymium magnet systems for impactful bass, extended treble and higher fidelity
• Comfortable earcups with generously cushioned padding and a shape that fits easily over any ear

Arrive refreshed after a long flight, avoid distractions in a noisy office, or find peace & quiet in your living room…with ATH-ANC7b QuietPoint® Active Noise-Cancelling Headphones. These lightweight, compact headphones effectively reduce distracting background noise by up to 85% while offering the superior audio quality that has made Audio-Technica a worldwide leader in electro-acoustic technology. Ideal for use with MP3, CD, DVD & in-flight entertainment systems, ATH-ANC7b QuietPoint® closed-back headphones deliver clear, high-resolution sound, with impactful bass, a detailed midrange, extended treble and accurate imaging in an immersive soundfield. Their earcups have been redesigned for greater comfort, with generously cushioned padding and a shape that fits easily over any ear. The ATH-ANC7b QuietPoint® headphones feature large-aperture 40 mm drivers with neodymium magnet systems and extremely high 109dB sensitivity to provide generous volume levels from any music source. The

Rating: (out of 92 reviews)

List Price: $ 219.95

Price: Too low to display

When I first heard about the Sony Bean mp3 player, I thought that this is a really funny name for an mp3 player. And then, when I first saw it, it looked just like a bean and things became way clearer. The Sony Bean mp3 player is a very funny looking device but since it is priced at around $100, who are we to complain? The NW-E305 Sony Bean mp3 player is one particular model that comes at the price of $120 if you wish to purchase the 512 MB version and 1 GB costs $150. If you choose the 512 MB Sony Bean mp3 player you will have the possibility to go with the Coconut White or the Tropical Ice Blue mp3 player and the 1 GB version is available in Black Licorice and the super cool girly color Cotton Candy Pink.

<-300×250 Medium Rectangle – center->

The display of this mp3 player is very small and there is also a 5 way D-pad controller plus 2 buttons which are pretty stiff. One problem and quite a troubling aspect with this mp3 player is the sliding plastic cover because one you slide it down, the player will be put on Hold mode and you have to slide it back up just a little bit. Too bad that when you slide it back it will wobble and the lid will pop up again. The included FM tuner can be set up both manually and automatic.



The audio files which are supported are MP3, ATRAC3 and WAV.  When it comes to the quality of the sound, I am afraid we have to disappoint the customers. The volume levels of the player are acceptable. In fact, for an mp3 player which has the size and weight of this model, it is quite loud. Too bad that once you turn up the volume, you start hearing a hiss, a distortion which is pretty annoying and should not be present on any mp3 player model, less alone on the Sony Bean mp3 player. The sound is similar to the hiss you can hear when you are trying to catch an FM radio station but the signal is bad. The irony of the situation is that the FM radio suffers from no such distortions.



During different test, this mp3 player managed to transfer files at a very slow rate, which is 0.61 MB per second. It takes quite a lot of time even when you delete songs from the player. The battery life can keep this player up and running for almost 40 hours of audio playback which is amazing and it even manages to beat the iPod.  For the price that you pay, you get an mp3 play which offers good quality. Even if there are problems with the sound sometimes and, to be honest, 512 MB of free internal memory is too low compared to what other mp3 players have to offer, the Sony Bean mp3 player does deliver good quality at an acceptable and, most important, at an affordable price tag.

A new EU restriction may see the volume levels across all iPods and MP3 players capped. EU officials believe that as many as 10 million EU residents risk permanent damage to their hearing from listening to music played too loudly…

Legislation is going to be drafted and considered in the first months of 2010 by the EU that would limit the volume levels on personal media players to 85dB (they now peak around 120). There are several things they should know.

First, they have better things to do. I know the “children are starving in Africa” argument is a tired one, so let’s be a little more specific. If you’re willing to spend so much time and money on such a silly issue, why not spend some time and money on securing consumer goods against hackers and botnets? Or organizing a task force to take down spammers?

Second, if consumers are turning up the volume so high that it damages their ears, that’s their problem. Yes, it really is.

Third, even if they do succeed in legislating a maximum output level from the players, the market will circumvent it instantaneously. I guarantee that if this legislation goes through, within a month or two of the first compliant players coming out, there will be tiny amps available to put on your headphone cords that simply increase the volume of the sound. And new headphones would have them integrated.

This legislation will probably go through, though I’d guess 100dB will be the number they choose, just because it’s big and round. Once that’s done, a very slight adjustment to gain in headphones will make things exactly as they were today.

Luckily there’s someone sane who will hopefully intervene in the proceedings: Martin Callanan, who is on the Committee considering the legislation. He says:

Kids have always listened to their music loud and this is not going to stop them.

…You have to educate them to the risks but ultimately you have to allow personal responsibility and personal choice.

Thank you, Martin.

The folks over at Astro Gaming wanted to share some holiday cheer and are giving us one of their new Astro A40 BxR SE Audio Systems to hand out to one lucky CrunchGear enthusiast. The new BxR system comes with a headset, in either red, blue or military green (we’re giving the green one away), and a MixAmp.

This headset comes with 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound, allowing you to hear everything around you in any game that supports it, and a noise-canceling microphone. Additionally, you can add your own soundtrack to any game by connecting your MP3 player to the A40 MixAmp. The game and voice balance integrated into the MixAmp also lets you adjust the volume levels of each to your liking.

The BxR Special Edition sound system has a significant upgrade from their predecessor the Astro A40’s. The MixAmp has a new USB adapter that will work seamlessly with the PS3 (previously it worked solely with the Xbox 360, and the PS3 needed an extra adapter).

I have a pair of these and honestly can’t think of gaming without them. They improve the gaming experience exponentially.

Sound off in the comments section if you want a chance to own this $250 system. Tell us what games you’d be pumped to play these with.

It’s expected that the European Commission will pass legislation that will require manufacturers to include a noise limiter on portable media players. This is being done, of course, because listening to said devices at extraordinarily loud volume levels is quite dangerous; up to 10 percent of users are in danger totally destroying their hearing by keeping the players on too loud.

The limit—and all of this is set to go down next week, so get your complaining in now if you’re against the idea—will be set to 80 decibels.

Some players, says the Daily Mail, can output sound up to 120 decibels, which is about the same intensity as the sound of a jet engine taking off. You don’t want to be exposed to that for any length of time.

Of course, there will always be the “I don’t want Brussels telling me what to do” crowd, but look at it like this: yes, I’m sure that within 8.2 seconds of the limiter being put into place someone will come out with a hack or software override. The point is, how many people are going to go out of their way to implement the work-around?

I find it hard to believe that 80 decibels isn’t loud enough for the average person. Maybe some higher end headphones would do the trick, that way you don’t have to blast your music just to be able to hear it on the subway?

Flickr