See the previous 1.6 changelog.
See the next 1.8 changelog.
We've expanded Noise Isolation to include more of a variety of sounds and scenarios. We've kept our original measurements for bass, mid, and treble attenuation, but now you can see and hear the differences in performance when it comes to scenarios like the office, wind noise, or voices.
This page will give you an overview of what's been updated so that you can find the right headphones for your needs. The following test groups have changed:
Test Group |
Description |
Noise Isolation - Full Range (previously called Noise Isolation) |
|
Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios (New!) |
|
Noise Isolation - Voice Handling (New!) |
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ANC Wind Handling (New!) |
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In the past, we tested noise isolation using a sine sweep. However, we've replaced this signal with pink noise. This change especially impacts headphones with an adaptive ANC system as they now have the time to adapt to our test signal to attenuate it, leading to more accurate results. We've also added the responses of three passes at different volumes (60 dB, 70 dB, and 80 dB) into our graphs so you have a better idea of how the headphones perform overall.
Here's a before and after comparison of our noise isolation graph using the Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless.
If you're looking for headphones with high noise isolation in our full range test, you can look at this table. It has all of the headphones we've tested on this test bench, sorted by this test's performance.
While results generated from pink noise help us understand overall noise isolation performance, it's unlikely that you'll be hearing this noise day-to-day. A new addition to our methodology is Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios, which provides more true-to-life examples of noise to help you with your own uses. These audio recordings are created by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as part of their organization's background noise database. We've selected three different scenarios, of which you can hear the reference samples below:
These common scenarios can help you see how ANC works in more dynamic environments. If the headphones have ANC, we'll conduct this test with ANC enabled. If there's no ANC, then this test is done passively. You'll find below raw recordings from the AKG N700NC M2 Wireless. Remember that you may need to raise your device's volume for the most accurate playback since the recordings are quite quiet.
If you're looking for a list of headphones that can tackle a specific scenario, you'll want to check out these tables for airplane, office, and street noise. We've already sorted them by noise attenuation, so you can quickly see which headphones give you the best performance per scenario.
This test includes four different voice recordings (two male and two female) so that you can hear how well the headphones can isolate you from speech. These audio recordings are sourced from Peter Kabal's Telecommunications & Signal Processing Laboratory Speech Database at McGill University. You can hear the following reference samples below:
This test isn't scored but gives you a better idea of real-life performance. Below are four raw recordings from the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Truly Wireless. Like the previous test, remember that you may need to raise your device's volume for the most accurate playback since the recordings aren't very loud.
If a pair of headphones have ANC, we'll also see how they perform when it comes to handling wind noise. Unlike previous sounds, which are from an external source, wind noise comes from how wind interacts with the headphones as it passes over the ANC microphones. It's also dynamic, as the wind angle can impact wind noise volume, so we assess wind handling at three different angles. This test isn't scored either.
This test only applies to headphones with ANC. If headphones have an ANC mode that specifically tackles wind noise, we'll also test this mode as it could impact the overall ANC attenuation. Below is a raw recording from the Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless. They lack a wind reduction feature. You may need to raise your device's volume for the most accurate playback, as the recordings aren't very loud.
You play an important part in what we do! Please let us know if you have feedback (whether it's something you want us to investigate or add to our tests). All comments help us improve what we do!
We have retested popular models. The test results for the following models have been converted to the new testing methodology. However, the text might be inconsistent with the new results.