Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Background: I travel extensively for business and occasionally use headphones for watching movies on my tablet while taking longer flights (>3 hours). Listening to music in flight is secondary. I liked my Bose QC II, but there were a few issues. 1) the ear padding was starting decay. 2) The maximum volume was a bit lower than what I desired. 3) the audio cable was a nuisance. I didn't want to spend $300 on something that I may only use for a couple of hours a month, but I still wanted a reasonably good set of noise-cancelling headphones...at least close to the quality I experienced with my QC IIs. Portability: This is the reason I started looking closely at the Srhythm NC35 headphones. They seemed to fold up in a flat and compact way. Most of the other headphones folded in such a way that they would not fit into a slim Notebook bag. Compared to the carrying case for the QC IIs, the NC 35 case is about 20% smaller. Comfort: The NC35s are quite comfortable and I have worn them up to 1 1/2 hours with not much issue, however, side by side, I would say that the QC IIs are a bit more comfortable. The ear padding on the Bose are just like butter in their softness (maybe this is the reason they are decaying) and there is a bit more padding on the top. Also, I would say that the NC35s push the ear phones tighter onto your head. Noise Cancelling: This was a bit of surprise. Using recorded white noise of an Airplane cabin, I compared my QC IIs with my new Srhythms. The Srhythms won by a nose, they were noticeably better than the Boses. Of course, the QC IIs are using 15 year old technology, but I was still expecting the NC35 to be slightly worse....you have to remember that the QCs were about $300 15 years ago! Audio: The NC35s have a higher maximum volume than the QC IIs and this alone probably makes the NC35s the winner, especially when listening to dialog in movies where the fidelity of the sound is really not that important. The Bose headphones are slightly better than the NC35s when listening to music, but it's close. I had to switch headphones a couple of times to confirm that I preferred sound from the Bose headphones. Build Quality and materials: Just by looking at the headphones, you would think these are premium, but that probably has more to do with styling than manufacturing. Considering the Bose and Srhythm headphones are all plastic its hard to say that the Srhythms are lower quality, however, when pushing the buttons or running your finger over the outside of the phones, you get the impression that these phones might be more delicate than their appearance would suggest. There is one HUGE design flaw, though. I have taken one 4 hour plane trip. When I sat down on the plane and opened up the carrying case the ANC light was on. I shut off the head phones when we landed, but when I got to the hotel and opened the carrying case, the ANC light was back on. Even in the case, the ANC button is accidentally pushed and turned on. If not caught soon enough, you could find yourself with a headset that you thought was fully charged completely drained of power. This alone is probably enough to force it to 3 stars, but I believe this can be solved with a strip of thick foam inserted into the case. Summary: I have taken one trip so far, and the NC35s performed as well as my QC IIs. I wore the headset for about 4 hours straight and they were comfortable. At this point, I don't see a reason why I would dish out $300 for high end Sony or Bose noise cancelling headphones. Maybe if I wanted one set of high quality headphones for travel and home or I was constantly flying from New York to Sydney, but these are giving me as good, if not better, performance to what I was satisfied with for the past 15 years....and back then the QC IIs were selling The NC35s are a solid performer and you will find it hard to justify spending that extra $200 for those high end headphones. The only issue is the ANC button and the accidental activation. Be prepared to modify you carrying case to prevent this from happening.