I wanted to take a moment to share with you why noise reduction headphones are better than the more widely known active noise cancellation headphones. Most people think of active noise cancelation headphones like the Bose headphones when they think of headphones that block sound. All active noise cancelation work the same way. They have little microphones on the out side of the headphones that are constantly “listening” to the noise around you so they can produce an “opposite” sound wave inside of your headphones to cancel the unwanted noise before it reaches your ears.

Noise reduction headphones, sometimes called passive noise cancellation headphones, take an entirely different approach. Instead of using complicated microphones and electronics to cancel sound, they simply reflect the sound away from your ears. The effect is pretty much like closing the door to your room. You are essentially isolating your ears from unwanted noise. There are a couple different companies out there making headphones like this. The best noise reduction headphones on the market right now appear to be the Direct Sound Extreme Isolation headphones.

Here is my top 5 reasons of why you should use noise reduction headphones:

1. Better value for your money. These headphones block more noise than the $300 headphones out there.
2. No “hidden fee” of having to keep buying batteries
3. Much better at block talking/voices than active noise cancelation headphones
4. Better sound quality
5. Longer lasting/better durablity