Need some Peace & Quiet? These Noise-Cancelling Headphones are Just for You

Just to be clear, I’m no audiophile and I haven’t owned a pair of active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones before.  They’re expensive!  Enter iTeknic with their Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Stereo Headphones at a much lower pricepoint than other ANC headphones.  I put these headphones on my head and flipped the switch to activate the ANC feature.... Silence.  It’s like magic.

The headphones come in a sleek protective carrying case with a micro USB charging cable and a three-foot 3.5mm stereo cable.  The headphones easily fold up to fit in the zippered case.  The 3.5mm stereo cable is for when Bluetooth is prohibited or you’re using a device with a headphone jack and no Bluetooth capability.

The headphones are light (9.8 ounces according to my scale) and very comfortable to wear.  The ear cups easily, snugly fit over my ears and I can barely feel the padded headband.

I took the headphones out of their case, charged them quickly for 15 minutes or so as I was eager to try them, and put them on my head.  The power button, noise-canceling power switch, and 3.5mm aux jack are on the bottom of the right ear cup.  The active noise-canceling feature is operated separately from the Bluetooth headphone feature, meaning you can turn on the ANC feature without turning on the headphones to play music or sounds.

With the headphones on my head, I slid the ANC switch.  There’s a brief, two-second pause while it starts up and then sounds just … stopped.  The noise-cancelling isn’t total.  I can still hear the TV in the room clearly or someone talking near me.  The bass level of the outside world, like traffic noise, fans, air conditioners, and even the lower sounds from the TV, just disappear.  Quieter noises like my typing and using the trackpad, the birds singing outside, the kids playing in the yard, and the neighbor hammering on his house also go away.  (Don’t worry, we were still closely watching the kids.)

I then pressed and held the power button to power up the headphones.  The product uses Bluetooth 5.0 technology so “iTeknic IK-BH002” appeared immediately on my iPhone’s Bluetooth settings list.  I paired the headphones to my phone and opened Spotify.

The sound quality coming out of the headphones is great!  The range is impressive; the bass is rich and deep.

The headphones have the standard control buttons many are familiar with on Bluetooth headphone devices.  The power button turns off the device with a long press.  With a short press, it acts as a play/pause button.  The volume up and down buttons, when long pressed, also send next track and previous track commands.

The manual promises that, with 1 hour of charging, up to 15 hours of listening time (with ANC active) or 20 hours of talk time (Bluetooth only).

The headphone also includes a built-in microphone for making phone calls.  Unlike the other features on this product, the microphone doesn’t sound great and is muffled.

So, being a physics major and always fascinated by soundwaves, let's explore HOW ANC Headphones work... 

Sound waves are transverse waves, as shown in the image above. The WAVELENGTH is the distance between the peaks of the waves. 

Sound waves "add" together... if there are two PEAKS aligned, then the sound is amplified. If there is one peak and one valley, then when you "add" them together, they cancel each other out. 

So, the headphones work to make the "anti sound-waves" that are currently coming from the outside. Actually, some cars nowadays have one of these speakers in the back too, to make your ride quieter. 

Pretty cool, right? 

When would you use your ANC headphones?