Despite that problem I did find the
headphones to be better than average
in cancelling out low-end noise, and it
did a fair job at cancelling higher-end
frequencies as well. I did a variety of
activities that were available to me
during this time of quarantine such
as walking down a street, cranking up
the fans on my gaming PC, running
a fan-based white noise machine
and more. Airline flight and public
transport commuting are typical tests
I like to include for ANC systems, but
it wasn’t an option.
So low-end rumble, AC units,
refrigerator hums, and other things that
occupy the lower end of the frequency
spectrum where accurately cancelled
out to a large extent and were not
a problem for the Opus. Mid-range
sources like human speech,
neighbourhood noise and
small-engine vehicles were
a bit more dependent on
the transients – meaning
it wasn’t super sensitive
to short bursts of volume.
But if it was sustained for
more than a half-second the
system would clamp down
harder and cancel out the
signal decently.
But every good active
noise cancelling system also
needs to be paired with passive noise
cancelling to achieve the full effect.
Taking comfort out of the equation for
a second, I found the plush earcups to
be a bit lacking in isolating the higher
frequencies. This resulted in some
bleed in (and out) of the headphones
for certain high-frequency sources. If
you’re worried about your colleagues
hearing the music you’re playing,
then these might not be the right
headphones for you.SIMPLE COMFORT AND DESIGN
With it’s minimal weight and soft
materials, the Opus is surprisingly
light and easy to wear. The top of the
headband has plenty of cushion and I
didn’t suffer any weight fatigue when
wearing them for hours on end. I wasSony WH-1000XM3 (left) vs Razer Opus (right).