Philips SHN9500 Noise Cancellation Headphone

Philips is one of the oldest and most reliable names in personal audio gadgetry, with some very respectable releases in the realm of MP3 players, earphones and headphones. Today we have one from the last mentioned category, a slick and sexy headphone model by Philips called the SHN9500. Moreover it’s not a generic piece, it heralds the Active Noise Cancellation Headphone tag, a category that is always very interesting to review. So let’s get to it.

Design and features
This model sports a black body with shiny metallic accenting, in the form of concentric rings around the elliptical earcups. The black hard plastic case has a very mild luster to it. Inner surface of the earcups  are padded with a smooth and nice quality leatherette. Equally padded is the inner side of the adjustable headband. The right can houses a single AAA battery slot and a silver slider switch for powering on/off. The left side on the other hand has silver push button for muting purposes.

An interesting pointer is that the cord is detachable, and comes detached by default—it connects via EP 3.5 mm jack input located on the  right can. The cable included is 1.2 m in length. Also in the package is a suave looking carry case and adapters for airplanes and a 6.3 mm plug. Specification-wise we have a rated response o f20 -20,000 Hz, with a sensitivity of 102 dB. The impedance is not rated.

Performance
The first thing we checked is ergonomics and comfort, a factor very important in headphone construction. This Philips doesn’t disappoint at all in this realm, except for the slight nitpick that the ears will need some fresh air in between long listening sessions as the cans totally seal the pinna.

First we used the headphones without the active noise cancellation on, which yielded a sound which was full bodied but not even. The highs are quite clear and well in control, but lower down the frequency range the response is a little skewed, with heavier bass, a bit boomy. The overall loudness of the model is commendable. It’s a very sensitive yet clean sounding headphone at highest levels.

Once the NC was switched on, we looked hard for a desirable effect and were more or less satisfied, but not really overwhelmed. Bass drones and low rumbles get negated alright but mid frequency banter in the office space is another issue. What we really liked about the piece was its acoustical noise cancelling, which was way better than the active circuit could do. This is attributed to the good design and firm build. Another great point is that the active circuit is not noisy at all, a problem we have encountered in some brands.

Conclusion
At Rs. 5,999 we definitely have a headphone worth looking at, only thing is there are some fallbacks in the purity of the sound response. A pure audiophile will not like the disobedient bass timing, plus a little more presence in the mids would have been favorable. Besides that the headphone is a very good quality product with a great build, great looks and decent noise cancellation. A demo is recommended.