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 enlarge | Brand: Sony
Category: CE
List Price: $199.99
Buy Used: $99.99
You Save: $100.00 (50%)
New (3) from $150.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  120 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 4.3 x 10 x 8
MPN: MDRNC50
Model: MDRNC50
UPC: 027242648968
EAN: 0027242648968
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Works great if you read the instructions October 14, 2005
31 out of 31 found this review helpful
Just purchased a set of these yesterday at Best Buy, and they work great. I am working in a room with 6 other people, each with a PC under their desk, and it gets pretty noisy.
NOTE: For those experiencing problems, all I can say is RTFM. The loose connections I've seen mentioned are likely due to improperly installing the cable. As the instructions state, you REALLY have to push the cable into the headphones VERY hard. If the cord is not in all the way up to the line marked around the strain relief, it may fall out, or the sound will be muddled and not in stereo. There is a definite snap when the cable is all the way in, but once it's in it's not falling out accidentally. This seems like a good feature, allowing easy replacement of the cable if the cable gets broken at either end.
The noise cancellation on these is very good. You're not going to get rid of every sound in the room, but the most annoying frequencies are filtered very well. The acoustic insulation cuts down a lot on the high frequencies, and the noise reduction circuitry takes out machine noise, like engines and PC fans. Once you have your music going, you'll rarely hear anything else, even during quiet songs.
One thing to consider is that the extremely rich bass on these headphones seems to depend on power from the battery, so the sound range is not nearly as deep when the noise canceling is off. I don't see this as a problem though, since I never wear them without the NC on, and when the bass turns off suddenly, you know it's time to replace the battery.
As for howling, I have not experienced this problem. I have even removed the headphones and cranked the music beyond what I would consider a comfortable volume, and I've not had any problems with feedback thus far.
The sound quality is very good as well. The bass is on par with what you would expect from a decent subwoofer. The mids and highs are good, but may need a little tweaking to your taste via your player's EQ settings.
Last, the monitor function is very useful. Pressing this button not only turns off the music and NC, but it actually amplifies outside sounds such as speech, almost as if you weren't wearing headphones at all! Very handy considering the thick insulation on the cups.
All in all, very satisfied. I plan to buy another pair here when Amazon has them in stock again, for home and travel use.
 great noise canceling with a few minor issues August 18, 2005
26 out of 27 found this review helpful
I have had the MDR-NC20s for several years and they finally started crackling after 4 years of hard use. I bought the MDR-NC50 to replace them. The noise canceling is better than the 20s primarily due to the ear cup design (I think). These are great for canceling out most computer fan noise from a whole room full of servers. Higher pitched noise does still come through but is much reduced.
The 50s seem less efficient as you do have to turn up the source more. Also the power button is more awkwardly located than on the 20s. The sound quality seems decent but is not up to the quality of my monitor headphones but I would not expect it to be.
The monitor button is nice as it will cut out the source as well as the noise canceling if you need to hear external stuff.
The 50s use a standard 3.5mm jack as opposed to the weird 2.5mm jack the 20s use.
Overall I am very happy.
On par with Bose at a lower price. October 26, 2005
24 out of 24 found this review helpful
I tried both the old and new Bose QC and in all honesty found them both a little plastic feeling and not so comfortable on my ears. Further, Bose seem to be keeping the specification of their headphones secret so that only 'look'n'hype' type comparisons can be made. Given very little (ok, undetectable) difference between the Sony NC50, Panasonic HC300, and Bose QC (2) in terms of active noise canceling I went for the Sony. For my ears they were physically the most confortable, had an impedence that matches my Toshiba Gigabeat 60 very well (did not require me to turn the volume way up to achieve a good listening volume), feel better built than either of my other choices, and had good passive noise reduction. Though I really wanted the Panasonic HC300 on trying them the passive noise reduction was not as good as the Sony, even though I believe the low frequencies (without noise reduction) were better on the Panas.
The only advice I can give is go to a good audio store and try everything out before buying. Remember, NC is designed to remove low frequency noises in environments with a contant level of noise approximating being inside an aircraft - so don't expect them to make the sounds from your noisy neighbour disappear completely.
 Not comfortable June 12, 2006
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
I bought this headphone and Sennheiser PCX250 for my mother, who also travels frequently. After using both headphones, I would not recommend MDR-NC50.
Sound quality was not a big consideration to me. I realized that noise cancelling headphones will never sound as a good as decent pair of regular headphones costing half as much. The only reason I bought mine was to use it on an airplane (and maybe on a subway). (Sound is going to be bad anyway because of external noises and since the source of the sound (i.e. airline movies) will be dirty anyway)
Only thing that really mattered to me were comfort, noise cancelling abilities, and the convenience of travelling arround with the headphone.
MDR-NC50 did do a good job in cancelling the engine noise. (Unscientifically) I would guess that about 75% of the engine noise (not other noises) were surpressed. And it did do a semi-decent job cancelling out other noises. However, I felt a sensation of pressure in my ears when I activated the noise cancelling feature. While it was not painful but it was very annoying. In comparison, I felt a much milder sense of pressure with PCX250.
Comfort is really the killer in this headphone. These headphones are the worst pair of headphone in terms of comfort. I bought these so that I can have a comfortable flight by cancelling out the engine noise but what is the point if the the headphone itself is uncomfortable? The headbands are too stiff and squeezed my head - and I don't even have a large head. My ears began to "sweat" after an hour of use and it was simply very uncomfortable. PCX250 was far more comfortable and I did not mind the extra wand that it had since I was sitting throughout the entire flight.
Other notes: NC50 is a lot bulkier and heavier than other models I have seen. Battery lasted fairly long - it kept on going through a 13-hour flight. As previous mentioned, sound quality is so-so compared to decent headphones half its price but that was expected.
I would not recommend this headphone for people interesting in noise cancelling headphones and I would rather recommend Sennheiser PCX250 or Bose QC2 (if you can afford it - regardless of whether QC2 has better sound quality, it was a lot more comfortable than NC50 when I tested them out (after I bought NC50)).
Do try these out if you really want to get them.
Not so good June 13, 2006
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
Pros:
Good audio quality and noise cancellation, when working correctly.
Cons:
This unit had a significant feedback squeal in the left ear piece. It happened after 60-90 minutes of use.
No volume control, overall low volume.
Not comfortable (for me). Too much pressure on the jaw line.
Rather bulky to travel with.
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