Noise cancelling headphones – Mutant Noise Cancelling Headphones

2015_mutant_hpFollowing on from last week’s post I purchased a pair of Mutant Noise Cancelling headphones! Welcome to my Mutant headphone MUMIGNG NC120 review aka Mutant MID-NC102.

I did follow my own criteria but the killer was the price point. You can purchase a set of the Mutant Noise Reduction headphones model

number MUMIGNC102 for a mere $29.95 and that’s not the sale price either!

 

I know what you’re thinking, it’s very cheap and you pay for what you get. That is very true in most instances but sometimes you can buy stuff that actually exceeds expectations and these Mutant headphones do exactly that. Since there is rare to sample one of these things you’ll just have to believe me…

The box picture is not very good because I don’t exactly do targeted product reviews and besides it’s not a motorcycle.

Based on my criteria:

Comfort: Very good I had them on for 2+ hours so far and ears were not hot, no motion sickness, not too heavy, no hard points to annoy me.

It Mutant noise reduction claims 18db noise reduction and that’s probably about right. Volume was definitely reduced when turned on and volume turned up. I couldn’t hear people speaking for example.  In a home environment they are brilliant as its really cuts out vitally all ambient noise. On a plane it’s probably cuts over half the ambient volume. There is some noise interference but only when plugged into a computer in my case an Apple iMac. Interference free when connected to a mobile phone.

The Mutant headphones look OK not exactly high end as all the parts are plastic and the padding is too. The build quality is pretty good as none of the parts felt or broke off so far. It actually feels quite sturdy. Those airplanes with movies now sound half decent.

The sound quality of the Mutant Noise reduction headphones is surprising. While it does not sound vaguely hi-fi or even close when turned off and the volume turned up (on the headset it’s self) nonetheless it quite clear, not muffled. However when turned on the quality lifts and it’s arguably one of the best sounding head phones for it’s type in the price range. Compared to the Bose Quiet Comfort series ($390) for example is no comparison. The Bose is so much better noise reduction and sound quality but then you’d expect that for the price difference. The Mutant’s are bargain basement but it certainly punches above it’s price point.

Compared to the Sony MDRXB400R Extra Bass headphones in the same price range due to model being superseded, usual price is around $80 The Sony does sound better but it doesn’t have noise cancellation, so in noisy environments will loose points. Note that the more expensive Bose still easily sounded better than the Sony.

The Mutant headphones are powered by AAA batteries which is great because you can never be sure the power points will work on your seat if equipped. Regardless battery life is great so far on Duracell batteries.

Yes, I can recommend getting these Mutant Noise cancelling headphones it’s surpisingly good. Sure they are not the best overall sound quality or noise reduction but for the price there is little to really complain about. More later…

For specification geeks the:

Model: Mutant Noise cancelling headphones MUMIG NC102
Driver unit 40mm Dynamic speakers
Impedance 32ohms + or – 10%
Frequency response 20Hz – 20kHz
Noise reductions 18db at 300Hz
Sensitivity 107db at 1Khz
Connector gold Planted 3.5 mm and airplane adapter
Power: 2 x AAA batteries (not included)
Carry pouch faux rubber