Introduction
Sony introduced the MDR-NC500D at CES 2008 as the world's first fully digital noise canceling headphones, setting the $400 USD price tag accordingly. The all-digital design allows more flexibility in performance compared with analog models; you can dial in the appropriate level of noise cancellation or let the headphones make the adjustment for you based on ambient noise. Despite the high price, Sony scored a few big wins over competing models from Bose and Sennheiser with the NC500D, especially in the accessory department. On a recent cross-country flight, we got a chance to test out their capabilities and were pleasantly surprised, though there's still room for improvement.

Sony did a bang-up job with the MDR-NC500D.

by Jack J on May 24, 2008:
“I must start by urging people to ignore the other review, as I have a strong feeling that it was posted by a Bose employee (considering it is on every review site) I chose these headphones over the Bose ones for the simple reason that it is old technology,...” More...