Noise cancelling headphones let you block out the outside world with the flick of a switch – helping you focus on studying, writing, or that new cat video your friend sent you. While expensive, I think a good pair of noise cancelling headphones are one of the better investments you can make to make your law school life a bit more comfortable (besides your shiny new Mac, of course).
While all headphones work pretty much the same way, noise-cancelling headphones are a different beast entirely. A tiny microphone embedded in the headphones capture background noise (a professor droning on in the next room, the noise from the photocopier, your neighbor watching TV, etc), and essentially generate the opposite noise to cancel it out. Or something like that. In the words of Jesse Pinkman, Yeah Science!
Anyway, the Bose QC35 bluetooth headphones are the ones to buy.
Headphone junkies with 30 speaker home theater systems like to trash the Bose headphones as overpriced for the sound quality that they put out. While it’s true that for what you spend, you can get an even nicer pair of headphones, they’re missing the point.
People don’t buy the QC35s to listen to every instrument in an orchestra: they buy them for the noise cancelling. And right now, no other headphones beat them. To my uncultured ears, the QC35 audio quality is excellent – far better than the headphones that came with my iPhones and better than any other pair of headphones that I’ve owned.
I’ve used the QC35s for years – at work, on a plane, in the car, during class (just kidding), and in the library. Speaking of which, you don’t realize just how loud a library can be until you take them off. People have literally come up to me and started conversations while I’m wearing them, and have had to tap me on the shoulder when I didn’t look up and respond. Seriously, they are magical.
The Bluetooth on these headphones works better than most that I’ve tried, and you can pair them to multiple devices at once. I have mine paired to both my Macbook and iPhone, and have never had any problems that couldn’t be solved by turning the headphones on and off again.
If the idea of spending $349 on a pair of headphones makes you wince, I don’t blame you. They’re definitely a luxury, and expensive one at that. However, I think they’re worth it. You do have an alternative option if you just can’t bring yourself to fork over the cash, and it involves a cord. The wired version of the headphones, the QC25s, use the same Bose technology, but nixes the Bluetooth. At $180, they’re a little bit easier on the wallet while featuring some of the best noise-cancelling technology out there.
- You can find the Bose QC35s on Amazon for $349.
- Their corded cousin, the Bose QC25s, are also available on Amazon for $180.
The Mac Law Student 