Noise cancellation is one of those terms that gets thrown around in headphone marketing like confetti. Every manufacturer promises "best-in-class noise cancellation", but hardly anyone bothers to explain what it actually means. We bother, because we're small and we have the time.
There are two types of noise cancellation: passive and active. They work in completely different ways, and ideally, they work together.
Passive noise isolation – physics, not magic
Passive noise isolation means the headphone physically blocks your ears from the outside world. That's it. No microchips, no algorithms, nothing fancy. Just mass and material between you and the world.
In practice, this means snug ear cushions that press around your head and form a seal. The better the seal, the less sound gets in. Same principle as earplugs – plug the hole.
Passive isolation is especially good at high frequencies. The chatter of speech, keyboard clacking, general office buzz – these get dampened quite nicely with just padding alone. Over-ear headphones (like our VMK series) are naturally better at this than earbuds, because they cover the entire ear.
With in-ear monitors, passive isolation relies on a silicone tip that seals the ear canal. The right size tip is absolutely key here. If the tip is too small, it won't seal. If it's too big, it's uncomfortable and falls out. That's why we include different sized tips in the box – not just because we enjoy packing extra bits of silicone.
ANC – active noise cancellation, a.k.a. magic (almost)
ANC, or Active Noise Cancellation, is the fancier stuff. The headphone has a microphone (or several) that listens to the sounds around you. The electronics analyse the incoming sound wave and produce its mirror image – an anti-sound. When the original sound and the anti-sound meet, they cancel each other out. In physics, this is called destructive interference. We call it silence.
ANC works best with steady, low-frequency sounds: airplane hum, train rumble, air conditioning hiss, office background drone. These are predictable sounds that the electronics have time to react to.
Where ANC isn't so great? Sudden, sharp sounds. Kids screaming, dogs barking, your colleague's cough. These are too fast and irregular for ANC to fully cancel out. ANC does reduce them, but it doesn't eliminate them. If someone promises their ANC removes all noise, they're lying. We don't lie.
Which one is better?
That's a bit like asking which is better, a lock or an alarm. You want both.
Passive isolation is the foundation. It works all the time, doesn't drain your battery, and doesn't cause that pressure feeling in your ears. ANC is the extra layer that handles the low frequencies that physical isolation alone can't deal with.
Our VMK25.2, VMK25, VMK20, VMK15, and NL25 earphones combine both. Good cushions (or tips) handle the passive side, and ANC knocks out the rest. The NL21, on the other hand, relies on passive isolation alone – and does it well, at a lower price point.
Practical tip
If ANC feels weird – a slight pressure sensation in your ears – that's normal. Your brain gets confused for a moment when the background noise disappears. The feeling goes away in a few minutes. If it doesn't, try turning the ANC down in the app.
And remember: the best noise cancellation is the kind with good music playing over it. Jasse has tuned our headphones so you don't need to fiddle with EQ settings – just hit play and let the world disappear. Every listen funds our Death Star by roughly 0.000001 percent, so you're doing the galaxy a favour too.
