Creative HN 700

Author's product rating:   

Sound Quality	Satisfactory
Comfort	Excellent
Looks & Design	Good
Durability	Poor
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Affordable, noise cancelling, comfortable and lightweight/portable
Disadvantages:	Flimsy build, loss of sound clarity, battery munching

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Whilst on my search for headphones I borrowed a set of Creative HN 700's from a friend of mine to cover the period between my pair breaking and my buying a new set. I was given the choice of any headphones I wanted and I simply asked for a set of headphones that didn't cost more than £40 (in case something bad happened to them in my possession - kidnapping, assault with bad music etc) and did a little for aiding in noise cancellation. I was then handed a pair of Creative's HN 700s.

Now the first thing you notice about them is that they are big. They aren't the sort of headphones you can wear in class or slip discreetly in your pocket (though they do have a fold up mechanism but I'll get back to that). The large cans cover your ears completely and I found them incredibly comfortable even for long periods of time (a warning for those that do have naturally rather warm heads I've been told that under the ear pads can get slightly hot when for extended periods of time). They are designed around the Alice band headphone style rather than the common design of behind the head and for me it resulted in getting a better fit.

The HN 700s come with a removable cord enabling you to detach the cord should it get worn out or damaged and then replace it with another (this again is a nice feature should you not like the cord that comes with the Creative's). They also come with a headphone socket adapter which converts a standard stereo mini-jack to two mono mini-jacks, perfect for listening to the in flight entertainment in those old planes that haven't converted yet. The cord plugs into a mini-jack port on the left hand can and its on this same ear that you'll find the volume control wheel (it saves the effort of having to take your player out of your pocket/bag etc in order to adjust the volume for those individual songs that can be either too loud or too soft), on/off switch for noise cancelling and a place for where the two AAA batteries reside.

The noise cancelling features is one that made me jump at the chance of giving them a go. As a commuter and some one who regularly travels abroad noise cancellation is a great feature. (Having since been bought a pair of Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones I find it incredibly hard to adjust to competing with ambient sound and music when using cheap headphones). For a pair of headphones that are on the market for under £30 (Digital Fusion) the noise cancelling works well. It removes the rumbles of the tube and the humming of the plane engines but the loud bangs etc still break through as does a muffled person talking on their phone next to you but at a significantly less evident volume/level. The noise cancellation feature requires the two AAA batteries but unfortunately these batteries don't tend to last very long. I found that the HN 700s tend to eat through batteries and require replacing every couple of weeks or so depending on usage. Luckily you can use the headphones without the white noise feature on and even in that capacity the close fitting cans help effectively muffle ambient noise.

On to sound quality and as much as the noise cancellation feature was a pleasant surprise (not as good as the Bose QuietComfort's but I didn't expect much less considering the price difference (£280 vs £30)) the HN 700s really were a let down in this area. The headphones come with driver units of 40mm Neodymium Magnet and the noise control range is 15dB at 300HZ. Creative's attempt to boost up the bass resulted in a obvious loss clarity which to me really marked down the HN 700s. However on using the noise cancellation feature together with playing music it significantly improved the quality of the audio sound that would have otherwise been heard should the noise cancellation been turned off. The fact that the music can be heard in a noisy environment is enough to allow you to forgive the imperfect sound and simply enjoy the music.

In terms of design the headphones, although big, do fold down into a small compact package. The HN 700s have a hinged headband which enable the headphones to be packed away and slipped into their rather pretty mock leather pouch (which has space for batteries and a music player). The build of these headphones has been something I was discussing with a friend (the same friend I borrowed the HN 700s from) and unfortunately the build wasn't great. Long term (9 months) the hinge on the headphones snapped and it made the headphones rather difficult to utilise properly. And even though they are covered by Creative's standard 12 month warranty the inconvenience and the possibility of it happening again can result in my reluctance in recommending them for every heavy usage.

Overall, the Creative HN 700s are a good buy as a second set of headphones for occasional use. The good noise cancellation facility and the comfort aspect makes them a must for those who use headphones in noisy environments and the fact that they are remarkably affordable at under £30 makes them even more tempting for avid music lovers. Unfortunately on the down side the flimsy build really makes it a questionable purchase but these are purchased as a second set of headphones 'just in case' they're perfect. The sound quality could be better but for under £30 you can't go too far wrong.