Expert's Rating
Pros
- Balanced, high-quality audio
- well made
- easy to adjust for comfortable fit
- foldable
- on-cable remote and microphone
Cons
- Needs a battery
- noise-cancelling without audio doesn’t work
- brown/gold colour scheme is not to everyone’s taste
Our Verdict
If you’re looking for solid over-ear headphones that are comfortable and well made, with balanced, high-quality audio, the iGo City headphones could be a contender. They look, feel and sound worth the money. However, if you’re most interested in the noise cancelling without audio feature, give these a miss.
Price When Reviewed
$99
The iGo City headphones are designed to block out background noise and minimise distractions. And they do – to a certain extent.
In the box are the iGo City Headphones, a 3.5mm mobile-compatible plug with microphone, Skype adaptor, travel adaptor, and AAA battery. The battery is required to power the noise-cancelling technology, which is controlled by a switch on the side of the left headphone. The headphones still work if noise cancelling is switched off, but the sound quality is drastically lowered.
With noise cancelling switched on, the sound is clear and crisp with powerful bass and a well-balanced audio spectrum. General background noise is inaudible. The design of the headphones means that your ear is fully covered, guiding every note in the right direction and ensuring you don’t miss a beat.
We were sent a brown and gold pair to test, and weren’t too keen on this colour scheme. The shade of brown is not consistent, but the colours do blend quite well with brown or blonde hair. The alternative colour option is white and red, which is arguably more appealing, though more conspicuous.
Don’t miss a note with these noise-cancelling headphones
Colour scheme aside, the ear pieces are soft to the touch and the size adjustment to ensure a good fit is sturdy yet smooth. The hinged headphones fold up easily, but they probably wouldn’t squeeze in a pocket or small bag.
The cable sports a remote that doubles as a microphone, but there’s no volume control from here. The cable can be removed from the headset; the manual says this is to enable use of the noise-cancelling technology without any audio. This seems like a strange use for headphones at this price, plus, it doesn’t work very well – when using this function we could still hear the television when it was on low volume in the room next door.
Author: Ashleigh Macro, Head of Affiliate
Ashleigh is Tech Advisor's Head of Affiliate. Providing expert buying advice you can trust is her forte, helping you to find the most reputable consumer tech products and services, and ensuring you don't spend a penny more than you should.