Philips Fidelio NC1L Noise Cancelling Headphones Work Without Batteries

Anyone who has ever bought active noise cancelling headphones knows two things. First they are incredibly expensive and second without a power source they are just like regular headphones. Normally this power is provided by a rechargeable battery, which means you have to charge your headphone for hours before you can listen to your music without any intrusion from ambient noise. Philips has decided to do something radical to get the battery out of the equation. Last year it had managed to trump Apple and build the first headphones with Lightning connector and this year at CES it announced the launch of Fidelio NC1L active noise cancelling headphones with Lightning connector.


Philips Fidelio NC1L active noise cancelling headphones draw power from any iOS device through their Lightning ports. Every noise cancelling headphone needs this power to collect ambient noise through microphones and create a new wave that is 180 degrees out of phase with the waves associated with the noise. This wave is played on the speaker unit of the headphones to superimpose and cease the ambient noise. While most noise cancelling headphones have one or two microphones to record the ambient noise, Philips crams in four on the Fidelio NC1L. Low frequency noises are handled by two ‘FeedBackward’ microphones positioned next to the headphone drivers and mid to high frequency noises are taken care of by two ‘FeedForward’ microphones positioned on the outside of the headphone.


One of the advantages of Philips Fidelio NC1L headphones is that it bypasses the digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) on the Apple device which enables it to play high-resolution 24-bit audio through its own DAC and amplifier. These headphones are equipped with additional noise suppression setting (Natural Voice) for clearer and comfortable voice calls. Like most noise cancelling headphones they are equipped with an off mode (Open-ear listening) which lets in ambient noise whenever you need it.

Finally we come to the difficult part of buying these headphones. Apart from the fact that you need an Apple device to use the headphones you must also be willing to shell out $299 (18898 INR) for them. The product will be up for sale in North American markets by April 2015.

Source: Philips Fidelio world first: NC1L on-ear headphones with Active Noise Cancellation go battery-free with direct digital connection to your iOS device | Business Wire via Philips announces noise-cancelling Lightning headphones, no batteries required - The Verge