Plane Quiet's new Solitude noise reducing headphones aggressively attack Bose's position as the new market leader.

Combining upmarket appearance with excellent noise cancelling, these headphones are the new standard to beat.

Solitude Noise Cancelling Headset Plane Quiet's new top of the line active noise cancelling headphones
	Plane Quiet's new Solitude headset looks very different to all their present and past models, and give a clearly heard improvement in noise cancelling. Part 10 of a series on noise reducing headphones - click for Parts  One  Two  Three  Four  Five  Six  Seven  Eight  Nine  Ten

Bose must now be wishing they didn't force Plane Quiet to take their earlier Mk 5 headphones off the market (due to a claimed patent infringement).

Plane Quiet's response has been three fold.  They immediately countered with a differently designed headset (the NC6) which is priced less and performs better than their earlier product.

They then followed this up with a second product, priced even lower still, although this second product (the Latitude) does not perform as well as either the Mk 5 or NC6.

And now, Plane Quiet delivers the coup de grace to Bose, with their new top of the line Solitude headset.
 

Executive Summary

The release of the Solitude represents such a major development that we've devoted a great deal of space in discussing everything to do with this marvelous new product, and so this has become the longest review yet in our noise reducing headphones series.

Some of you might want to skip much of the review and cut to the bottom line question - are the headphones any good or not, and should you buy them?

Yes, the Solitude headphones, priced at $200, are very good indeed.  In terms of noise cancelling and sound quality, they are almost indistinguishable from the $300 Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones, and clearly better than the next best headphones (the $55 Plane Quiet NC6 and $70 Noisebuster NBFX).

The $55 NC6 is a great priced good performing product, and if your budget is set around this number, you'll be happy with the NC6.  But if you're prepared to spend more to get an improvement in noise cancelling that you'll clearly hear, then choose the Solitude over the Bose.  There seems little or no tangible associated benefit for the extra $100 cost of the Bose unit.

For more detail, please keep reading.

Plane Quiet's Evolution

Plane Quiet first released a set of noise reducing headphones in May of 2003.  It was a revolutionary unit back then, offering performance only slightly less than the Bose Quiet Comfort 1 product, and at little more than a quarter the Bose price.

This product went through a series of small evolutionary improvements, getting steadily better, and becoming more broadly known and appreciated in the marketplace.  At the same time, Bose upgraded their headphones to the much improved Quiet Comfort 2, and new competitors started to enter the market, offering a steadily increasing range of headset choices.

And then, disaster seemed to strike.  Bose claimed that the Plane Quiet headset violated some of their patents and in a negotiated settlement, PQ agreed to take their product off the market.

However, PQ did not simply turn away from developing headphones.  Instead, they came out with a replacement product, using a different physical design to avoid the Bose patent, and called the NC-6, released in August of 2004.

This was initially a controversial product.  At first glance, it looks very similar to several other brands of noise reducing headphones, many of which were priced below the NC-6.  Some people quickly assumed that because the headphones looked similar from the outside, they must therefore be the same on the inside, and perform exactly the same.

Our testing has clearly showed this is not the case, and indeed Plane Quiet themselves also demonstrated this fact when they introduced a lower priced, similar appearing product in November 04, the Latitude.  Moral of the story :  Don't judge a book by its cover.

Although the NC-6 was (and is) an excellent performing set of headphones, and generally better in most respects to the earlier Mk 5, it lacked a certain aura of panache and quality, probably due to the many similar seeming competitors in the market.  Many people were still choosing to spend $300 on a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones rather than $55 on an almost as good set of NC-6 headphones.

And now, we see the Plane Quiet response to the absolute top end of the market, appearing in the form of their Solitude noise cancelling headphones.

With the release of this headset, Plane Quiet now offer three different products covering every part of the active noise cancelling market :

• Solitude ($199.99)  High end product.  Around the ear design, highest quality and performance (review follows below)

• NC-6 ($54.99)  Mid market product.  On the ear design, very good quality and performance (reviewed here)

• Latitude ($29.99)  Entry level product.  Similar design to NC-6,  perhaps something for the kids to play with (not separately reviewed but mentioned in passing in the NC-6 review)

The Solitude Active Noise Cancelling Headset - what you get

The Solitude noise cancelling headphones are shipped in a good strong outer shipping box.  Inside is an attractive black and silver box with embossed printing.  The box has some basic product information and pictures on it.

Inside the product box is a woven nylon semi-rigid zip up carry case, and inside the carry case are the headphones themselves.

Carry Case Issues

First appearances are important, particularly with a $200 product, and I have to say that being confronted with the nylon carry case completely failed to impress.  It is unnecessarily big - when you open it up, you discover that a large part of its bulk is taken up with foam filling.  If you're like me, space is at a premium in your carry-on bag, and it seems strange to design a set of headphones that do a brilliant job of compactly folding up, and then squander their compact design by placing them in a much larger carry bag.  Bizarrely, Plane Quiet claim their unnecessarily massive carry case has 'space saving attributes'.  Not in this universe.

The cut out foam insert is in two pieces.  One is a simple spacer/filler at the bottom of the pouch which wouldn't be necessary if the pouch was not so deep, and the other piece has a cut out bit in the middle into which you're expected to place the headphones.  To be polite, the headphones fit 'snugly'.  To be less polite, the fit is too tight to allow for the headphones to easily be placed in and out of the pouch.

The foam inserts are loose, not glued in place.  The good news is this means you can easily throw them away; the bad news is that their looseness makes it even harder to move the headphones in and out of the insert.

Inside the lid of the carry case is a pouch in which the connecting cord, adapters, and batteries can be found.  The pouch doesn't have a zip across its opening, and I'd worry that things could easily fall out and get lost - particularly on a night flight, in the dark.

Suffice it to say that the design of the carry case is very disappointing.  However, if you're like me, you didn't spend $200 to buy a carry case - you spent it to buy the best possible set of noise reducing headphones you could find.  So let's continue our exploration.

Other Inclusions

The connecting cord is a generous 5'1" long.  It has gold plated standard 1/8" connectors at each end - one plugs into a socket on the left ear cup, and the other plugs into whatever sound source you are listening to.  If you're just using the headphones for noise cancelling, you don't need to connect the cord at all.

This cord shows a clear benefit of the Solitude compared to the Bose Quiet Comfort 2.  A problem with the QC2 is that its connecting cord uses a unique-to-Bose connector at the headphone end.  If you lose the cord, or if it becomes faulty, you can only get a replacement from Bose.  This is very inconvenient, especially if you're traveling, and there seems no reason for this, other than giving Bose more of your money.  The Solitude headset uses standard connectors at both ends, so if you should ever lose or break the connecting cord, a replacement can easily be purchased at any stereo or electronic store.  Well done, Solitude.

The unit comes with two different adapters - one is the common adapter to convert from a single jack to the double pronged jack used by some airlines, and the other converts from the connector's standard 1/8" diameter plug to the larger 1/4" plug used on professional audio gear and home stereo systems.

Yes, the unit does come complete with batteries - two alkaline AAA cells.

Also in the box is a user's manual and warranty card.

The 20 page user manual does an excellent job of explaining everything to do with the headphones and their operation, although on the page that quotes the headphones' specifications, no mention is made of its noise cancelling capability (the box claims 18dB of noise cancellation).

Warranty Issues

The warranty card contains some interesting language and some onerous requirements.  The previous apparently unlimited lifetime warranty offered by Plane Quiet on their other products has been replaced by what they describe as a 'Limited Lifetime Warranty'.  So what are they limiting?

Well, a simple reading shows their undertaking to repair/replace defective parts 'within a reasonable period of time' free of charge.

So how long is a 'reasonable period of time'?  Our interpretation was that this means that the warranty is only good for a certain time period, but we have been advised by email from James Dabbs, writing on behalf of their EVP, David Dillinger, this actually means they will repair/replace the faulty unit within a reasonable time of receiving it back.  It does not mean (per Dabbs) that the coverage period is restricted; they are simply reserving the right to take more than a day or two to return your headphones to you after receiving them back.  That is good to know.

Now for the onerous requirements :  To get warranty service, you need to provide proof of purchase from an authorized Plane Quiet dealer.  If you're like me, you lose sales slips within a day of buying something.  And if you give a set of headphones as a gift to someone, you probably don't include the sales slip with the headphones.

There do not appear to be any serial numbers on the headphones, which makes this requirement somewhat pointless, because a proof of purchase can't be matched to a specific set of headphones.

Things get worse.  If you are returning the headphones to Plane Quiet, they require you ship them in their original carton for shipping.  Now, what does that mean?  Does it mean the flimsy black printed box?  Or the generic corrugated cardboard shipping outer box?  If it means the latter, what about people who bought headphones direct from a retailer?

Well, PQ have thought about that.  They'll, ummm, sell you an official shipping box.

Now for an underlying ugliness.  Dabbs asserts that their warranty is limited to only cover the original owner of the headphones, which is why they seek proof of (original) purchase.  Nowhere on the warranty form does it say this, and we're asking Dabbs for further information on how this assertion is supported.

BoomerangIt

An unusual - but valuable - bonus feature of the Solitude is a membership in the BoomerangIt program.  This gives you a distinctive numbered label to place on the headphones (probably on top of the headband).  If you should lose your headphones, anyone finding them will notice the label, which contains a tracking serial number, a toll free number to call, and the promise of a reward to the finder.

You get a free one year registration, and are required to fill out a fairly intrusive form on Boomerang's site to get the product registered.  Surely Plane Quiet could link this data to their warranty database so as to save their customers the hassles mentioned in the previous section.

The Boomerang service helps increase the likelihood that, should you leave your headphones behind - for example on a plane at the end of a long flight - they might be eventually returned back to you.

Headphones Description

The Solitude active noise cancelling headphones are designed to fold into a very compact shape, as you can see on the left.

The headband splits in the middle and rotates around, and the earcups have triple hinges, making it possible to collapse the headphones into a very small bundle.  This is a definite plus compared to the Bose Quiet Comfort 2, which does not have the hinged headband.  The headband hinge is quite strong and has a locking tab opposite the hinge enabling it to firmly lock in its open position.

The headband has faux-leather padding on either side of the central hinge.  This padding also means the hinge itself is kept away from your head.

The headphones have black plastic and padding, with the ear cups being made out of an attractive matt titanium colored plastic, with black center pieces and the distinctive 'flash' emblem of the Plane Quiet family in the center of each black center piece.  The official Solitude photo above implies the headphones are brown and black; this is not the case, they are an attractive titanium/gunmetal type color.

The headphones have a 7.9 ounce 'on the head' weight, and a total weight of 12.1 oz in their carry case.

The two AAA batteries are located in the left earcup and have a claimed life of 35 hours.  Opening the battery cover required quite a lot of force - there's no danger of this accidentally opening in your bag.

A strong plus compared to the Quiet Comfort 2 is the Solitude headphones will still play music if the batteries die.  The volume level drops a bit, and you only get passive not active noise cancellation, but they are perfectly usable if your batteries die on you.  In my case, I've sometimes found that I've either forgotten to turn off the power to a set of headphones, or perhaps the switch has been bumped, turning it accidentally on, and so I find myself on a plane with dead batteries.  This is not such a problem with the Solitude, and of course, a prudent person will keep a spare set of batteries in their carry bag for 'just in case'.

At the bottom of the left earcup is the socket into which you plug the connecting cord when you want to use the headphones to listen to an audio source rather than just using them for their noise quietening capabilities.

Also on the side of the left earcup is a volume control, an on-off switch, and a green LED to show the headphones are on.

The volume control is for adjusting the volume level, and has no impact on the noise quietening.  Normally it makes sense to leave this at maximum and to adjust the volume on your music source.  Using the volume control on the ear cup is not very convenient and makes a lot of noise.  But if you're listening to something together with another person on a second set of headphones, you can then balance the volume levels for both of you by using these volume controls.

The On-Off switch is reasonably well recessed so is less likely to be accidentally turned on.  The green LED shines quite brightly, and when it reduces to a dim glow this signifies your batteries are almost dead (the manufacturer says they have about 30 minutes remaining) and should be replaced.  This is not as helpful as with the QC2, which causes its power LED to flash when there are about 5 hours remaining - a better indicator and a more generous advance warning.

Noise Cancelling Functionality

The Solitude noise reducing headphones claim 18 dB of noise cancellation, which they say is the highest of any set of headphones on the market.

In contrast, arch-rival Bose is silent on how much noise cancellation their headphones offer.

How to measure noise cancelling performance

There is a great deal more to measuring the extent of noise cancellation than is suggested by quoting a single figure.  This is because all noise reduction methods work with varying degrees of efficiency at varying frequencies and volumes.  Active noise cancelling works best with moderate rather than very loud volumes, and with medium/low frequencies rather than very low, or medium and high frequencies.

So, when a manufacturer says '18 dB of noise cancellation', they really need to back that claim up with a published chart showing the noise cancellation as a function of sound frequency (and perhaps sound volume, too).  Without that information, we can only guess at what the manufacturer means, and this lack of precision (and great difficulty in precisely evaluating) means that manufacturers sometimes feel free to quote whatever number they feel like.

Accordingly, the actual perceived level of noise cancelling will depend very much on what type of noises you are surrounded by and trying to cancel out.  By happy coincidence, a large part of the noise on a plane falls within that part of the sound spectrum that active noise cancellation works well in.  However, some other noises (for example, human voices) tend to be outside the range of effective noise cancelling, and are much less affected.

I've sometimes had readers write to me, or post in the forum, saying that they tried a set of noise reducing headphones which were useless.  But after questioning, it appears that they did not try the headphones in an airplane.  If you're buying noise reducing headphones to improve your in-flight experience, it is inappropriate to test them anywhere else, because their functionality in other places may be totally different to their functionality on a plane.

So; what does this all mean?  It means you're best advised to largely disregard any manufacturer's claims for noise reducing, unless you see comparative independent testing between their headphones and other brands that you're also considering buying.  Instead, you need to compare them in the environment that you'll predominantly be using them, which is why I do all my review testing actually on planes (yes, I'm the crazy guy shuffling half a dozen different sets of headphones on and off my head all flight long!).

With all this as long winded introduction, how do the Solitude headphones measure up?

Solitude's noise cancelling performance

I did a side by side comparison between the Solitude and the Noisebuster NBFX/Plane Quiet NC6 on a recent flight from Las Vegas to Seattle.

There was a clear improvement in noise cancellation in the lower and mid ranges with the Solitude.  An engine droning noise in particular must have lost at least 4dB and perhaps closer to 6dB (my guess, I didn't have any measuring instrumentation with me).  Higher up the frequency band, as the noise cancelling effect started to taper off, the differences weren't so marked, although the Solitude seemed to also have better passive noise cancellation outside of its active noise cancelling range.

This is an amazing improvement over the already very good NC6/NBFX products.  So, to answer the question we all wonder - 'Will I hear the difference between the $55 dollar headphones and the $200 headphones' the answer is a definite yes.  If you can afford and justify spending almost four times as much money to get a better noise quieting experience, then go ahead and do so, knowing that you definitely will be getting a better result for your extra cash.

In simulated plane sound environments on the ground, the Solitude seemed to very closely track the Bose Quiet Comfort 2.  Possibly - just barely possibly - the Solitude might have been very slightly better with some sound mixes.  But even if one simply says the two units are close to identical, this is a massive achievement and something that I've been unable to say about any previous unit when compared against the QC2's 'gold standard'.

So, to answer the other question we all wonder - 'Will I hear the difference between the $200 and the $300 headphones' the answer is 'No, you won't'.  In this case, there is almost no reason at all to consider the Bose over the Solitude, and remembering Solitude's extra features (still passes through music if the batteries are dead, and an industry standard connecting cable), the Solitude would seem to be the clear winner.

Comfort and Convenience

One of the distinctive things about noise cancelling headphones is that you're more likely to wear them for a longer time period than with regular headphones, and so comfort issues become even more important than with conventional headphones.

Many people think that 'on the ear' type headphones are inherently less comfortable than 'around the ear' type headphones, due to the on the ear design meaning the headphones are pressing against your sensitive ear, rather than pressing against your less sensitive skull.  On the other hand, ear cups that completely enclose the ear can make you feel hot and sweaty after a long time whereas on the ear headphones might not seem so hot.

I've happily worn both types of headphones for long international flights, and don't see a huge difference between them, and suspect personal preference is probably as much a factor as any absolute comfort issues.

The most distinctive comfort component of these headphones is that they squeeze quite tightly onto the sides of your head, appreciably more so than either the QC2 or the earlier PQ Mk5.  This was a deliberate design decision, so as to make a very positive seal against your head, passively blocking out as much background noise as possible.

This is not as uncomfortable as one would expect, simply because there isn't much sensation in your skull to feel this type of pressure.

The headphones sit securely on your head (aided by their firm pressure) and while you're aware of their presence, they are not awkward and you can move your head the same as you always would without fear of dislodging the headphones.

The longest I've worn a set for, so far, is 'only' four hours.  They were acceptably comfortable for that length of time; I'll update this when I have a chance to wear them for a longer time period.

In terms of convenience, the headphones can fold very compactly, and are acceptably light weight, making them easy to fit into your carry-on bag (but do throw away the awful carry case they come with).

Other Observations and Issues

Excellent sound quality

Plane Quiet claim a frequency response range from 20Hz - 20,000 Hz, but their claim is meaningless because they omit the crucial detail of how many dB plus or minus is used to measure the frequency response.

Happily, the quality of sound from the Solitude headphones is excellent.  Clean, clear, and full bodied, with solid bass and clear treble, and neither inappropriately dominating. 

The first thing I noticed was their excellent mid-range presence and distortion-free clarity, meaning that I heard some background sounds on a piano recital recording that I'd never noticed before.  The sound is warm and inviting rather than harsh or muffled.

One could hear the percussive attack as individual hammers struck their notes in the piano, and one could hear the timbre of the piano itself, rather than having it masked by the coloration that is often present in a cheap pair of headphones.

Sound levels were generous, unlike some of the earlier Plane Quiet headsets.  The sound level drops when you turn off the noise cancelling, but still remains adequately high.

Audiophiles will be pleased.

Sometimes intrusive hiss

Now for the not quite so good news.  Although the Solitude appears to be the equal of the Bose in terms of sound quality, the background hiss created by their noise cancelling circuitry is more apparent than with the QC2, and is more akin to the more intrusive level of the earlier Bose QC1.

The hiss has a different coloration to it than the NC6/NBFX.  It seems to cover a broader spectrum, whereas the other headphones (which sound identical to each other so I tend to use them interchangeably) had a more pronounced higher frequency component.

In all cases, the hiss is apparent in quieter environments, and detracts from the quality of the music.  But you can simply turn off the noise cancelling in such cases and get the pure sound feed with no added hiss at all (but not with the Bose which needs to have the electronics on at all times to pass through any sound at all).

And, again in all cases, in a noisy environment like a plane, the electronic hiss is inconsequential compared to all the other noises surrounding you and so it seems to disappear.

The obvious comeback on this point is 'why would you use noise cancelling headphones in a quiet environment?' - there is a degree of fairness in this rhetorical question, but it is also fair to say that, no matter what the environment, less added hiss is always better than more.

Where to Buy

The headphones can be purchased direct from the manufacturer, Plane Quiet, at their ProTravelGear website.

The headphones list for $199.99.  If you use the 'travelinsider' discount code, you'll get a 5% discount off the list price.

Summary and Recommendation

After a couple of years of giving Bose an increasingly intense amount of competition, it seems that with this quantum leap ahead, Plane Quiet have, at the least, drawn level with Bose in the performance stakes, and may even have edged very slightly ahead.

When you factor in the $100 premium that Bose charges, and the slightly better ergonomic features of the Solitude, it becomes a no-brainer to choose the Solitude over the Bose every time.

If your comparison is not with the $300 Bose but instead with the $55 Plane Quiet NC6, your strategy becomes less clear.  On the one hand, the improved noise cancelling should be obvious to everyone.  But on the other hand, there is a huge jump in price between the two products.  If spending an extra almost $150 is something you can conveniently do, then you'll probably choose to do exactly this, and you'll be pleased with your decision.

But if you reason that you could buy NC6 headsets for the entire family at the same cost as a single pair of the Solitudes, and if you choose to do this instead, you'll be pleased with the NC6 headsets, too.

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Originally published 11 Feb 2005, last update 21 Jul 2020

You may freely reproduce or distribute this article for noncommercial purposes as long as you give credit to me as original writer.