Labs

As the only earbud units here, the MDR-NC22s manage to combine the best of both worlds, teaming Sony's noise cancelling technology with physical sound isolation, aka bunging your ears up. This design has a number of natural advantages over the headphones on test, most obviously that it's much more portable: the set can be bundled into its tiny velvet carrying pouch and stuffed in a pocket, or just worn discreetly enough to go almost unnoticed. It also weighs next to nothing.

One of the three sizes of removable rubber earbud should fit most people comfortably, though perhaps not all. Even when you've found the right size, sound isolation isn't as totally effective as with some higher-end models we've seen, but a good deal of ambient noise is blocked.

The NC22s will act as passive earphones when the need arises, simply playing your music with no batteries required, and we were pleasantly surprised by the sound quality they produced. Most material was handled well, if

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without notable sparkle.

There's a pronounced volume boost when you activate noise cancelling, which also appears to add extra crispness at the top end. Some of that can be explained by the psycho-acoustic effect of increased volume, but we suspect there's some EQ adjustment too, largely to the good. A little bit of hiss also crept in, but nothing to complain about.

Small is beautiful

Considering that the dongle has to house all the circuitry and an AAA battery (which Sony again fails to supply), it's remarkably tiny. This is also where you'll find the power on/off slider and a 'monitor' button, which mutes the music. The power LED isn't as prominent as on other models here, so you'll have to remember to switch off to avoid running down the battery, and the battery compartment lid is a little too flimsy for our liking.

Whether you'll find the NC22s comfortable for long periods does depend on achieving the right fit, and some people may still find them too tight for long journeys. If you don't get on with earplugs, take a look at the Sennheiser or Philips headphones instead.

Ultimately, though, we can't fault the NC22s on their versatility. Not only is the sound quality excellent for the price, but you get the benefits of both sound isolation and noise cancelling. You could spend far more, but when you can get these for £60, it would be hard to justify, particularly if it's for non-audiophile purposes like listening to compressed MP3 files, hearing the audio on in-flight entertainment or just walking around town.