Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7B vs Sony MDR-1000X

The microphone has good clarity and can actually be used for tasks other than talking on the phone - like recording podcasts on the go for example.

One cord comes with an inline mic and with controls, and the other cord is your standard audio cable. This inclusion not only allows you to pick a cable to best suit your use-case for the headphone, but this also ensures that you have a spare cable should one get damaged.

The bass of these headphones is pretty good. Bass drum hits have good power to them, yet they do not muddy up the sound. The mids are warm and forward, and should present vocals and mid-range sounds quite well. The highs do not have a lot of sparkle, but they are clear and present a good level of detail.

With these headphones it will be much easier for you to focus on your music, or whatever it is that you are listening to. Combined with the closed back design, airplane/train/bus engine noises are effectively cancelled out.

Along with the two headphone cables, you get a carrying case, an airline adapter and a 6.3mm plug. These should help make the headphones easier to transport and also make them compatible with a wider range of audio sources.

The ear cups can be folded into the headband. This reduces the headphones' size so that it can easily fit inside bags.

These have great noise isolating properties and can block out a good amount of sound even with the noise cancelling off. The ear cups are closed back, the ear pads go over the ear and seal well, and this effectively minimizes sound leakage to and from the headphones.

If you need to talk while using these, all you need to do is to cover the right ear cup with the palm of your hand. This activates Quick Attention mode which cuts off the music and amplifies voice for easy conversation. To get back to listening to music, all you need to do is to remove the palm from the ear cup.

Users can set the feature to fully on or off, or set it to Ambient Sound which then offers 2 more options. Normal Mode allows some outside noise through, while Voice Mode allows voice frequencies through the noise cancelling.

The MDR 1000x's active noise cancelling is one of the best in the market today. With the mode activated, a significant amount of outside noise is blocked, allowing you to really enjoy your music with minimal distractions.

The noise cancelling optimizer runs a series of quick tests, with beeping noises, to adapt to ambient noise.
This is handy against construction work noise in front of your window.

You can use these headphones wired using the detachable 3.5mm cable or you can go wireless with Bluetooth.

The bass is impactful and controlled and works really well with most genres that are popular today. The mids are slightly forward at just the right levels, which ensures that the vocals can be clearly heard. The highs are emphasized and sound great with a lot of clarity and detail, especially on the upper registers.

Swiping or tapping on the right ear cup's surface can pause or play track, go to the next track or go back to the previous one and can control volume levels as well.

There is a built in microphone which negates the need to remove the headphones to answer a call.

This comes with a carrying case that is made from high quality materials. It should provide extra protection to the headphones against scratches and minor impacts, which are quite common when taking these while traveling.

The internal battery can give up to 20 hours of listening to music.