Costing five cents shy of $250, the N60NCs are not cheap. They’re also not wireless, which can be counted as a growing shortcoming in a world of iPhones without headphone jacks. I don’t wish to shrug off either consideration, but I’m confident that these headphones couldn’t be as good as they are without accepting those downsides. Their headband is clad in real leather and their aluminum frame supports memory foam pads that are just ridiculously plush. Because it’s not budget-constrained, and because it doesn’t need a big battery for wireless operation, the N60’s construction is solid yet very light, weighing in at 150g (5.3oz).
The noise canceling of the N60s does still require charging, though, and that’s done via a proprietary (ick!) USB cable that plugs directly into the 3.5mm port on the left ear cup. One full charge will get you through a claimed 30 hours of NC playback, which in my experience equates to longer than I’ll ever go without recharging them just to be safe. Consider it a battery life of weeks when used in conventional intermittent bursts, such as on your daily commute.
Weird charging cable to add to your dongle catalog? Check
When the USB wire isn’t charging them, the N60s plug into a 1.2m (4ft) braided cable that’s thin, hard to tangle, and, like the headphones themselves, practically disappears when in use. It includes an in-line microphone and one-button remote control. Being noise-canceling headphones, they pose no threat of cable noise disrupting your music, but even when the battery’s dead and you’re listening to them passively, all you get is clean, undisturbed playback. As is often the case with good design, the strength of these AKG headphones lies more in the absence of inconveniences they impose than anything else.
The absence of annoyance is also the defining quality of the noise canceling on these cans. The NC switch on the left cup is not a mute toggle for the outside world: I still hear plenty of things around me and don’t lose awareness of my surroundings. In a crowded mall, the din of the traffic on the street outside is nullified by the N60s, but the heated discussion at a nearby café is not. The headphones cancel out mostly low noises, the types that would be persistent on a long flight or a daily trudge into the city on the underground, and they let through high-pitched things like an alarmed person yelling at you for stepping on their toes.