Hands-on with Microsoft's Surface Headphones: tune out the outside world to focus

If the theme of Microsoft's Tuesday Surface event was about maintaining focus, then the new Microsoft Surface Headphones fall right in line: Spin the noise cancellation dial on Microsoft's new cans, and the world fades away. Headphones aren't usually considered to be a PC accessory, but anyone who's worked in a coffee shop--or the office equivalent, the dreaded open-plan office--knows that casual conversation and cup clinks can be enormously distracting. Enter the $349 Surface Headphones, Microsoft's over-the-ear headphones that feature both active noise cancellation as well as a connection to Cortana, Microsoft's voice assistant. Like mice and keyboards, headphones are a subjective experience--we all experience them differently on our ears. I found the Surface Headphones a bit confining during my first interaction with them, though the noise cancellation worked well in the loud, bustling environment of Microsoft's demo space.