Yamaha YH-E700A Wireless ANC headphone review: Noise cancelling that doesn't cancel any of your music

Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) headphones are a modern marvel with one major drawback: Many will unintentionally wipe out some of the frequencies present in the music you're listening to. Yamaha says its $299 YH-E700A ANC headphone delivers nearly identical sound whether its active noise cancellation is on, off, or in transparency mode. I'd say Yamaha has at least come closer to that goal than any other headphone I've reviewed, and that should make an extremely appealing set of cans for those who eschew active noise cancellation because they feel the technology has an adverse impact on musical recordings. That said, the YH-E700A aren't without a few other wrinkles that Yamaha will hopefully iron out via future firmware updates. The Yamaha YH-E700A adds several features you won't find in its less-expensive noise-cancelling stablemate, the YH-E500 ($179.95):