Philips SHB9850NC headphones review: noise cancelling without breaking the bank

Latest Philips Bluetooth wireless noise-cancelling headphones get a lot of things right, but are hampered by a few niggles

Philips’s latest noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones attempt to pack in premium features into a lightweight set of cans without breaking the bank.

The mid-range Philips SHB9850NCs are a relatively subtle set of over-ear headphones that are more akin to classic headphones than the oversized and brightly-coloured generation kickstarted by Apple’s Beats.

Pros: light, compact, good background hum cancellation, solid Bluetooth connection and battery life

Cons: annoying electrical whine, hard lumps in the earphones, passive sound isolation could be better, controls not as responsive as they should be