I've been toying with the idea of getting a set of active noise canceling headphones for a while. Both my wife and I are having to fly more for our jobs, so I can certainly justify this expense. While I hadn't directly tested anything else, I've read reviews both at Amazon and other places for a number of different headphones. The predecessor to these, Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 QuietPoint Active Noise-Cancelling Headphones generally scored well in the reviews, and seemed favored even over the venerable BOSE Quiet Comfort models, the several low rated reviews about sound leakage gave me pause.Seeing these supposedly new and improved versions recently come to market, I decided to take a chance with the hope that this one negative would be fixed for what is otherwise an excellent product.I've not been exposed to the original to know first hand how bad the "sound leakage" issue is, but it is something I wanted to test for. I can say that, when I have my Ipod cranked up full (almost at a painful level) and the ANC turned on, it is pretty easy for someone outside to hear what is playing, particularly when there's not a lot of noise in the area. However, in a more "real world" test, I had my wife listening with them while we took a trip with the kids in our minivan. While not up to aircraft levels, the van can generate a decent amount of noise, especially at speed and on noisy asphalt. In this case, I had her turn it up as loud as she could comfortably do. I managed to barely be able to hear something from the headphones, but not even to the point that I could tell what she was listening to. That test was enough to allay my concerns about the "sound leakage" issue as a practical matter.My wife greatly appreciated using the headphones on our road trip and found them very effective and damping down the road and engine noise. For the most part, our trips don't happen at the same time, but I can already tell that, if we are traveling together, I'll be adding a second set to our house hold. While not as good sounding as some of my dedicated over the ear heaphones for music, especially with the ANC on, the sound quality is still well more than acceptable and a fair compromise to go along with the ANC capability. As is typical of the technology, most of the sound reduction comes at the lower frequencies, with higher vocal level frequencies getting much less attentuation. These will knock down the low level engine rumblings, but not silence a conversation.As for the package in general, it's very simple and elegant. The battery compartment takes a single AAA battery and it is easy to rotate the cover on the right earpiece to expose and replace the battery. While it doesn't lock, it is firm enough that I don't think there's going to be an issue with accidentally opening the battery compartment. The headphones use a standard 3.5mm stereo connection and the package comes with both a short (good for having a player in your hand or on a belt clip) and longer cable that would be suitable plugging into a set of desktop speakers and allowing you to move about your desk. There are also 1/4" adapter plugs for use with a typical home stereo/AVR as well as the typical two pronged airline connector. The case has a zippered internal pocket to hold all of these, along with extra AAA batteries (one Energizer even comes with the package). The case is pretty compact, which is good for using with a carry on bag. Even so, there is sufficient room to easily hold my Ipod 5G 60GB inside. There's space still for something a little wider and a good bit longer, so I suspect an Ipod Touch or Zune would fit with no trouble. The case itself is pretty sturdy with heavy inserts in the back, front, and sides to hold the case's shape.When I made my purchase, the price difference between the new model and the old one was effectively the same. Even as of this writing, there's only a net $10 difference. With that in mind, if you have looked at the previous generation, I see no reason to get it anymore. This unit incorporates at least two year's worth of improvements over the original and comes in at a very competitive pricepoint, especially compared to BOSE and some of the other high end ANC headphones.