Also, a negative review might end up being positive for someone else. I have recently been looking at reviews of Sony noise-cancelling earphones, and made sure to read the negative review(s) as well. One reviewer gave it one or two stars because they thought the noise-cancellation functionality was not worth it. Somewhere, though, in his negative review he mentioned that the sound quality is excellent. Having older version noise-cancelling earphones and being happy with them, I assumed he got a faulty pair and decided to buy them anyway. (I actually ended up buying Onkyo earphones, but that because I ended up by their booth at the last IFA, tested the headphones and fell in love)