Depends on what is meant by "not actively using them". I use mine in noise-cancelling mode all the time, without music/podcasts/anything. But the noise-cancell

Depends on what is meant by "not actively using them". I use mine in noise-cancelling mode all the time, without music/podcasts/anything. But the noise-cancelling is definitely active. Always when I'm in the subway, along busy streets full of honking and emergency vehicles, and so forth. Makes urban life much more tolerable.