Since I live in an apartment, I use over ear Bluetooth noise canceling headphones to watch TV or listen to music on a daily basis. I have a Sony 1000-XM2 that I love an MPow M5 and Soundcore Q20. The Sonys are my gold standard for sound quality, but both the MPOW and Soundcore were exceptional as well.
The MPow M5 finally started to physically break after 4+ years of years of near daily use, so I purchased these to replace them.
I selected these because they were the among the highest rated and most purchased over ear noise canceling blue tooth headphones under $40.
I received my headphones in about a couple days. The box contained the headphones, a carrying bag, and cables. The build quality of the headset feels good, but not premium. The construction is mostly mat plastic with metal hinges and of course a metal leaf spring in the headband. ANC is controlled with a sliding switch behind the left ear while on/off, volume, skipping, pausing and pairing are controlled with three plastic push-buttons behind the right ear.
When you press the buttons you hear/ feel a mechanical click that I am guessing is designed to be hepatic feedback and less intrusive than audible beeps in the headphones. Primary function of the buttons are volume and on/off. Holding the volume buttons for a couple of seconds will allow you to skip forward or back. The center (on/off) button, also allows you to pause and when held for about five seconds will put the headphones in pairing mode. As the noise canceling is on a separate slider, you’ll need to remember to turn this off when you power down the headset or you might drain the battery. All controls seem to me to be very intuitive and standard.
Sound quality is really good for the price. These is some punch in the bass but it isn’t overpowering. Mids and highs are clear. At the highest volumes the sound gets a tad muddy, but why would you crank the volume if you have noise cancelation? The sound quality is very good overall and exceptional at the price, on par with MPOW but maybe not quite as good as Soundcore Q20s. I imagine these are best suited for TV, movies, rock and blues music. Though if you like boomy bass or just super heavy bass, you might find the headphones weak in that regard.
Noise canceling operates as a single mode without a bypass/ ambient sound feature which is expected at this price point. Noise canceling is at least reasonably good for this price point. Low frequency noise can’t be heard, but, mid-to-high frequencies are not affected much. The sonic profile does change slightly with noise canceling on. It’s hard for me to tell exactly what happens, but I think the mids drop slightly and I get an even more v-shaped sonic profile. In any case, it is a pleasing effect. Overall, noise canceling is what one can expect at this price point. If you need more mid to high frequency noise reduction, I’d recommend just getting a pair of Sony MX’s.
Range is good. I can go anywhere in my apartment or even outside nearby with no loss of sound quality. Again, at this price point, I think this is expectedly good.
The headphones have a “C” profile that sits a bit off the side of my head. I have a small to medium sized head, and I find these very comfortable, perhaps the most comfortable pair that I have every tried. The headset feels reasonable light and my ears don’t get hot with extended use.
Overall I give this set extremely high marks for sound quality and comfort which are the two most important aspects of such headphones. Build quality, noise cancellation are expectedly good, and I see no major detractions, so I am giving this set five stars
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