Edifier W820NB

Great Active Noise Cancelling Headphones that won't break the bank – I was in the market for a new pair of noise cancelling headphones and came across the Edifier W820NB Bluetooth Headphones with Active Noise Cancelling (ANC). For a pair of headphones with this tech is amazing when priced well under $100 AUD (purchased for $79 at Centre Com). The package is lack lustre and contains the headphones and a USB-C Charding cable. There is a tiny manual and that's pretty much it in the box. What these headphones lack in the box make up for features and battery life. I cannot compare against better known brands but the features suit me to a T and the price is right on point!

The W820NB Headphones are 85% charged straight from the box and I was eagre to test these straight away. Buttons are tactile in feel and although the headphones are not priced as premium I feel they will last if you look after them (I purchased a seperate hard shell headphone case for when theyre not being used). Buttons for control are on the right-hand ear cup and are easy to navigate when you know the feel of the button shapes.

Turning on the headphones requires a 3 sec hold on the power button so it will be hard to accidentially thurn these on but not impossible. Pairing the headphones is easy (I use Apple) and the headphones appear on all devices when searching for bluetooth pairing. There is no cable jack capability on these headphones whatsoever buth this is not going to be an issue with the excellend battery life and fast charge times. a quick 15min charge yields 2 hrs playtime if you get caught short. Charging is via USB-C so no weird proprietary cables needed here. More on battery life later...

The same bluetooth button allows for changing the listening modes of which there are 3. First is Noise Cancelling ON, Second is Noise Cancelling OFF, and lastly there is AMBIENT where sound from the environment comes through the headphones. Great if you're in an environment where you need to be aware of your surroundings. There is also a gaming mode to reduce latency but I doubt I'll need that - who knows?

Volume Up/Down buttons work well and can be used to skip tracks fwd/bwd with a long-press. A short-press on the power button will pause your track, netflix or youtube being watched. You can also make and receive calls with these headphones and the included mic offers a rich audible sound for the other end of the call.

Sound from the headphones is full in my opinion with the treble not too bright and the base not too deep. These are not cheap sounding headphones and there is plenty of note separation so music is not sounding muddy and dull. Edifier do have an app you can use and I thought there may have been a way to tweak the settings for your desired listening tastes, but the app does not have this function. Large 40mm drivers with titanium diaphragm delivers crystal-clear sound to your ears and these headphones support the Hi-Res Audio standard for a rich listening experience. Basically they sound great!

Changing settings via the bluetooth button gives you a clear voice confirmation for changing between the noise cancelling modes - a nice touch and great feature.

Build quality and comfort I wear glasses and these headphones are comfortable to wear for extended periods. The clamping force is just right for my noggin and my ears do not get too hot given these are ear-enclosed headphones and the memory foam helps to keep out surrounding sound too.

The Edifier WB820NB use the bluetooth 5 standard and have fabulous range in real world conditions. I can walk up the other end of the house and still hear the TV through walls as the bluetooth signal has great penetration and distance from your connected device.

The build is plastic and I can see no metal parts in the construction so care will be needed when storing these in a back pack or bag. The headphones do not fold like some do to reduce their storage size but the ear cups do swivel to flat if you have these around your neck. They fit nicely in the hard-shell headphone case I purchased seperately.

Noise cancelling is AMAZING and works well in my real world testing. The headphones can easliy eliminate car and fan sounds as well as general speach. I'm sure these are going to be great on a plane.

Battery life is reported to be one of the best at 49 hours! This is without using Active Noise Cancelling (ANC). When using ANC this reduces to around 30 hours! This is still exceptional battery life for the average traveller.

All up these are $79 headphones that are punching well above their weight. The headphones lack some features like tweaking sound in the app ut remember these are sub hundred dollar headphones. The app shows battery percentage, noise reduction on/off and there is a volume slider for ambient sound customisation from -3 to +3. Low latency game mode can also be turned on/off here too.

At this price point you cannot go wrong with enough features to make these a great starting point for those who want to try active noise cancelling technology without throwing big money at headphones.