I bought them to replace the W828NB from the same company, which was my first experience with noise cancelling headphones. The out of the box sound seemed mediocre to me, maybe even inferior to the previous model I had used. With a little tweak in EQ on the PC and with the Edifier Connect on the phone, however, they can produce impressive results. If you don't want to bother too much, simply choose the dynamic mode and you will automatically have better sound. On the PC, I recommend downloading FX Sound. The gaming mode is perhaps the most suitable for balanced sound. The passive noise cancellation is very good, the headphones block out a lot of noise just by wearing them. With active noise cancellation enabled, there are many types of sounds that you simply can't hear even without music. Some examples:
- TV in the background: you can't hear anything with high noise cancellation and without music
- Computer fans: you can't hear anything with medium noise cancellation
- Floor fan: it's impressive that you can only feel the air without hearing it even without music
- Moving on the streets: with music, you can't hear anything (and you need to be careful with this)
- Metro/train/bus: you also can't hear anything at all when playing music at moderate volume.
They do indeed connect very quickly to an Android mobile phone, even with older Bluetooth technology on a laptop. Their range is impeccable without interruptions in sound when moving around the house. They work perfectly even behind closed doors. LDAC, which is a prerequisite for HiRes audio, is worth it, but you will have to sacrifice the connection to multiple devices and battery life.
Speaking of the battery, the truth is that with active noise cancellation on, the battery drains quite quickly. Edifier claims 34 hours, but I don't think that's true, especially if you are in a noisy environment. However, charging is very fast, and in ten minutes with a power bank, it went from 16% to 55%. Here I should also add a positive note: the app shows the exact battery percentage and does not round it to the nearest ten like I have seen in other headphones.
And because I don't see many reviews mentioning the use with a cable, the headphones come with a gold-plated 3.5mm cable, one end of which has an angled plug for easier placement and durability. It doesn't easily come loose, and you won't hear any interference even on a mobile phone while you're on the move. You can still use the noise cancellation normally when connected with a cable, but you will have to open the headphones. The battery drains more slowly this way because Bluetooth is not turned on. However, you cannot charge them simultaneously. The sound quality with the cable is clearly better, slightly better than LDAC, I would say. The microphone is obviously disabled when you connect the cable.
Another very positive aspect is the presence of physical buttons on the headphones. Personally, I prefer them over gestures and touch surfaces that are more easily damaged. I would prefer the power button not to be located between the volume +/- buttons, but it's a minor issue.
The packaging includes a hard carrying case with compartments to prevent the headphones from hitting each other.
Let's move on to the negatives:
- Weight: Yes, they are very premium in construction, they look more expensive than they actually are, and I hope this translates into durability as well. BUT they are considerably heavier than any headset I have used, and this can be tiring if you wear them for 3+ hours straight.
- The function of connecting to 2 devices is not that good. The lag is noticeable when there is a second device connected. Also, many times disconnecting one device can cause resume/stop playback on the second device. Generally, if it's not necessary for you, I would recommend turning it off by enabling LDAC.
- Noise cancellation requires the headphones to be turned on. Something that I found quite convenient in the W828NB is that I could activate ANC with a separate switch, which was accompanied by a green light. Quite convenient when I used them with a cable.
- When changing modes (high noise cancellation, medium nc, ambient, wind reduction, nc off) as well as when a device connects or disconnects, the headphones "announce" this change using a voice that reduces the volume of the sound you're listening to, and there is no way to disable this. A firmware update would help.
- Noise cancellation is automatically turned off when the microphone is opened, so you can never have NC during calls.
UPDATE: First use on a flight and the noise cancellation did not disappoint.