Auna BNC-10 noise-cancelling headphones

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Very good noise-cancelling headphones

I was sent these Auna noise-cancelling headphones free for an unbiased review. I think they are very good, although there is a quirk in the sound when the noise-cancelling is off.

The headphones are very well made and accessorized. They seem to me to compete well with Bose noise-cancelling headphones, in that they come in a similar hard carry-case with a jack-lead, a micro-USB lead, a ¼" jack adaptor and airplane adaptor, all of which are very good quality with gold plated plugs and robust build. The headphones themselves are of similar build quality: they are quietly stylish, robust and well made with pivoting earcups for comfort and easy storage and a good, strong adjustable headband. The padding is good and I find them very comfortable.

Functionally, they are excellent. The noise-cancelling is remarkably good; I find that even quite strong background whines and rumbles are completely silenced, while sudden noises and voices are audible but comfortably quiet. Bluetooth pairing is very simple and stable up to at least 5 meters. The controls are excellent and work very well. I especially like the volume control which is a wheel on the right-hand earcup. The normal phone and music controls are on the left earcup and work very well.

Sound quality is…interesting. Without noise-cancelling I find it OK but a bit muffled, cotton-woolly and bass-dominated. However, as soon as I turn on noise-cancelling, it comes alive as though I'd made a major EQ adjustment. Trebles and middles are far brighter and richer, while the bass remains strong. In this mode a string quartet sounds very well balanced, the deep bass in London Grammar's Hey Now (an excellent discriminator) sounds very good and everything from 16th Century choral music to rock sounds very good. Bluetooth 4.1 means a very good sound, too, and it's equally good in wired mode. Articulation is good, although not the very best I've heard, but I like listening to these a lot.

All this means that I always listen in noise-cancelling mode. That's fine with me, but do be aware that they don't sound great to me in passive mode. Everything else is excellent, though, I have used a set of Bose QC-2 for many years now, and I think the noise-cancelling in the Auna BNC-10 is better. The sound isn't absolutely top-quality, but it's very good and for quality noise-cancelling headphones I think these represent good value. They should serve you well for years and I can recommend them warmly.