EFOSHM Noise-cancelling headphones

Rating: 4/5

Review: 
Good in many ways but lacking some features

I was sent these headphones without charge for review. They are comforatble and the active noise-cancelling works well, but I do have reservations about them.

The headphones are very well made and accessorized. They come in a nice 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 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.

To use noise-cancelling the headphones require two AAA batteries (not supplied). It is effective; even quite strong background whines and rumbles are completely silenced, while sudden noises and voices are audible but comfortably quiet. The volume control is a wheel design which works very well.

The sound quality is good without being spectacular. There is a very good bass kick, but without noise-cancelling I find it a bit muffled and bass-dominated. However, with noise-cancelling on it is far better. Trebles and middles are brighter and richer, while the bass remains strong. I test all audio products with a playlist which starts with 16th century choral music and ends with London Grammar's Hey Now (an excellent test of articulation and bass response); I don't find them great for classical music but rock and the like are very good with the noise-cancelling switched on.

At this price I do think it's disappointing that these have no Bluetooth and especially that there is no internal battery. Rechargeable batteries work fine (I've tried them) but an internal battery would be far better.

Given all this, I've ended up with a rating of 3.5 stars which I've rounded up to four because the headphones are solidly made and comfortable and the sound is definitely four star rather than three, but these come with a rather qualified recommendation.