Now, are you tired of being broke but still want very good noise-cancellation headphones that sound good? Well, say hello to this – the Edifier WH950NB, your new best friend in the world of affordable and high-quality noise-cancellation headphones coming in at a price of only RM799 on Shopee.

But I know what you might be thinking – cheaper means crappier, right? Well, let’s find out!

 

Unboxing

So the unboxing process was very nice, very Edifier-like, with the visuals of the headphones in front.

Then you will need to slide the box cover and open the box from the front flap.

That immediately reveals the oval fabric case, with a nice copper Edifier logo in the middle and a hook/tab to easily hang the hard case.

Opening the case up, there is the headphones on one side, and the other side has a little pouch that has all the accessories, such as:

• A 3.5mm audio cable that terminates into an L jack on one end
• A USB-A to USB-C Cable for charging
• An airline adapter
• Then finally, the user manual

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Build quality

Now, let’s talk about the weight – or the lack of weight because these headphones are so light you’ll forget that you’re even wearing them. And the build quality? It’s like they took those overpriced headphones and put them in a very affordable package.

Then the outer area of the ear cups is made of solid plastic with a leather-like texture, then the ear cups are covered with a pleather material…

…and the metal band on top has memory foam cushioning. 

Overall, the headphones feel like it’s giving you a nice comfy big ol’ hug towards the top of the head, and the ear cups will make your ears feel like it is like sitting on a cloud.

However, if you are listening to the headphones in a warmer area like outdoors, you can experience a bit of warmth around your ears if you are putting the headphones on for a really long time.

Compared to headphones like Sony’s new WH-1000XM5 and Apple’s AirPods Max, this can be easily folded and fitted in the case, as you saw in the unboxing, and that for me, is a huge plus.

And while these headphones are sturdy and don’t creak when you twist them around.

I do have to warn you about this metal adjustment because you have to be mindful that it is thinner and on the sharper side, it’s not a huge deal, but it is worth being careful about.

Looking at the ports and buttons, on the left side, we have the microphone “vent” a la 1000XM style on the ear cups. Then there is a 3.5mm audio jack along with a small microphone slit at the bottom. 

Then on the right, we have the same microphone slit, and at the bottom will be your main controls like the volume up/down, play pause, and power button and there is a Multi-Functional button below that. 

Then there is a USB-C Charging port for charging, the LED indicator, and another microphone slit. 

 

Features

There are a couple of notable features in these headphones. First, it uses Bluetooth 5.3 and has Google Fast Pair. If you paired this with an Android phone, you would get a notification to connect to the headphones, which was super convenient indeed. 

Secondly, there is a Dual Device Connection where you can connect more than 1 device to the headphones at a time and switch between them seamlessly, BUT the caveat is that if you use this dual connection, you will need to turn off the LDAC on the app.

So you will need to make your choice accordingly. Better sound or convenience? And that leads me to the app itself as mentioned earlier, which is a big part of the experience with these headphones.

 

Edifier Connect App

In the app, there are few settings for ANC, which is a huge bonus for headphones within this price range. You can choose from high noise cancellation, low noise cancellation, and wind reduction, Then there is also the Ambient sound, or turn it off all together.

Speaking of the Ambient sound, you can select the level or the amount that you want, which is also super sweet. 

Personally, for me, I would choose the high noise cancellation when I am out and about, and the low noise cancellation level is when I’m in the studio or at home. The vacuum pressure effect pretty much goes unnoticed in low noise mode, but it still blocks quite a bit of ambient sound, which was fine by me.

But when you adjust it to the high noise cancellation, then yes, you will have a bit more of that vacuum effect, but it wasn’t bad or anything where it reduces the overall background sound to about 20-30%, by my estimate.

Now, if you are getting these, do not, I repeat, DO NOT put this in no noise cancellation mode or even the wired connection because you will have a noticeable drop in audio quality. 

Why? Well, my guess is that the ANC mode somehow gives better juice to the drivers, so maybe better sound quality compared to turning it off.

So yes, the overall ANC works quite well, but there are still some noticeable background voices compared to flagships from the likes of Sony and Apple as mentioned earlier. So overall, it is good but probably a step behind.

There are also 3 modes for the sound: which are Music mode, Game mode for lower latency, and Theatre mode, where the headphones try to simulate more of a surround sound experience. 

So the Music mode is where I am at about 100% of the time since I don’t really game too much on my phone using wireless headphones. 

Then the Theatre mode is something that gives you that simulated surround sound effect, which I am not a real big fan of, so that could be useful when you’re probably watching Netflix or Disney+.

Speaking of the app and the customization, you can also adjust the Multifunction Button for Single press and Double press under the Control Settings, which is indicated as the “M” button on the headphones as seen earlier.

Another feature worth mentioning is the Safe volume. If you are cautious of the amount of volume that you pump into your eardrums and you want to keep it safer for your ears, this is definitely a feature that you should turn on, as it will limit the sound to 85dB at maximum. 

Now, if you know me very well on this channel, or if you do not know me, I like to listen to everything very loud so I find this feature not so useful for me.

Now, a nifty little feature is that you can just pull your notifications drawer when you typically swipe from the top of your notifications and change the main settings mentioned just now in the Edifier tab, which is surely useful if you are someone who likes to switch between, say, gaming, listening to music, or watching movies, where you can select the different settings on there very quickly.

But of course, there are further customizations within the app as well, which makes the overall experience with the headphones more catered to how you want them to be listened to and of course, overall setting it up.

 

Sound Quality

So ultimately, how do I feel about how it sounds then? Well, IT SUCKS… if you are an idiot like me. Let me explain.

Everything in the sound department felt so loose and uninspiring that I thought I was listening to a 128kbps track back in 2007… (Thumbs up if you understood that old-school reference!)

Okay going back to why I called myself an idiot, so what happened was that the LDAC was not on when I first tried these on, because only then I realized I did not turn on LDAC when I go into my Bluetooth settings, so… *smack head*

And if you already have the app, you can actually tell if it’s streaming in LDAC by looking at the top left side, where the Hi-Res Audio Wireless logo is grayed out, which means that you are not in LDAC mode, and it will turn gold once it is on.

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Okay so now, with LDAC on, how does this actually sound? Two words – Vocals and bass. This seems to be the main focus of this headset, where the focus does give a very dense and warm sound signature that can be very inviting and intimate if you are looking for those kinds of sound quality in the headphones. 

The bass and treble were very prominently highlighted, but to me, the highs were just decent to me. If you are someone who likes a brighter sound signature, then these can feel quite boomy to you with the ever-present bass, which if you are familiar with headphones from Sony, is very similar to that, as opposed to maybe a Bose or the AirPods Max as a reference.

But yes, the bass is still very well-controlled, but it does feel a bit above a step in what I typically prefer in my bass listening. But again, you can always adjust it according to the preset settings. 

The vocals were exceptionally nice and clear, and the soundstage was also great as well, and it is very intimate sounding, where the focus is right at the middle of your ears.

And when I was watching movies or series on Netflix and Disney+ though, oh these are a beautiful match to that. Because there is just a sense of immersiveness that’s just hard to explain. Somehow, I feel that I’m more connected watching videos on this, and here is where I would feel that using the Theatre mode using the headphones would be the best to use. 

And with that, I never had that feeling of I really wanted to watch a Disney+ series like The Mandalorian or any other movies or series on Netflix until I got this on. 

Now for music, I listen to these mainly on the Classic mode, since the Dynamic tends to pull back the mids and vocals just a bit too much for my taste with the Noise Cancellation on High. Now, you can customize the sound more to your liking; but, it is quite advanced for an average music listener, so unless you are an audiophile nerd at level 99, only then will you appreciate using the 4 Band equalizer and the Q factor settings. 

 

Microphone

In terms of the microphone’s sound quality, it has a total of 4 microphones, and overall it did sound great during phone calls. Do check out my YouTube video for a quick audio mic test.

 

Battery

On the battery side of things, they are very excellent. I actually struggle trying to drain them off completely. I use the headphones about 8 hours a day, and they lasted for about 4 days, with a tiny bit of battery spared. This is with the ANC turned on the entire time. And without it, the Edifier claims that you can get up to 55 hours which I will take their word for. 

Then they also quick charge with 7 hours of playtime with only 10 minutes of charge. And I did drain these and got another 23% of battery life back in just 10 minutes, so I do believe their claims. And as for a full charge, it will take you an hour and a half.

 

Drawbacks

So, I’ve talked about how good these headphones are but how about the drawbacks then? Well, to be frank, there aren’t many, and even if there are, in my opinion, it’s probably me just nitpicking.

Firstly, while the memory foam is nice and plushy, it is still thin, and in the long term, it might thin even more. Hopefully, in long term, it won’t look like my buddy Lehud’s Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones where the wear and tear on that weren’t good at all. But then again, we are looking at a huge price difference in both right?

Then probably another nitpicking drawback is that if you are wearing the headphones outdoors under hot daylight, then you might feel a bit hot towards the top of the headbands, so keep that in mind. 

Then the final drawback is of course, it would be great if you could use LDAC AND Dual Device Connection turned on because, during my use, I avoided using the Dual Device Connection as I did not want to sacrifice the audio quality, so I went with that instead of having the dual connection.

 

Conclusion

So to sum this up, these are a very great pair of headphones that come at a very affordable price of RM799 in the official Edifier Shopee store.

The ANC works quite well, the battery life is superior, the sound quality is also really great, and it looks classy as heck with this matte black color. So yes, on a budget, I would give this a two thumbs up!