Tsumbay TS-BH05 Wireless Headphone Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones

Despite my love of IEMs, I’ve always been enticed by the improved sound quality and comfort that cans supposedly offer. Therefore, when Paul from Thorfire & More reached out to me to see if I wanted to review his Tsumbay TS-BH05 Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones, I gladly accepted and was excited to see if the rumors about cans were true. Despite receiving these in exchange for my review, all opinions expressed are completely mine and I always write reviews as unbiasedly and honestly as I can.

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At the time of posting, the Tsumbay TS-BH05 can be found on Amazon for $59.99.

Packaging and Accessories:

The most impressive part of the packaging of the TS-BH05 is the box. The headphones come in a sleek-looking package with an enlarged picture of them on the front and specifications on the back. This piece of cardboard, as it turns out, is a cover; lifting it up reveals the box, which has nothing but the Tsumbay name in silver on the front. The lid, held with a magnetic connection, lifts from the bottom to reveal the headphones.



The headphones come folded in a plastic cutout. Usually, the plastic piece lifts to reveal the accessories; however, Tsumbay decided to put the scant accessories - an aux cable, a charging cable, and a user manual - in a small cardboard box between the plastic cutout for the headphones and the larger box. An airline adapter and carrying case are advertised but are nowhere to be found.



Build:

The build feels cheap, but I don’t mean that as an insult. The entire body is made of plastic; the only metal on these headphones is a small strip on the slider. This makes them incredibly light - under half a pound - and they are incredibly easy to carry or wear around your neck for long periods of time. The all-black design looks sleek, and the only visible branding on these is the Tsumbay logo written in red on the headband just above each ear pad. These headphones have a pleasantly customizable fit - the headband bends easily, the ear pads rotate telescopically, and the slider is very smooth.

All of the controls are on the housing under each ear pad. On the bottom of the right is the micro USB input; on the bottom of the left is the microphone, AUX input, power button, ANC button, and volume controls. I would have preferred if the buttons were more spaced out or if more were placed on the right housing - due to their close proximity and identical feel, it’s very easy to accidentally press the wrong button. You can pause by pressing the power button once and skip/go back by holding volume up/volume down; however, it takes just a slight bit too long of a press for each.

Fit/Isolation:

These headphones are pretty comfortable. They don’t press against my head too hard but apply enough pressure to form a decent seal, which gives them above average passive isolation. The ear pads are large enough to fit over my ears without having to constantly adjust and they stay in place on my head and don’t move when I’m in my apartment or walking around.

Because these are my first noise cancelling headphones, I don’t have a setup to test noise reduction but I do have YouTube and 10-hour long white noise tracks. When my computer is playing white noise at approximately half of the maximum volume, the ANC alone kills half of that noise and ANC plus music almost completely isolates me. The ANC works well on my daily commute - I can still hear conversations around me but the background noise of the bus is muted very well.

Battery Life/Connectivity:

The TS-BH05 is advertised as having a 300 mAh battery, which is on the low end for Bluetooth headphones with active noise cancelling; however, that battery supposedly lasts for 25+ hours of playback or 15 hours of playback plus ANC. I got about 17 hours of use from a full charge, using these for music, noise cancelling, and both at the same time. I can’t speak to the exact number you might get from using these for solely one purpose; however, since I use them for both noise cancelling and music, I thought that my results would be a more accurate indicator of battery than Tsumbay’s claims. Luckily, they agree, and these come with a seriously good battery life, especially for a 300 mAh battery.

Sound:

The TS-BH05 are much louder when plugged in than over Bluetooth - I have to crank my phone up to full Bluetooth volume to get the same level as half volume when I have the cable in.

These headphones have excellent bass - it’s smooth, rich, and sounds very natural. However, the rest of the sound is not on the same level. The mids lack sharpness and tend to bleed into the bass, which gives the impression that they’re recessed. The highs are very prominent as well, but are muffled and slightly distorted. These have an above average soundstage and, overall, I would say an above average presentation due to stronger mids than on most consumer headphones.

Like all ANC headphones, you have to sacrifice sound quality for noise cancellation; these have strong noise cancellation, so the distortion is also strong. That said, the ANC simply makes it sound like you’re listening to music in a vacuum, with weaker bass and more prominent highs, but without sacrificing clarity or detail.

The descriptions of the sound my experience listening to these headphones without ANC.

Bass:

I seriously can’t state enough how much I like this bass. It’s punchy and vibrant, and the mid-bass and sub-bass have excellent presence and extension. The sound is rich and deep without drowning out mids or becoming fatiguing and has more balance and detail than most bass-focused IEMs I own.


Mids:

I really wanted the mids to be as good as the bass. However, they’re a bit closer to my initial expectations. The mids, unlike most consumer headphones, don’t immediately recess in the presence of bass or treble, which gives these headphones pretty good balance. However, they’re a bit fuzzy and lack definition, which makes them bleed into the lower notes. The background lacks crispness and male vocals don’t stand out from the background, leading to a singular mid-range sound rather than a clear distinction between the two.

Treble:

These headphones are definitely focused on the lower range. The treble is slightly muddier than the mids and is also slightly distorted, though I can’t tell which caused which. The blending between vocals and background is worse in the treble, which further compounds the problem. That said, high notes don’t recess and I can clearly hear them alongside bass and mids, which makes a nice balanced background even if the individual parts don’t sound great on their own.

Soundstage:

These headphones have a surprisingly good soundstage. Rather than trying to make the sound concentrate on the left and right, the TS-BH05 present a full range of sound that I can hear in front of me, around me, above me, and even behind me on some songs. This width and depth keeps the music from bleeding into a single sound, which I greatly appreciate.

Comparisons:

This is the first pair of ANC Bluetooth headphones I’ve owned, so I don’t have anything to compare it against yet. I plan on filling this section in if I get the opportunity to review Bluetooth headphones - especially noise cancelling ones - in the future.

Final Thoughts:

These headphones are great for taking on a plane or car ride where you don’t have to worry about them getting banged up or scratched - they’re lightweight, made of mostly plastic, and are cheap for Bluetooth ANC headphones. Having a carrying case would have made these a better deal for me, especially because they’re not supposed to just be worn in the house, but I still think the $59.99 price tag makes these a great value. The sound won’t blow you away (the bass will but the rest won’t), but for the price and the ANC these are pretty darn good.