Haylou S35 ANC

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Model: Haylou S35 ANC
Price: Approx. $39-49 AliExpress
Website: Haylou
Review Reference: RC095

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: Haylou
• Model: S35 ANC
• Driver: 40mm Driver
• Impedance: 32Ω±15%
• Frequency response: 20 Hz–40 kHz (wired)
• Sensitivity: -42±3 dB
• Chipset: BES 2500 HP
• Mic: 4 mics with ENC
• ANC: Up to 42dB Hybrid ANC
• Codecs: AAC, SBC
• Hi-Res Audio: Yes (Wired only)
• App Support: Yes
• Volume Control: Yes
• Multipoint Connectivity: Yes
• Headphone Weight: 293g
• Battery Capacity: 600mAh
• Quick Charge: Yes - 2 hours from 5min
• Total Charge Time: 2 -2.5 hours
• Playtime: Up to 40 hours (ANC+BT), up to 60 hours (BT only)
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.2
• Bluetooth Protocols: HFP 1.7 / A2DP 1.3 / AVRCP 1.5
• Water Resistance: Not listed

Includes:

1* Haylou S35 ANC A10 Hybrid ANC Headphone,
1* 3.55mm Audio Cable
1* Type C Charging Cable
1* User Manual (English, Russian, Chinese)

YouTube Review:



Introduction

Welcome to the @regancipher review of the latest over-ear 'WH-1000-a-like' hybrid ANC wired/wireless headphones, this time from Haylou.

Haylou have been on a 're-invention' journey of sorts, breaking away from their tradition of budget TWS and into new markets, including smart wearables and premium sports audio accessories, including the superb Purfree Bone Conduction headphones and Purfree Buds, which I reviewed here a little while ago. Before a new release, I'm never sure where Haylou are pitching their new products, but after seeing the price tag, there is no question the S35 are aimed at those on a strict budget. Retailing at around $43 at the time of the review (with the inevitable AliExpress coupons potentially taking the price down even further), Haylou have put some distance between themselves and the likes of OneOdio, 1More and Soundcore, undoubtedly offering huge appeal to those on a shoestring budget.

Despite the low cost, the S35 boast some impressive features, including up to 42dB hybrid Active Noise Cancellation, a 3.5mm jack permitting Hi-Res Audio through wired usage, Gaming Mode and AI environmental noise reduction. So with this in mind, I was very keen to see what the S35 could offer, in terms of both performance and value for money.

Unboxing



The unboxing experience here reflects the price - there is nothing fancy about the packaging compared to the Purfree series, and the bold branding and striking images and logos will be more familiar to those who have bought Haylou's range of smart wearables.

You're getting a first view of the headphone, which have a real Sony XM4 vibe going on, and there's a reminder that they support the Hi-Res Audio standard in wired mode, and offer hybrid ANC and, in Haylou's own words, incredible sound!



On the back Haylou have outlined each of the headline features of the S35 - up to 42dB hybrid ANC, 3.5mm jack for wired mode (and Hi-Res Audio), up to 60 hours battery life with ANC off, 40mm dynamic drivers, app support to customise sound and ANC, soft cushioned earpads and environmental noise cancellation to improve voice calls.

Haylou's previous earbuds did not have app support, so this is something developed to support the release and is definitely a welcome addition to the portfolio.



Usually I'd include a 'family photo' of all the accessories here, but Haylou unfortunately haven't included a carry case, and aside the manual and a phono & USB-C charge cable, there's not much more to show really. The instructions are a small folded monochrome affair, with the controls clearly outlined in English and Russian on one side, and Chinese on the other. Haylou have used some diagrams, mostly text here, and as I've said previously, if they want to penetrate new markets, this is probably one area that both they (and most other vendors) will need to brush up on to ensure widespread recognition - a glossier manual with more striking diagrams will reduce the need for so much text, and thus less requirement for a broad range of translation services.

Even so, the instructions are clear enough with no spelling or grammatical errors and certainly enough to get you on your way.

Design



The S35 are a familiar design that lends itself to other over-ear headphones of their ilk. There are a few similarities with the Sony XM4, with the arms away from which the cups swivel almost identical in shape. Haylou have put their own slant on this, with gold accents above the cut-off 'H' branding protecting the cavities for the mics.

The branding is very subtle - not in your face or obtrustive in any way whatsoever. The same cannot be said for the alternative colours though, and definitely in a good way! Like Sony, the S35 comes with blue/black and oat options, but Haylou have also released a violet/orange combo - whilst it sounds garish it actually looks pretty cool. 'Very Peri' as it is otherwise known was named as Pantone Color of The Year in 2022, representing 'courageous creativity', and whilst I almost bit the bullet and chose that model, as a bloke in his forties with teenage daughters, I left my courage and creativity behind and opted for the safe bet - blue/black had to do!

The constructions is almost exclusively plastic, and the headphones weigh in at 293g. This is one of the lighter sets I've tested, and it shows - if you pick up the headphones randomly and give them a little shake, they can feel a little....rattly. I wouldn't call them flimsy, but it would be fair to say that they 'feel' more budget than some of the $70+ sets I've put through their paces. Even compared with the OneOdio A10, despite only being a couple of grams lighter, the alloys used result in the A10 just feeling a shade heftier. I wouldn't call this a problem necessarily - it has it's benefits (they feel light on your head as well as in your hands), and it's something worth bearing in mind - the lack of carry case means you'll probably want to pick a generic one up, as they don't seem like they will endure too many bashes in the bottom of a rucksack.



Another quirk to the S35 design is the extra short headband. It comes in around an inch shorter than pretty much any other set I've tested, with the length of the padding also a little shorter. Certainly not a problem as far as I was concerned - I'm thinning on top, and despite this I certainly didn't notice any discomfort, but what it does mean is that if you have a slightly larger head and need to use the extensions at the edge of the band, you'll be inevitably putting more pressure on the thin metallic band on the inside that facilitates the extension, and that may also impact into the longevity, but comfort-wise it doesn't make any noticeable difference.

Unlike many headphone models, there is no branding on the top of the band, again adding to the subtlety of the design.



The shorter band had me fearing the worst about the clamping force, but I had no reason to be concerned - the S35 fit larger heads just fine, without the feeling of pain or even discomfort when used for a prolonged period of time.

They are tight enough that after a while you may want to release your ears back into the wild a little bit, especially if it is a hot day as the cups can get a little sweaty, but from a comfort perspective the S35 score well compared to some of the other models I've tried, whilst also giving a little more form to the design, tracking the shape of your head well.



The headphones also wear well with baseball caps and glasses, and in terms of the design, for me it looks really quite nice from the side - not too 'in your face' at all.



Comfort is augmented by the soft protein padding, which has sufficient give to feel good both on the top of your head and against your ears. When compressed, it is evident the material is identical to more expensive offerings - the thickness is around 20mm - identical to the OneOdio A10, Soundcore Q35 and Tronsmart Apollo Q10 - which is definitely a good thing.

The openings in the cup are a little larger than most headphones coming out of China, and this was a really pleasant surprise - it certainly adds to the comfort. The openings are approximately 46mm wide and 63mm in length - this is a little different to most headphones, which have more oval-shaped openings compared to the rounder openings on the S35. The result is that your ears will almost certainly have a little more room to sit comfortably inside the cups - compared to the OneOdio A10 (41x68mm), your ears don't feel like the inside of the padding is penning them in, so hats off to Haylou for bucking the trend and making this aspect much more forgiving as a result.



The headphones, like most others, have a twist range of just over 90 degrees. They tilt upwards and fold inside themselves for added portability.



A closer look at the materials and finishing on the hinges gives an indication where some corners were cut in order to keep the costs down. Haylou have used mostly plastic joints, and again this would suggest question marks over the longevity compared to those which use metal alloy, and the finishing on both hinges on my model suggested slightly iffy quality control. Even despite these inevitable compromises, the headphones don't feel flimsy or like they are going to break any time soon - but understand that with $50 headphones, you will have to accept that not everything is going to be finished like a $100 pair.



All of the grunt work in terms of the controls is done on the right cup. You've got a nice simplistic three button layout, with the ANC button located at the back, a volume control in the middle and the power button at the front. Because of the limited number of buttons, Haylou haven't added a texturized finish to the buttons, and there's no rocker on the volume. Here, I feel they have possible cut one corner too much - a rocker for the volume would have made far more sense - instead, it looks like a rocker, but you have to short press to turn the volume up, and long press to turn it down. It works OK, but timing it right is a bit of a pain. The power button is more like an MFB, acting as a play/pause when tapped, and double tapping skips tracks forward whilst triple tapping skips tracks back. ANC is toggled with the ANC button, and hailing voice assistant is through tapping the flat 'H' touch-control panel on the outer side of the cup three times, with gaming mode toggling after a double tap.

The touch control area can also be held down whilst talking/listening for a temporary transparency mode - an incredibly useful feature that shouldn't be understated, even if we have seen it before with competitors models.

Whilst the panel works really well, skipping through tracks with that single button is a bit counter-intuitive - Haylou have included all of the controls you'll need, it's just you might take a bit of learning to get used to them. Fortunately, the controls are mostly responsive, and you do get alternative musical notes depending on what you select.

Also on the right cup, you've got a 3.5mm jack and an LED indicator light. The light only seems to indicate in use when you turn the headphones on - white for on, red for off. This is naturally a good thing - nobody wants LED's coming on randomly! Next to the jack you've also got the USB charging socket - plug in and you will notice the LED turn red.

Audio & Sound Signature



The S35 boast the usual 40mm Dynamic Drivers and default to the AAC codec in 'Wireless', as well as using the full 20-40KHz spectrum in 'Wired' courtesy of their ability to deliver Hi-Res Audio. Sound on the S35 is pleasant, making them easy to listen to throughout a variety of music styles. The bass peaks at 50Hz before a steep decline to around 300Hz. It's a tuning that works quite well with a set like this - there's very moderate warmth and a nice punchiness on simple tracks, although it can get a shade congested when you introduce a little more complexity.

The point of emphasis on the S35 is the elevation around 500Hz onwards. The Harman-inspired response between 1 and 3k gives the impression of more detail, and contrasts well with the lower frequencies to give sufficient energy and prevent instruments sounding sharp or edgy. Due to the relatively balanced trebles though, again there's not much bite or finesse across the whole spectrum - if you like listening to music for long periods of time without any harshness or fatigue, the S35 excel in this department, but if you want your headphones to sound a bit more lively and more fun, you'll need to tweak the sound a little.

The soundstage is reasonably wide and it's straightforward to locate instruments most of the time. On 'Crazy' by Seal and 'Crucify' by Tori Amos, percussion and bass guitars and percussion and pianos respectively project with sufficient distance, and reasonable depth too. Resolution is OK - as you would expect at this price, it isn't earth shattering, but it's certainly good enough for the money.

You do have the ability to select alternative presets through the Haylou app. One of those presets is imaginatively titled 'Bass', and this gives the sound a very different feel feel, with the bass shelf lifted by around 5dB. This definitely changes the tone of the sound, but it feels a little too over-emphasised and detracts a little from the clarity of the midrange as a result, sounding a little bloated and heavy. The other presets - 'Rock', 'Soft' and 'Classical' are, as always seems to be the case with vendor apps, a little too pronounced and not really usable - unfortunately, there's no custom EQ currently, so you'll have to turn to Wavelet as an Android owner unfortunately.

The headphones can be used in 'Wired' and 'Wireless' mode. I found that with both modes, the volume is a little quiet even on maximum volume. It seems to be the norm that 'Wired' mode is slightly quieter - I found turning them up to between 75-80% was the norm, and sometimes even a little louder.

You can hear a binaural sample of the S35 ANC in the video below:



Call Quality

I tested the S35 both indoor and outdoor, and the dual mic array and environmental noise reduction combine pretty well to reduce some of the more common annoyances that infiltrate your calls, such as wind and traffic. I tested the S35 against a bunch of mixed performing earbuds, and they were of a comparable quality to the better performing ones - on a main road, only horns and speeding vehicles provided a real challenge to your voice, which comes through with good tone and fair clarity. It's certainly possible to conduct regular calls on your daily commute. In a coffee shop environment, your voice is elevated over the background, which it nullifies without eradicating altogether.

Due to the softness to the tone of your voice, you may need to speak up a little on indoor calls to be completely coherent, but this is the norm with over-ear headphones. You also can't use the voice mic on calls when you have the 3.5mm jack cable plugged in.

Overall, I was quite pleased with the performance - again, it's not market-leading, but is better than you would expect at the price.

Active Noise Cancellation

Active Noise Cancellation is of the hybrid variety - in other words, it makes use of both the feedforward and feedback mics to deliver the 42dB reductions boasted by Haylou. I tested ANC in a variety of scenarios attempting to replicate common use-cases, and they did pretty well both indoors and outdoors, particularly in dealing with the typical low-rumbling sounds such as engine noises and air conditioning units.

In the home office, they mute the sound of PC fans on full blast, and take the edge slightly off mechanical keyboard taps. In the coffee shop or busy office, with no music playing at all you can certainly still here the indistinct chatter going on around you, but taking the headphones off brings a blast of sound back into your ears to demonstrate the S35 do a decent job here too, muffling distant conversations fairly well. However, conversations happening close up will be audible and you'll probably still be able to make out most of the detail - the S35 perform well for their price point, but it's not Sony or Bose level noise cancellation as you would expect.

Outdoors, again the performance is above average - they do suffer a little with the sound of wind against the sides of the cans, but this is also normal outside of Sony and Bose. For general run-of-the-mill everyday sounds, the S35 cope well enough to render ANC a core feature of this product. However, you'll have to manually activate ANC when you switch them on, because rather annoyingly, the S35 default to 'Normal Mode' (i.e. ANC off) on initiation. Hopefully this is something Haylou can rectify with future firmware releases.

Transparency mode is quite accentuated compared to the more natural sounding OneOdio A10, with voices (including your own) sounding a little raspy. That said, you will be able to hear more of the conversation happening around you, with the lispy voices lifted sufficiently to enhance your awareness. One fantastic feature Haylou have included here is the ability to initiate temporary 'Transparency mode' by holding down the panel on the side of the headphone whilst you need it. I know we mentioned it briefly earlier, but it is worth discussing here too - an incredibly useful feature that also reduces the volume of whatever you have playing at the time, allowing you to hear yourself speak without fumbling for the pause button! I found myself defaulting to this very quickly, rather than fiddling around with the buttons, and whilst we've seen it before with Soundcore and Tronsmart making use of this feature native to the chipset, it's still a very handy 'me too'

Battery Life

Battery life on the S35 is very respectable. The headphones, like most of this ilk, are capable of up to 60 hours playtime from a single charge. I've been testing the S35 for a few weeks now and only now the battery percentage has dropped below 50%, which demonstrates good efficiency, despite using them for calls and call quality tests.

You can get around 40 hours with ANC on, and judging from my reverse-engineered calculations, this seems pretty accurate. Mostly, battery stats are presented with 50% volume in mind - I had to bump the volume up slightly higher, so perhaps we will see the battery life reduce as a result, but pro rata it seems to be on course to around about the 40 hour mark. You have always got the option of using them in 'Wired' mode thanks to the jack port on the cup, although bear in mind you are no longer able to use the mics for voice calls whilst the cable is plugged in.

It takes around two hours for a full charge of the S35, and the LED changes to red when the headphones are plugged in to let you know they are charging. There's unfortunately no quick charge feature - at least as far as I could tell - and this is one area perhaps Haylou could look to including with future releases.

The 60/40 hour figures match the numbers offered by the likes of Soundcore with their Q35, OneOdio with the A10 and 1More Sonoflow, and all of these models dwarf others such as the Edifier W820NB.

Connectivity & Other Features

The S35 use the BES 2500 series chipset - this is almost ubiquitously used in higher-end wireless headphones, so it is pleasing to see Haylou have retained it in a budget-friendly product. The chip is capable of Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, and other than one very brief 'jitter' where the transmission was attenuated ever-so-slightly, I've not experienced a single drop out over the few weeks I've been testing, even in built-up areas.

The 2500 chipset allows for support of AAC and SBC - there's no LDAC support sadly, but it's possible to meet the Hi-Res Standard (as we mentioned previously) by using the headphones in wired mode.

Multipoint connectivity is always a bonus. I was able to connect to two simultaneous devices without any issue, but functionality seems a little buggy. I followed the instructions - connect to the first device, enter pairing mode, connect to the second device. No issue so far. Then, I started to play Tidal on my phone (the first device) and couldn't hear anything. I disconnected the second device and the sound played immediately. Connected again to the second device as well, and the music on my phone continued to play. I then tried to play a YouTube video on my second device (Windows laptop) and nothing happened. I paused the music on the first device, and viola - the YouTube video started to play. However, after pausing the YouTube video and resuming Tidal on the first device - nothing, no audio. So it looks like either the implementation is a little buggy or there are some limitations - I'll continue to test with assorted devices, and update as I discover more.

The headphones also give the option of Gaming Mode. Other than a couple of games of Roblox to test them, I haven't tried any serious gaming, but it does reduce latency noticeably, which will certainly please casual gamers.

App Support

The S35 are supported by the 'Haylou Sound' app, which you can download via the Playstore/App Store. Whilst the app is quite basic and certainly embryonic (it only currently supports two models), it is certainly worth mentioning because I have no doubts that Haylou, like SoundPEATS and others before them, will update it and add further capabilities over time.

On installing, after skirting around a bunch of 'Privacy Policy' notifications and requests to allow certain permissions, you'll get a notification to turn on your device and pair normally first (there's no Fastpair feature). Once you've done that, the S35 will show in the centre of the main screen.



On the main 'Status' tab, you are able to rename the device, toggle ANC and see how much battery is remaining, but first, you'll likely be prompted to update the firmware. I went ahead and did this, and after less than 150 seconds, the firmware was updated to v1.0.8.3 - it didn't tell me what features or fixes had been resultant from this, and initially I got a 'connection failed' message. A manual reboot later and we were good to go.



As you'll see at the top, you have three tabs - Status, Sound and Settings. Sound allows you to select one of their five presets - Default, Bass, Rock, Soft and Classical. As always, I found the default to be the best option. You've also got an intriguing section called 'Sound Market', which I assume is going to be the mechanism for loading alternative presets, but with no sound effects currently available this is a little bit of a mystery.

Unfortunately, there is no custom EQ. Instead of using the Haylou app, I found myself reaching for Wavelet instead, and they respond to EQ this way pretty well, but perhaps Haylou can look to add this as the app develops over time.



Scroll across to 'Settings' and again, it's pretty basic in terms of functionality, but you do get the option to toggle 'Gaming Mode' here, manually initiate a firmware update, and finally, 'Find headset'.



This is a feature I never find especially useful on earbuds, but on headphones it is very handy. Tap into the section and you get a screen as shown above, whereby tapping the 'Play sound' button will cause a fairly loud 'drip' sound on the headphones - it was loud enough for me to hear it on first go in a fairly large room.

Otherwise, I think we can see that the app is quite basic, but a useful addition and it gives Haylou the time to develop the app and improve functionality going forward - just don't expect too much as things stand.

Summary

Haylou's first major entry into the headphones market is a successful one, with a very respectable set of headphones that do the basics very well at a super-competitive price. Given their competition - Soundcore Q30 and Edifier W820NB, which come in at approx. £55 and the OneOdio A10 & 1More Sonoflow which come in at even more - the S35 should appeal strongly to those on a strict budget, with no compromises over the fundamentals - sound, call quality, ANC and comfort are all as good if not better than expected at this price level.

As always, there are areas for improvement. The absence of quick charge is a shame as it's a feature I've found useful over the years, and having to manually switch on ANC every time I switch the buds on is an annoyance and hopefully something that will be resolved with a firmware patch. Likewise the slightly finnicky multipoint implementation, and the absence of a custom EQ within the nascent Haylou Sound app. A carry case would have been nice, but it's a compromise I'd almost certainly be willing to accept on a budget - and besides, Haylou have shown with their smartwatches that budget accessories to augment their releases is something they aren't too shy to try, so maybe they will offer Haylou branded cases in the future, giving users to choose whether they value it or not.

So overall, I can recommend the S35 as a really good option in the wide, wide world of 'over-ears', especially if you're constrained for how much you can spend, but you want a reliable, good-sounding set of headphones that ticks all the boxes and offers you excellent bang for buck.

Price Weighted Score: 86%
Raw Score: 82%

Previous Haylou Reviews:

Purfree Buds
Purfree BC01 Bone Conduction Headphones
W1
Moripods

About Haylou

The brand name Haylou is taken from the homonym of the English word "Hello". We believe that we can resonate with the sea through conch and listen to the voice of the ocean together, and we can also listen to the voice of users through Haylou and share the beauty of the voice together. Haylou is the messenger of sound and the medium through which we resonate with our users.

Haylou is a brand belonging to Dongguan Liesheng Electronic Technology. Dongguan Liesheng Electronic Technology, established in 2015, is a subsidiary of Dongguan Hele Electronics, having secured Series A funding from Xiaomi technology, becoming one of the earliest members of the Xiaomi Ecological Chain. Hele Electronics and Liesheng Electronic are the OEM for Xiaomi's Mi / Redmi Airdots, and their portfolio of products includes smart and sports wearables as well as a comprehensive range of audio products.

Haylou's product portfolio ranges from wireless audio, smart wearables, to IoT and other categories. And its business has covered more than 100 countries and regions, serving tens of millions of users around the world. We are committed to establishing a digital health ecology by integrating a "user-device-data" scenario via technological innovation. Embracing the values of "Empowering & Awakening", Haylou aims to inspire you to keep challenge, explore your potential and find a better self.