QCY HT03 Bluetooth 5.1 35dB ANC TWS
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Model: QCY HT03
Price: Approx. $35 from Aliexpress
Vendor Website: QCY
Review Reference: RC051
Manufacturer Specification:
1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
3 x Pair Silicone Tips
1 x User manual
Real Life Experience
Welcome to the Regancipher review of the latest TWS from QCY, their HT03. If you don't know QCY, please scroll to the bottom of the review and read 'Who Are QCY' before continuing. If you do, then you can skip that bit!
QCY's first ANC release, the HT01, were widely regarded as something of a success, offering decent ANC and good sound at a highly affordable price. Not only do the HT03 stretch the specifications further - they support Bluetooth 5.1, offer 5/6 hour single charge playtime, ambient mode and voice assistant, but they're cheaper too - they have been selling for anywhere between $30-50 in their first month of release. Given the only ANC TWS on Aliexpress close to this price is the MPOW X3 (over a year old, and not particularly good) I wasn't expecting too much from QCY here...but lately they've been showing they're becoming masters of finding the balance between 'good enough' and 'cheap enough', so judgement reserved, and testing begins......
The Unboxing - 7/10
Incremental improvements have typified QCY's approach to the TWS market in general, and the unboxing continues in the same vein. Gone are the days of spelling mistakes and tatty boxes - the new breed of QCY buds feature their new logo and consistent branding, in terms of their colour scheme, slogan and box layout. It makes receiving and navigating new QCY buds really easy these days and is most welcome. Still, there's nothing too fancy about the unboxing experience - it's 'no fuss', straightforward, and everything you need is inside. Most of the key features are included on the front and back - here it's Bluetooth 5.1, ANC and Transparency Mode.
Like the T12, which I reviewed here, the buds and case are enclosed in a plastic grey inlay, and underneath you have an unfolding quick guide, a sealed bag with two sets of spare, alternate sized tips and USB type-C charge cable. The tips that come with the HT03 are, like most earbuds, quite poor quality, so you'll likely be looking to change these over anyway.
The manual is straightforward enough, although I would prefer to see QCY use some larger graphics and text, mainly due to my failing eyesight. The QR code on the front takes you straight to the QCY app, which is remarkable to have in buds so inexpensive.
The Case - 8/10
Just like the T12, the case to the HT03 is clearly very well designed and engineered, making a mockery of the low price tag. However I feel it is the best case I've seen from QCY yet. Whilst it is hard to convey in the picture, it has a really nice sparkly crystalised-like design that immediately stands out from the conventional matte or gloss finishes you see on more generic cases. The UV polished coating is dubbed 'starry black' in QCY's promo material, and when you take the case outside, you see why.
The image above reveals the top of the case, where you can clearly see the 'glistening' to the design as well as the subtle QCY branding - their logo, screen printed on the lid. Whilst it may look like a scuff mark on top, I can assure you it is just the sunlight - it still looks brand new after a week of testing.
When you open the case, the design is quite similar to the Huawei FreeBuds 4 and Xiaomi Flipbuds Pro, and is a dead ringer for the Realme Buds Air 2 case. Like those cases, the buds slot in the top of the cockpit upright and back to back with the tips facing outwards. Between the buds there are LED's both on the inside and outside. The inside LED denotes charging status (red for charging, no light for not charging) and outside one tells you how much charge is left - when green, you have more than 50% charge, when red, less than 50%. It is initiated by pressing the small round button on the back of the case, adjacent to the hinge. I tried to get a picture but as with many black cases, it is impossible to show.
The USB socket is on the bottom, and the case provides an additional 4 charges, taking the overall charge to around 25 hours. This isn't bad by any means, but even with ANC we are seeing some cases providing more than this. There's unfortunately no quick charge feature - it takes two hours to charge the case and buds fully - and no wireless charging, but at this price, it isn't really surprising.
The case is really nicely proportioned. It measures less than 60mm at its longest, and is very slimline at 18mm depth. Weighing just 41g fully loaded - nearly half of the Huawei Freebuds Pro, it's a really nice size and shape for carrying out and about.
Ergonomics - 8/10, Build quality - 7/10
The HT03 are not unusual stem-based earbuds, with an angled-design that's takes the general shape from the Haylou W1, with an angled head more akin to the FIIL CC Pro, and relatively short-but-wide eartips atop a narrow, circular nozzle. The buds have a nice rounded finish to them, with a silver band around the base. On the inside, whilst difficult to see due to the colour, there are two holes - one a feedthrough mic to balance the surroundings with your voice, and the other a pressure relief hole. Again, difficult to show, but the base of the buds is beveled inwards so that the battery contacts don't touch your skin directly - and features like this are underrated and always good to see. Next to the battery connectors is the voice mic.
The touch controls are facilitated with a nicely designed, finger-nail shaped notch, which makes finding, and then pinching to initiate, easy and intuitive with minimal false touches. The oval nozzle I mentioned above is clearly visible here - for reference, it's a similar size to the FIIL T1 Pro and this is important to note, as it dictates which 3rd party eartips you may wish to use on them
There is another slit-sized gap at the top of the bud, and whereas this would normally be the gap for the ambient mic, QCY claim only 4 mics (but 8 gaps), so it could be another pressure relief hole - I haven't dismantled the buds (yet) so I can't say for sure.
The HT03 is designed more like a traditional APP-style bud with the head and stem clearly distinct from each other - a slight deviation from their T10/T11, which encapsulated the head into the stem. The stem length reflects the movement within the TWS market to aim for shorter, less obtrusive designs at just 30mm long - this is still shorter than the Haylou W1 and FIIL CC Pro, but not as short as the stubby Huawei Freebuds Pro and Tronsmart Onyx Apex.
At 4.87g per bud, they are certainly lightweight, and feel this way when in your ears - sometimes a little too lightweight. Yep, just like almost every other stem-based earbud on the market, finding the perfect balance between fit and form factor is still a problem.
It stands to reason that you don't want the buds to be too heavy because eventually gravity will cause them to fall out of your ears. If you go too light, then there's potentially not enough weight to keep them in your ears. Then you have the balancing act of the nozzle - do we go too thin and risk being too invasive, or thicken it up like the AirPods Pro, FreeBuds Pro or CC Pro? Well, none of them are right for everyone, but QCY have gone with the smaller diameter nozzle - the safe choice, and with good justification - the right tips with smaller nozzles can be a tried-and-tested hit. Sadly, as we know, the tips supplied with almost all TWS are trash, and the HT03 tips are no exception to the rule.
As you see above, they, like most buds of this type, with the stock tips, they fit perfectly fine in my right ear, but protrude a little from my left. That's my fault, for having wonky ears that are different sizes, but it does mean tip rolling is an arduous but essential process that I have to go through with every set of earbuds...the tip manufacturers all do pretty well out of me every month, and it's already been the same again this month. I'm going to tip roll with them this weekend, and hopefully we will find a happy medium - I usually do, eventually. At the time of writing I've settled on the large stock tips from the 1More Comfobuds Pro - they offer a bit more resistance than those that come with the HT03 and improve ANC immeasurably.
The build quality of the HT03 is good for the price - they feel good to the touch, and the design makes sense, but do bear in mind there is no WRX/IPX water resistance rating. QCY have not let me know yet whether this is simply a commercial decision not to certify (like the Huawei FreeBuds) or whether they generally shouldn't be worn outside, and whilst it is unlikely a pair of TWS will burn out with a spot of rain, I certainly wouldn't go swimming with them.
ANC - 8/10
ANC on the HT03 is the headline feature, and I was very surprised with how effective it is. With some earbuds they are very good at blocking low rumbles, but terrible with higher frequencies (SoundPEATS T2). Some are good at higher frequencies and not so good at low frequencies (Jabra 75t). The HT03 are good all-rounders that are as comfortable with higher frequencies as they are with lower ones. They perform better than the reported 35dB noise cancellation according to the dB meter app on the iPhone.
Once I got decent tips on the HT03 (I used the 1More Comfobuds Pro Large Tips) not only could I not hear traffic on the adjacent road, it also blotted out the higher frequency noise from a fan around 2m away (although not completely) and took a chunk of sound away from my blue switch Royal Kludge RK61 mechanical keyboard.
The HT03 has three ANC modes - in the app, they're listed as ANC, Outdoors and the Chinese word for ambient mode. Cycling through the modes can be done with the buds themselves, by pinching the right stem in the control area. Now here is one of the areas where the lack of polish comes through - the voice prompt for pass through sounds more like 'Pass Ruth' and that mode can come through a little crackly initially, but once it settles down it is absolutely fine. There is no amplification from your voice, which is good as that can sometimes sound offputting.
Given the cost I expected ANC to be far worse. With some of the early, low-cost ANC buds like the Edifier 330 and Mobvoi Ticpods ANC you could barely notice the difference, but QCY have done a good job here of providing 'good enough' ANC to satisfy the majority of applications.
Audio Quality - 7.5/10 (for the price), 6.5/10 (raw score)
I never expect a set of earbuds at this sort of price to have amazing sound, but QCY always like to rock the boat a bit. Not quite enough to tip it over, but a little. When you are used to hybrid driver buds such as the T11, moving back to single driver sometimes feels like a step back from an audio perspective. It's perhaps indicative of the earbud market starting to really pick up what they can do from the new wave of SoC's that we sometimes feel a little disappointed by sound quality that we would have celebrated 12-18 months ago.
With the HT03, the focus is clearly on the optimisation of ANC, but sound is good enough. The 10mm dynamic drivers are tuned to be punchy, with that 'consumer' signature that is frequently desired on Reddit, if not necessarily on Headfi, very evident.
On iPhone or Android, when you can get them to default to AAC, the sound is pretty good. On Windows 10, unfortunately they default to SBC, which doesn't offer the same quality of sound that AAC gives you on the HT03. They can feel a little thin unless you get a good seal, and the subbass rumble that is evident through IOS almost hits the point of distortion when listening on PC. Higher frequencies also feel a shade overblown - even raspy at times, and whilst this won't spoil the experience on streaming apps or mp3 through your phone, for FLAC or higher quality sources on PC, it is a bit more obvious.
Relatively simply numbers like 'Kiss And Make Up' by Saint Etienne see the bassline rumbling away whilst the shaken idiophones rattle around Sarah Cracknell's voice quite nicely. Tams also dance around the subbass nicely. It's a similar story with 'Just Give Me a Reason' by Pink, where the subbass and vocals are clean enough. When you get to more complex tracks, however, the lack of warmth can make tracks sound a little processed and thin, with less instrumental clarity than the T11. 'Demons' by Imagine Dragons exposes this, with slight distortion and congestion in the midrange frequencies as they recess around the thumping bass and waily vocals. As I said, this is much less obvious when you're using the AAC codec, but with SBC it's really evident, so I would steer more towards using these on your smartphones - if you're looking for buds to use with Windows, the HT03 are probably not those buds.
Sound on the HT03 is very fit dependent. If you can get the seal right, they sound good. If you can't, and a few times I lost seal on my left ear, then they can sound a bit washed out.
The headline feature of the HT03 is ANC at low cost, and like the Soundpeats T2, that's where they've really focused their attention. If you're a fan of more simplistic pop, house, R&B - the usual commercial stuff, the HT03 will be fine, but if you're looking for audiophile sound...well, stop being such a cheapskate!
Call Quality - Indoors - 7.5/10, Outdoors - 7.5/10
The earbuds feature a 4-mic array, with a voice mic on the bottom of the stem and a feedthrough mic on the inside. There is also a gap at the top of the stem, which I first thought was for calls, but now I'm not so sure.
Considering the form factor, I initially thought calls sounded a little distant, but noticed the mic was very quiet on Zoom. It turned out the ANC was fooling me into thinking I was shouting, so at least we know the ANC works
Once I elevated my voice up to 66-75% volume, it came through a bit clearer.
I tested both VC and Cell calls with simulated background noise through a fan and traffic. There is a little crackling but generally the ENC handles a small amount of ambient sound quite well. If the ambient level picks up to over 60dB-A then your voice starts to get a little lost, but retains naturalness. Overall it is a very good attempt for the price.
Summarily, the HT03 are fine for calls. They're not a major stand-out feature, but they're adequate and more than acceptable for the money.
They were part of my blanket YouTube mic test here:
Connectivity, Controls and other Interactive Features - 7/10
QCY often take a no-frills approach to their releases, limiting the number of needless features in favour of a lower price tag, and the HT03 are no exception to the unwritten rule.
They've offered some of the bare essentials - good ANC, good controls, voice assistant (by triple tapping the left earbud) and gaming mode (by holding the left earbud). Double touch plays and pauses calls, triple touch of the right bud skips forward, holding the right earbud when a call comes through ignores the call.
Impressively, you can map the controls of single touch in the app. I changed it to volume, and it worked perfectly fine both on Windows and IOS.
The app has improved quite a bit over time and the latest iteration shows the growing maturity. On IOS it has finally shaken off some of the delay in selecting certain things. You even get some presets in the equaliser section, although I always prefer Wavelet for this.
Connectivity was mostly good during the 4 day period where I conducted testing. I had a few little dropouts for a split second, but this has been consistently the case with buds recently, and was probably more to do with me adjusting whilst I was tip rolling. They support Bluetooth 5.1, with the AAC and SBC codecs - no Qualcomm codecs due to the chipset, and no hi res support either (unsurprising given the cost)
Battery Life - 7.5/10
Battery life is around about the same as most earbuds of this ilk. For the price, it was quite impressive to see them hitting over 4 hours during testing with music, calls and ANC on. Volume can be a little quiet so I found myself using them at around 75% volume, and this would have had an impact on the advertised 5 hours.
You can get roughly an extra hour from the buds with ANC off, and a total of 24 hours with the case (20 with ANC on). I did not put them through a full case testing, but will update over the course of the next few weeks when I do.
There is no quick charge feature, but to keep the cost down QCY have used a 380mAh capacity charge case, so you're looking at 2 hours for a full charge, buds and case included.
Final Comments
In my introduction, as with every QCY review, I stress that their approach is not to be the best, most feature-rich set of earbuds on the market, but instead to try to bring premium, high end features into low-cost, high value releases, and the HT03 have kept up that tradition by giving really solid ANC performance, decent battery life, good enough sound, volume control and a nice case for less than £30.
If you already have premium buds such as the Edifier NeoBuds Pro or 1More Comfobuds then it would not really make sense to add the HT03 to your collection, as they don't really offer anything those other brands don't already provide, but if you're here from HUKD, Reddit or Instagram, and are looking for decent ANC buds at the lowest price possible, there is a lot of merit to what the HT03 can bring you.
Ideal for:
Raw Score: 75%
QCY Review Inventory:
HT07 Arcbuds
HT05 Melobuds ANC
T20 Ailypods
T18
G1
T17
T16
T13
HT03
T12
T11
About QCY:
Whilst not quite a household name outside of China yet, QCY are well-renowned in the budget TWS space for developing extraordinarily low cost earbuds that, whilst perhaps lacking some of the bells and whistles of the more expensive brands, deliver to the segment of the market where 'good enough is good enough', with solid reliability and tremendous value for money.
Part of the Hele Electronics Group, as well as designing their own products, they also OEM product for other vendors (Aukey, for example rebrand the T5), with three of their major customers being brands you will certainly recognise and in the global top 10 of the TWS market in 2019. In 2020, market research indicated they were the 4th biggest TWS vendor worldwide - no mean feat.
Despite a close relationship with SoC manufactuer Zhuhai Jieli, QCY are not afraid to mix and match components to suit their target market. This often sees a number of releases in quick succession - their T17S are an example of this, released subsequent to the T17, and differentiating with the use of the Qualcomm QCC3040 SoC, to support customers who require the added lower latency enabled by the aptX codecs that the Qualcomm chips support. They did a similar thing with the very popular T5, T8 and T9 - nice to see a vendor using an easy to follow naming convention! The G1 use the newest Pixart chip in order to reduce latency - horses for courses!
The QCY mission seems to be bringing music to the masses at a very affordable price - they are unlikely to top the charts for sound quality or features any time soon, but I think that's how they prefer it - their bang for buck is often unparalleled, with customers knowing they are getting value from a brand they can trust.
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Model: QCY HT03
Price: Approx. $35 from Aliexpress
Vendor Website: QCY
Review Reference: RC051
Manufacturer Specification:
- Brand: QCY
- Model: HT03
- Driver: 10mm Dynamic Drivers
- Chipset: Not known
- Mic: 4
- ANC: Yes, up to 40dB
- Volume Control: Yes
- Codecs: AAC, SBC
- Earbud Weight: 4.87g
- Earbud Dimensions: 30mm stem length
- Gross Case & Buds Weight: 41.21g
- Case Dimensions: 57mm (width) x 53mm (height) x 19mm (depth)
- Case Charge Capacity: 380mAh
- Input: 5v 400mA
- Full Charge Time: 2 hours
- Quick Charge: No
- Wireless Charging: No
- Single Use Playtime: Up to 6 hours (ANC off), 5 hours (ANC on)
- Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 24 hours (ANC off), 27 hours (ANC on)
- App Support: Yes (Android only)
- Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.1
- Bluetooth Protocols: HSP/ HFP/ A2DP/ AVRCP
- Water Resistance: Not specified - they haven't achieved any certifications
1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
3 x Pair Silicone Tips
1 x User manual
Real Life Experience
Welcome to the Regancipher review of the latest TWS from QCY, their HT03. If you don't know QCY, please scroll to the bottom of the review and read 'Who Are QCY' before continuing. If you do, then you can skip that bit!
QCY's first ANC release, the HT01, were widely regarded as something of a success, offering decent ANC and good sound at a highly affordable price. Not only do the HT03 stretch the specifications further - they support Bluetooth 5.1, offer 5/6 hour single charge playtime, ambient mode and voice assistant, but they're cheaper too - they have been selling for anywhere between $30-50 in their first month of release. Given the only ANC TWS on Aliexpress close to this price is the MPOW X3 (over a year old, and not particularly good) I wasn't expecting too much from QCY here...but lately they've been showing they're becoming masters of finding the balance between 'good enough' and 'cheap enough', so judgement reserved, and testing begins......
The Unboxing - 7/10
Incremental improvements have typified QCY's approach to the TWS market in general, and the unboxing continues in the same vein. Gone are the days of spelling mistakes and tatty boxes - the new breed of QCY buds feature their new logo and consistent branding, in terms of their colour scheme, slogan and box layout. It makes receiving and navigating new QCY buds really easy these days and is most welcome. Still, there's nothing too fancy about the unboxing experience - it's 'no fuss', straightforward, and everything you need is inside. Most of the key features are included on the front and back - here it's Bluetooth 5.1, ANC and Transparency Mode.
Like the T12, which I reviewed here, the buds and case are enclosed in a plastic grey inlay, and underneath you have an unfolding quick guide, a sealed bag with two sets of spare, alternate sized tips and USB type-C charge cable. The tips that come with the HT03 are, like most earbuds, quite poor quality, so you'll likely be looking to change these over anyway.
The manual is straightforward enough, although I would prefer to see QCY use some larger graphics and text, mainly due to my failing eyesight. The QR code on the front takes you straight to the QCY app, which is remarkable to have in buds so inexpensive.
The Case - 8/10
Just like the T12, the case to the HT03 is clearly very well designed and engineered, making a mockery of the low price tag. However I feel it is the best case I've seen from QCY yet. Whilst it is hard to convey in the picture, it has a really nice sparkly crystalised-like design that immediately stands out from the conventional matte or gloss finishes you see on more generic cases. The UV polished coating is dubbed 'starry black' in QCY's promo material, and when you take the case outside, you see why.
The image above reveals the top of the case, where you can clearly see the 'glistening' to the design as well as the subtle QCY branding - their logo, screen printed on the lid. Whilst it may look like a scuff mark on top, I can assure you it is just the sunlight - it still looks brand new after a week of testing.
When you open the case, the design is quite similar to the Huawei FreeBuds 4 and Xiaomi Flipbuds Pro, and is a dead ringer for the Realme Buds Air 2 case. Like those cases, the buds slot in the top of the cockpit upright and back to back with the tips facing outwards. Between the buds there are LED's both on the inside and outside. The inside LED denotes charging status (red for charging, no light for not charging) and outside one tells you how much charge is left - when green, you have more than 50% charge, when red, less than 50%. It is initiated by pressing the small round button on the back of the case, adjacent to the hinge. I tried to get a picture but as with many black cases, it is impossible to show.
The USB socket is on the bottom, and the case provides an additional 4 charges, taking the overall charge to around 25 hours. This isn't bad by any means, but even with ANC we are seeing some cases providing more than this. There's unfortunately no quick charge feature - it takes two hours to charge the case and buds fully - and no wireless charging, but at this price, it isn't really surprising.
The case is really nicely proportioned. It measures less than 60mm at its longest, and is very slimline at 18mm depth. Weighing just 41g fully loaded - nearly half of the Huawei Freebuds Pro, it's a really nice size and shape for carrying out and about.
Ergonomics - 8/10, Build quality - 7/10
The HT03 are not unusual stem-based earbuds, with an angled-design that's takes the general shape from the Haylou W1, with an angled head more akin to the FIIL CC Pro, and relatively short-but-wide eartips atop a narrow, circular nozzle. The buds have a nice rounded finish to them, with a silver band around the base. On the inside, whilst difficult to see due to the colour, there are two holes - one a feedthrough mic to balance the surroundings with your voice, and the other a pressure relief hole. Again, difficult to show, but the base of the buds is beveled inwards so that the battery contacts don't touch your skin directly - and features like this are underrated and always good to see. Next to the battery connectors is the voice mic.
The touch controls are facilitated with a nicely designed, finger-nail shaped notch, which makes finding, and then pinching to initiate, easy and intuitive with minimal false touches. The oval nozzle I mentioned above is clearly visible here - for reference, it's a similar size to the FIIL T1 Pro and this is important to note, as it dictates which 3rd party eartips you may wish to use on them
There is another slit-sized gap at the top of the bud, and whereas this would normally be the gap for the ambient mic, QCY claim only 4 mics (but 8 gaps), so it could be another pressure relief hole - I haven't dismantled the buds (yet) so I can't say for sure.
The HT03 is designed more like a traditional APP-style bud with the head and stem clearly distinct from each other - a slight deviation from their T10/T11, which encapsulated the head into the stem. The stem length reflects the movement within the TWS market to aim for shorter, less obtrusive designs at just 30mm long - this is still shorter than the Haylou W1 and FIIL CC Pro, but not as short as the stubby Huawei Freebuds Pro and Tronsmart Onyx Apex.
At 4.87g per bud, they are certainly lightweight, and feel this way when in your ears - sometimes a little too lightweight. Yep, just like almost every other stem-based earbud on the market, finding the perfect balance between fit and form factor is still a problem.
It stands to reason that you don't want the buds to be too heavy because eventually gravity will cause them to fall out of your ears. If you go too light, then there's potentially not enough weight to keep them in your ears. Then you have the balancing act of the nozzle - do we go too thin and risk being too invasive, or thicken it up like the AirPods Pro, FreeBuds Pro or CC Pro? Well, none of them are right for everyone, but QCY have gone with the smaller diameter nozzle - the safe choice, and with good justification - the right tips with smaller nozzles can be a tried-and-tested hit. Sadly, as we know, the tips supplied with almost all TWS are trash, and the HT03 tips are no exception to the rule.
As you see above, they, like most buds of this type, with the stock tips, they fit perfectly fine in my right ear, but protrude a little from my left. That's my fault, for having wonky ears that are different sizes, but it does mean tip rolling is an arduous but essential process that I have to go through with every set of earbuds...the tip manufacturers all do pretty well out of me every month, and it's already been the same again this month. I'm going to tip roll with them this weekend, and hopefully we will find a happy medium - I usually do, eventually. At the time of writing I've settled on the large stock tips from the 1More Comfobuds Pro - they offer a bit more resistance than those that come with the HT03 and improve ANC immeasurably.
The build quality of the HT03 is good for the price - they feel good to the touch, and the design makes sense, but do bear in mind there is no WRX/IPX water resistance rating. QCY have not let me know yet whether this is simply a commercial decision not to certify (like the Huawei FreeBuds) or whether they generally shouldn't be worn outside, and whilst it is unlikely a pair of TWS will burn out with a spot of rain, I certainly wouldn't go swimming with them.
ANC - 8/10
ANC on the HT03 is the headline feature, and I was very surprised with how effective it is. With some earbuds they are very good at blocking low rumbles, but terrible with higher frequencies (SoundPEATS T2). Some are good at higher frequencies and not so good at low frequencies (Jabra 75t). The HT03 are good all-rounders that are as comfortable with higher frequencies as they are with lower ones. They perform better than the reported 35dB noise cancellation according to the dB meter app on the iPhone.
Once I got decent tips on the HT03 (I used the 1More Comfobuds Pro Large Tips) not only could I not hear traffic on the adjacent road, it also blotted out the higher frequency noise from a fan around 2m away (although not completely) and took a chunk of sound away from my blue switch Royal Kludge RK61 mechanical keyboard.
The HT03 has three ANC modes - in the app, they're listed as ANC, Outdoors and the Chinese word for ambient mode. Cycling through the modes can be done with the buds themselves, by pinching the right stem in the control area. Now here is one of the areas where the lack of polish comes through - the voice prompt for pass through sounds more like 'Pass Ruth' and that mode can come through a little crackly initially, but once it settles down it is absolutely fine. There is no amplification from your voice, which is good as that can sometimes sound offputting.
Given the cost I expected ANC to be far worse. With some of the early, low-cost ANC buds like the Edifier 330 and Mobvoi Ticpods ANC you could barely notice the difference, but QCY have done a good job here of providing 'good enough' ANC to satisfy the majority of applications.
Audio Quality - 7.5/10 (for the price), 6.5/10 (raw score)
I never expect a set of earbuds at this sort of price to have amazing sound, but QCY always like to rock the boat a bit. Not quite enough to tip it over, but a little. When you are used to hybrid driver buds such as the T11, moving back to single driver sometimes feels like a step back from an audio perspective. It's perhaps indicative of the earbud market starting to really pick up what they can do from the new wave of SoC's that we sometimes feel a little disappointed by sound quality that we would have celebrated 12-18 months ago.
With the HT03, the focus is clearly on the optimisation of ANC, but sound is good enough. The 10mm dynamic drivers are tuned to be punchy, with that 'consumer' signature that is frequently desired on Reddit, if not necessarily on Headfi, very evident.
On iPhone or Android, when you can get them to default to AAC, the sound is pretty good. On Windows 10, unfortunately they default to SBC, which doesn't offer the same quality of sound that AAC gives you on the HT03. They can feel a little thin unless you get a good seal, and the subbass rumble that is evident through IOS almost hits the point of distortion when listening on PC. Higher frequencies also feel a shade overblown - even raspy at times, and whilst this won't spoil the experience on streaming apps or mp3 through your phone, for FLAC or higher quality sources on PC, it is a bit more obvious.
Relatively simply numbers like 'Kiss And Make Up' by Saint Etienne see the bassline rumbling away whilst the shaken idiophones rattle around Sarah Cracknell's voice quite nicely. Tams also dance around the subbass nicely. It's a similar story with 'Just Give Me a Reason' by Pink, where the subbass and vocals are clean enough. When you get to more complex tracks, however, the lack of warmth can make tracks sound a little processed and thin, with less instrumental clarity than the T11. 'Demons' by Imagine Dragons exposes this, with slight distortion and congestion in the midrange frequencies as they recess around the thumping bass and waily vocals. As I said, this is much less obvious when you're using the AAC codec, but with SBC it's really evident, so I would steer more towards using these on your smartphones - if you're looking for buds to use with Windows, the HT03 are probably not those buds.
Sound on the HT03 is very fit dependent. If you can get the seal right, they sound good. If you can't, and a few times I lost seal on my left ear, then they can sound a bit washed out.
The headline feature of the HT03 is ANC at low cost, and like the Soundpeats T2, that's where they've really focused their attention. If you're a fan of more simplistic pop, house, R&B - the usual commercial stuff, the HT03 will be fine, but if you're looking for audiophile sound...well, stop being such a cheapskate!
Call Quality - Indoors - 7.5/10, Outdoors - 7.5/10
The earbuds feature a 4-mic array, with a voice mic on the bottom of the stem and a feedthrough mic on the inside. There is also a gap at the top of the stem, which I first thought was for calls, but now I'm not so sure.
Considering the form factor, I initially thought calls sounded a little distant, but noticed the mic was very quiet on Zoom. It turned out the ANC was fooling me into thinking I was shouting, so at least we know the ANC works
Once I elevated my voice up to 66-75% volume, it came through a bit clearer.I tested both VC and Cell calls with simulated background noise through a fan and traffic. There is a little crackling but generally the ENC handles a small amount of ambient sound quite well. If the ambient level picks up to over 60dB-A then your voice starts to get a little lost, but retains naturalness. Overall it is a very good attempt for the price.
Summarily, the HT03 are fine for calls. They're not a major stand-out feature, but they're adequate and more than acceptable for the money.
They were part of my blanket YouTube mic test here:
Connectivity, Controls and other Interactive Features - 7/10
QCY often take a no-frills approach to their releases, limiting the number of needless features in favour of a lower price tag, and the HT03 are no exception to the unwritten rule.
They've offered some of the bare essentials - good ANC, good controls, voice assistant (by triple tapping the left earbud) and gaming mode (by holding the left earbud). Double touch plays and pauses calls, triple touch of the right bud skips forward, holding the right earbud when a call comes through ignores the call.
Impressively, you can map the controls of single touch in the app. I changed it to volume, and it worked perfectly fine both on Windows and IOS.
The app has improved quite a bit over time and the latest iteration shows the growing maturity. On IOS it has finally shaken off some of the delay in selecting certain things. You even get some presets in the equaliser section, although I always prefer Wavelet for this.
Connectivity was mostly good during the 4 day period where I conducted testing. I had a few little dropouts for a split second, but this has been consistently the case with buds recently, and was probably more to do with me adjusting whilst I was tip rolling. They support Bluetooth 5.1, with the AAC and SBC codecs - no Qualcomm codecs due to the chipset, and no hi res support either (unsurprising given the cost)
Battery Life - 7.5/10
Battery life is around about the same as most earbuds of this ilk. For the price, it was quite impressive to see them hitting over 4 hours during testing with music, calls and ANC on. Volume can be a little quiet so I found myself using them at around 75% volume, and this would have had an impact on the advertised 5 hours.
You can get roughly an extra hour from the buds with ANC off, and a total of 24 hours with the case (20 with ANC on). I did not put them through a full case testing, but will update over the course of the next few weeks when I do.
There is no quick charge feature, but to keep the cost down QCY have used a 380mAh capacity charge case, so you're looking at 2 hours for a full charge, buds and case included.
Final Comments
In my introduction, as with every QCY review, I stress that their approach is not to be the best, most feature-rich set of earbuds on the market, but instead to try to bring premium, high end features into low-cost, high value releases, and the HT03 have kept up that tradition by giving really solid ANC performance, decent battery life, good enough sound, volume control and a nice case for less than £30.
If you already have premium buds such as the Edifier NeoBuds Pro or 1More Comfobuds then it would not really make sense to add the HT03 to your collection, as they don't really offer anything those other brands don't already provide, but if you're here from HUKD, Reddit or Instagram, and are looking for decent ANC buds at the lowest price possible, there is a lot of merit to what the HT03 can bring you.
Ideal for:
- Those on a low budget
- Those who value good ANC over other features
- Smartphone users
- Those who favour v-shaped sound signatures
- Those that already have Premium buds
- Those that require high WRX ratings
- Pure audiophiles
Raw Score: 75%
QCY Review Inventory:
HT07 Arcbuds
HT05 Melobuds ANC
T20 Ailypods
T18
G1
T17
T16
T13
HT03
T12
T11
About QCY:
Whilst not quite a household name outside of China yet, QCY are well-renowned in the budget TWS space for developing extraordinarily low cost earbuds that, whilst perhaps lacking some of the bells and whistles of the more expensive brands, deliver to the segment of the market where 'good enough is good enough', with solid reliability and tremendous value for money.
Part of the Hele Electronics Group, as well as designing their own products, they also OEM product for other vendors (Aukey, for example rebrand the T5), with three of their major customers being brands you will certainly recognise and in the global top 10 of the TWS market in 2019. In 2020, market research indicated they were the 4th biggest TWS vendor worldwide - no mean feat.
Despite a close relationship with SoC manufactuer Zhuhai Jieli, QCY are not afraid to mix and match components to suit their target market. This often sees a number of releases in quick succession - their T17S are an example of this, released subsequent to the T17, and differentiating with the use of the Qualcomm QCC3040 SoC, to support customers who require the added lower latency enabled by the aptX codecs that the Qualcomm chips support. They did a similar thing with the very popular T5, T8 and T9 - nice to see a vendor using an easy to follow naming convention! The G1 use the newest Pixart chip in order to reduce latency - horses for courses!
The QCY mission seems to be bringing music to the masses at a very affordable price - they are unlikely to top the charts for sound quality or features any time soon, but I think that's how they prefer it - their bang for buck is often unparalleled, with customers knowing they are getting value from a brand they can trust.
