Jupit3r
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2015
- Posts
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- 217
Pros:
Bright and realistic sound.
Noise cancelling works well in blocking out all kinds of background noise.
Solid battery life.
Possible for both wired and wireless use.
Cons:
The volume is significantly lower while the noise cancelling is off.
The build quality is only average among headphones in this price range.
Active noise cancelling has always been considered a feature only for high-end headphones. But here come the Ausdom ANC7, which have a price tag of $129 on Amazon. Since many wiereless headphones released by this Shenzhen based manufacture offer quite compelling values, we’d like to take a closer look at these all new headphones.
Packaging and accessories
Many Chinese headphone brands seem to be obsessed with excessive packaging, hoping to win the customers over with their beautiful boxes and accessories. Ausdom takes a completely different approach. The Ausdom ANC7 comes with very simple packaging, inside the box you will find a very good-looking semi-hard carrying case with a zippered closure.
Inside the case you will find the headphones with their earpieces fold flat, a wire with 3.5mm straight plugs on its two ends, a Micro USB charging cable, a user manual and a warranty card.
Design and build
The Ausdom ANC7 has an overall design language identical to the Ausdom M05, the only difference you will instantly notice is the red color on the top band and ear cups.
Each ear cup has a carbon-fibre exterior finish which offers much more resistance to scratches than normal plastic seen on many other over the ear headphones. I didn’t find any marks after one month of using them.
The extendable arms are made of metal, offering both flexibility and strength to the frame. The headband and earmuffs are fabricated from artificial leather, which makes those headphones comfortable to wear for a long time.
A few physical controls and ports can be found on the ANC7, the left-hand ear cup has a noise cancelling switch and a Micro USB charging port, while the right-hand ear cup plays host to a multi-purpose button (power/Bluetooth connection/play/pause), a volume rocker and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The build quality of the Ausdom ANC7 doesn’t blow us away like the Ausdom M05 did two months ago. In fact it is only average among headphones in the same price range. These headphones are not fragile, but they don’t feel very solid, either. The using of red colors gives them a more interesting look than the M05, but the overall plastic feel still dominates. The portability of the ANC7 is also average, these headphones can be folded, but not in a shape shifting way which makes them much smaller than they are while we are using them. Thanks to the slim and solid carrying case, they are still easy to throw into a cross-shoulder bag or a backpack.
Fit and Isolation
These headphones are relatively comfortable to wear, thanks to the lightweight ear cups and soft cushions. These cups can completely cover your ears, and you probably won’t feel any unpleasant pressure even after hours of wearing them. When the noise cancelling switched off, the ANC7 can still passively filter out 80% of the background sound.
Pairing
Pairing the ANC7 is as easy as pairing any Bluetooth headphones and speakers. Holding the power button for a few seconds and the headphones will announce they are ready to pair, the LED will also flash in red and blue. Then you only need to turn on the Bluetooth on your smartphone, tablet or laptop, find the Ausdom ANC7 and tap to pair them up. Once you have established the first-time pair, next time you only have to turn on the headphones and they will be automatically connected to the devices they were paired up with.
The Bluetooth connection was stable without interferences from other devices most of the time, but there are a few occasions where these headphones seemed to stop delivering the sound for half a second and then back on while I was playing movies on my Microsoft Surface Pro 3 with the ANC7 connected. I have no similar issues connecting the ANC7 to my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G3 or Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, but I am sure my Surface Pro 3 doesn’t have a problem because it also have no such issue while connected to the Ausdom M05 or the Astrotec BX50.
Performance
Sources: iriver U100, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G3, LG G Pro 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Tracks:
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – White privilege (MP3@320kbps)
Emeli Sande – Heaven (APE)
Drake – Controlla (APE)
G Eazy – Me, Myself and I
Adele – River Lea (MP3@320kbps)
Alicia Keys – Girl on Fire (FLAC)
Shawn Mendez – Stitches (FLAC)
Nick Jonas – Chains (MP3@320kbps)
Demi Lovato – Cool for the Summer (APE)
Drake – Keep the Family Close (MP3@320kbps)
Beyonce – Pray You Catch me (MP3@320kbps)
Future & The Weeknd – Low Life (MP3@320kbps)
Comparisons:
Monster Inspiration (with active noise cancelling), Ausdom M05, 1more E1001 Triple Driver, Bose Freestyle
The sound profile of the Ausdom ANC7 is a little different from other Ausdom headphones. The bass can go extremely deep, but it never sounds boomy. Also, the ANC7’s bass is much brighter than most entry-level headphones, with a lot of details.
The midrange of the ANC7 follows form, in that it is quite ruler-flat, perhaps even to the point of sounding slightly dry and uninvolving. Also, due to the lack of warmth, is not very natural on vocals, especially female vocals and some acoustic instruments. This is not to say the ANC7's midrange is bad, but it will take a specific preference to appreciate.
The highs of the ANC7 are not as clean as my 1more E1001 triple driver headphones. At the very top of the treble, the sound starts to break up a little, and is a bit more fragile than my personal preference.
The ANC7's soundstage is a bit more open than that of most entry-level headphones, with a better sense of what is going on at the edges.
On the whole, the Ausdom ANC7 headphones are more "Hi-Fi" sounding than "musical" sounding. They can be spectacular, especially when watching a movie or listening to pop, hip-hop and R&B music, but they are not natural with acoustic music. To be honest, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the sound quality of the ANC7. As I was really blown away by the Ausdom M05, which were less than half the price of the ANC7, so I had high expectations for the ANC7, but they didn’t seem to live up to those expectations.
The active noise cancelling on the ANC7 was pretty effective at blocking out background noises, including human voices, someone can shout in your face and you will have no idea what it is about. I was always annoyed by the electrical whine in the background while listening to my Monster Inspiration with active noise cancelling on, but fortunately it is not the case with the ANC7. With that said, it does seem that the ANC7 lose a lot of volume while active noise cancelling is off.
Battery life
The battery life of the ANC7 was average among wireless headphones, lasting around 18 hours between charges. With noise cancelling turned on, the battery could be killed a little bit faster, but you could still get more than 15 hours on a full charge. Charging only took just over an hour using the stock micro USB cable.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to love about the Ausdom ANC7. They offer enjoyable and balanced sound, especially if your music choice is more towards pop than classical. Active noise cancelling is a welcome feature, and works extremely well in keeping out almost all the noises in the background. Also, they are very comfortable to wear, and can be used with a wire after running out of battery.
Priced at $129, the ANC7 are one of the cheapest pair of headphones to feature active noise cancelling, so the value it offers is pretty compelling for those who are interested in this feature but don’t want to spend $300 on a BOSE QC25. But compared to industry-leading high-end headphones such as the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless and Definitive Technology Symphony 1, the lack of overall build quality is still quite obvious. And they didn’t really wow me with their audio performance like the Ausdom M05 did when I tested them a few months ago as I was astonished by how much a pair of headphones priced under $50 could offer in terms of sound quality. The ANC7 are pretty nice headphones in almost every aspect, but I expect them to be nice at this price point.
