Edifier W860NB ANC Wireless Headphones Review – Good ANC performance without breaking the bank

Active Noise Cancelling is a feature that is generally something you’d expect on premium headphones which tend to feature more expensive price tags. The Edifier W860NB ANC wireless headphones is meant to offer the premium ANC function and a quality listening experience without having to spend so much of your hard-earned cash.

Unboxing

The box that the Edifier W860NB comes packed in has a very premium look to it. You can see a very nice and polished picture of the headphones plastered on the front of the box with the Edifier logo and headphone model in reflective lettering. You can also see several highlighted features listed out.

At the back of the box, you will see more highlighted features and specifications of the W860NB listed in four different languages as well as another picture of the headphones themselves. On the sides, you can find more miscellaneous information and a highlight of the Edifier W860NB headphones’ various touch controls.

Upon opening the box, you will see the hard carrying case containing the headphones, a 3.5mm aux cable, a micro-USB cable and a splitter. Underneath the carrying case, you will see a small and clear ziplock bag containing the user manual.

Appearance

The Edifier W860NB has a very elegant look about it with an overall matte design that makes the headphones look more expensive than it actually is. The W860NB is made mostly out of plastic but it is built pretty sturdily with no unnecessary parts jiggling or rattling about. There is also faux leather material used on the soft padding of the earcups as well as around the headband.

The earcups themselves feature swivels at the base where they can be spun so that they can lay flat and hinges at the side. On the outside of the right earcup sits the touch panel, while at the bottom section of the earcup you can find the multi-function button as well as the ANC switch. On the left earcup, you can find a covered micro-USB port at the bottom together with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Another interesting design feature is that Edifier managed to print the letters “R” and “L” on the inside of the earcups instead of the normal small letters on most other headphones to indicate which one is the left or the right earcup.

Edifier W860NB Specifications

User Experience

Pairing

Pairing the Edifier W860NB was a fairly simple process with no major hurdles or hiccups. To pair the W860NB to your device, all you have to do is to hold down the multi-function button for about 5 seconds until the indicator light flashes red and blue. Once the headphones are connected, the indicator light will flash blue.

The headphones can also be connected to two devices simultaneously. To do that, you have to first pair with one device. After that, restart the headphones and enter pairing mode again by holding down the multi-function button and pair with the second device. Finally, connect the Edifier W860NB back with the first device and you can now use the headphones on two devices simultaneously. The Edifier W860NB can also be connected via NFC. Just tap your device on the NFC tag located on the left earcup and you’ll be automatically paired.

Alternatively, the Edifier W860NB headphones can be connected via a 3.5mm aux cable and plugging in the headphones will automatically disconnect the Bluetooth connection. ANC can still be used while being in a wired state although you won’t be able to use the touch panel. Since there are no in-line controls on the included 3.5mm aux cable, you will have to rely on your device to control your music.

Sound

The audio quality of the Edifier W860NB headphones is pretty bass-heavy overall though not enough to drown every other element of the music you are listening to. As with other ANC-capable headphones, there is a difference in audio quality when the feature is turned on versus when the feature is turned off. When the ANC feature is turned off, the bass is pretty prominent throughout a track with the mids and the lows becoming fuzzy and muddy. Perfect for those who like to listen to electronic or rock music where the bass is usually prevalent.

When the ANC is turned on, however, you can clearly hear that the lows have been significantly dialled back and at times get cut off altogether. Though this a common trait with many other ANC devices as low frequencies are where most ambient noises tend to sit. The mids and the highs are more pronounced in this mode which makes the whole general listening experience slightly better for me.

As for the Active Noise Cancelling function itself, it works pretty well as ambient sounds such as usual noises households tend to make were successfully filtered out. I took the W860NB out for a spin while I was doing grocery shopping at my nearby Tesco and it managed to filter out most of the outside crowd sounds. I could still hear the louder sounds such as bags or boxes being thrown on the floor but even then those were pretty well tamped down. For something with this price, the ANC performance is quite impressive.

Also. this is just me but I get a kick out of turning the ANC on whenever I am in an empty room. It makes me feel like I am stepping into a vacuum. Call quality of these headphones is also pretty good. Used them to call a friend during my grocery shopping trip to Tesco with no issues on either side of the call. Gaming on these headphones is also not recommended as I experienced severe latency, especially in fast games.

Comfort

The Edifier W860NB headphones are one of the most comfortable headphones I’ve had the pleasure of using. The earcup padding is extremely soft and dares I say, almost pillow-like on my giant ears. The clamping force is also good with little to no pressure experienced while wearing the headphones for long periods of time.

This is pretty important for me because not only do I have a big head but I tend to get headaches easily and most headphones tend to trigger those uncomfortable headaches. Although, due to the faux leather used on the earcups, the ears do get a little warm.

The touch controls are for the most part okay to use but it needs some getting used to particularly the volume up and volume down gestures. They’re actually pretty straightforward; swipe up from the middle to increase the volume and swipe down to lower the volume. The general issue is that you need to swipe your fingers just right for the touch gestures to successfully register which means there’ll a lot of frantic and frustrating swipes before you can get a successful one. This frustrates me to no end and I end just using my phone to change the volume.

Below is a complete list of all the touch gestures found on the Edifier W860NB.

For music

• Tap the middle of the touch control panel twice to play or pause your music.
• Swipe right to got to the next track and left to go back to the previous track.
• Swipe up to increase the volume and swipe down to lower the volume.

For calls

• Tap the touch panel twice to answer a call and tap twice again to end a call. You can also use the multi-function button to accept and end a call. Simply press to answer and press again to end.
• Tap and hold the touch panel to reject a call. The multi-function button can also be used to reject a call by pressing and holding the button for 2 seconds.

For Voice Assistant

• Double press the multi-function button to enable Voice Assistant.
• Double press the multi-function button again to disable Voice Assistant.

Battery Life

The Edifier W860NB is officially rated for 25 hours of continuous playback with Active Noise Cancelling turned on and 45 hours when turned off. During my use, the headphones managed to last slightly shorter than that as I generally use the headphones at higher volumes which do increase their power usage. When the power taps out it will take upwards of 3 hours for the headphones to fully charge.

A little disappointed that the Edifier W860NB still uses micro-USB though instead of Type-C. Yes, I understand these headphones came out a while ago but even then Type-C is already pretty commonplace.

One thing of note is that the ANC function will continue to drain the headphones’ battery even when the headphones have been turned off. Therefore, to preserve battery life I suggest flipping the ANC button off when you power down the Edifier W860NB headphones.

Conclusion

All in all, the Edifier W860NB are a pretty great pair of headphones with good audio quality and great Active Noise Cancelling functionality especially for the price Edifier is charging for these headphones. Though a little more bass-heavy than I would’ve liked them to be, they generally sound pretty satisfying. They’re also very comfortable to wear over long periods of time and the battery life on these things are quite impressive.

The headphones are not perfect by any means. The overall audio quality leans more towards heavier bass performance with muddy mids and lows especially with ANC turned off. The overall plastic build of the W860NB can feel a little cheap sometimes and its use of a micro-USB port is a little annoying especially when you’re already accustomed to an environment that is heavily reliant on Type-C connections.

Now, this is a huge nitpick on my part which is in no way indicative of the W860NB’s performance, but I wish that the carrying case it came with was a little smaller. The headphones can be folded anyway so a smaller case can make carrying around the headphones all that easier.

The Edifier W860NB ANC wireless headphones currently retail for RM539 on Shopee, which is a pretty great price for quality ANC wireless headphones like these. And with that, I bestow the Edifier W860NB ANC wireless headphones a solid Silver Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Edifier for providing us with the Edifier W860NB headphones for the purpose of this review.