The market is flooded with wireless ANC headphones nowadays, from the likes of Sony, Bose and Sennheiser to name a few. Not only producing premium products but midrange and budget offerings as well to suit each individual buyers needs. The midrange market is often seen as the sweet spot for audio amateurs and enthusiasts alike. With buyers looking to find that premium performing product for a competitive price. Enter Edifier and the ES850NB. We’re big fans of Edifier here at Thumb Culture. Retailing at £149.99 let’s dive in and check out their latest wireless ANC headphones to see how they stack up against so much competition.
Battery life for days!
We’re big fans of Edifier here at Thumb Culture. Retailing at £149.99 let’s dive in and check out their latest wireless ANC headphones to see how they stack up against so much competition.
Design
The Edifier ES850NB are available in 4 different colours. Black, Brown, White or Pink. I was very kindly sent the Black option so my pictures will be showcasing this variant.
Upon unboxing we have the ES850NB headphones folded away neatly in their rather lovely travel case, a USB-C to USB-A cable for charging and audio along with the relevant instruction manuals. The texture of the headphones is predominantly smooth matte plastic. The back of the earcups have a slightly textured look and feel. The earpads and headband offer plenty of really soft faux leather. Combined with a weight of around 265g, this results in excellent comfort no matter how long your listening sessions are.
The design is very understated and does look really premium, although the plastic used is not what I would consider premium or even midrange. The headband creaked out of the box and hasn’t eased up after hours of use which is a little annoying. The adjustable clicky headband is also far too loose. Often closing itself after setting to your desired size with even minimal handling. So far, the Edifier ES850NB headphones have held up pretty well, but time will tell how long they really cope with regular daily abuse as the leather earpads do also feel like they’re a little thinner than equally priced offerings from brands like Sennheiser and Bose.
All the controls are situated on the underside of the right earcup. There is a charging / battery led indicator, along with a USB-C port, Bluetooth pairing button, which doubles as the Noise Cancellation / Ambient Sound button. Along with power, plus and minus buttons.
Control
Download the Edifier ConneX app on mobile or the Edifier TempoHub for PC to get the most out of your ES850NB headphones. Unfortunately, TempoHub is needed for firmware updates. You cannot update over Bluetooth using the ConneX app. This is honestly a massive drawback and could be a dealbreaker for people who don’t have access to a PC / Mac. Every other ANC headphone I have owned or tested can update wirelessly.
The apps are however, where you can further customise and control your ANC headphones. There are options for ANC modes, high, medium, wind reduction and ambient sound. Three sound modes are available. Music, game and spatial sound, with music being by far the best sounding mode for day to day use. The overall latency in any mode was good, partly thanks to Bluetooth 5.4. However, game mode does do exactly what it says. It offers an 80ms lower latency and the tuning is pretty effective for use when mobile gaming. There is barely any delay unless you’re going to be playing competitively.
Other available options include, Multipoint connection, Find my product and Power off scheduling.
Touch-to-Chat
Touch-to-Chat is here too and it is a great feature in higher end models such as the Sony XM6 where it works flawlessly. Here on the Edifier ES850NB though, there is a noticeable delay after touching the right earcup before ambient mode activates. Once releasing your hand from the earcup the music starts playing again instantly which is great. It just feels a little slow to activate, often meaning it would be easier to just lift an earcup off your ear to have a conversation. Although this could again be easier if the headphones had auto pause/play which they unfortunately don’t.
Outside of this, controlling the ES850NB is pretty straight forward once used to what each button does and where they are located.
Along with 3 preset sound effects, there is a 4 band EQ on the app, enabling you make a few tweaks to personalise the sound to your taste. Unfortunately, even though you can make adjustments to the gain, Q factor and frequency the EQ still feels fairly basic. There aren’t a huge number of bands to customise, meaning you can’t stray to far from that Edifier stock sound.
Connection
Edifier says that the ES850NB can manage an incredible 92 hours with ANC off and an equally impressive 53 hours with ANC off from a single charge of the battery. In my extensive real world testing I was able to impressively hit their stated figures. There really is battery life for days! If somehow you are caught short, there is fast-charging. A quick 15-minute charge will give you 11.5 hours of runtime. Charging is all done via the supplied USB-C cable.
The ES850NB have Bluetooth version 5.4. Supporting SBC, AAC and the hi-res LDAC codecs. This LDAC support really elevates these headphones. Using the headphones wired via the USB-C further elevates the sound which I’ll touch on later. There is unfortunately no 3.5mm input which is a bit of a shame as I feel there is still a demand for this option. Especially if you’re a frequent flyer.
Sound and Performance
The Edifier ES850NB feature 40mm titanium coated dynamic drivers. Out of the box there is that unmistakable Edifier sound. There is sparkle and clarity to the production which we have become accustomed to.
Treble is the star of the show, offering a crisp, sometimes bright sound which I personally like. Mids offer a very balanced yet slightly more intimate vocal experience. Low end has a pleasing amount of bass although this is definitely the more recessed of the frequencies, especially and lower volumes. To really get the most out of these headphones, the volume needs to cranked up to over 50%. The sub-bass really starts to kicks in at louder volumes bringing with it an overall warmth to the sound. At lower volumes there just feels like there is something missing and they can sound a little thin. At these louder volumes there is never any distortion which is great to see at this price point.
Overall though, the ES850NB are incredibly balanced. With no frequency ever offending. Soundstage isn’t the widest on the market but for closed back headphones it is solid. Yes, it doesn’t rival the likes of Sennheiser but at this price range I think most people will be more than happy. There really isn’t much to knock for the price.
I will say there is a vast improvement when paired with a good audio source and using LDAC over other codecs. There is far more detail and depth to the sound that makes listening for long periods a pleasure and therefore not fatiguing. As mentioned earlier USB-C audio is also an option. This as expected offers an even greater listening experience as it bypasses the obvious Bluetooth compression. There is a much fuller, more lush audio production when wired. A nice option to have if you’re not out and about.
Active Noise Cancellation
Edifier ANC has never been the best in class and when compared to equally priced offerings from the likes of Sony they still aren’t. These are very accomplished for the price though. Set to the highest setting, which I’d recommend at all times. The ES850NB handle low end and midrange frequencies really well. High end frequencies can struggle a little in loud environments like busy cafes, with some voices close up and clattering of crockery coming through. Anybody looking to spend around this amount on some ANC headphones though, will not be disappointed with the performance.
Microphone
Call and microphone quality on the Edifier ES850NB is more than acceptable. Calls made inside in quiet environments are clear, if a little on the tinny side, which is so often the case with internal microphones. Once outside, voice pickup is still good even in noisy windy environments. Although there is inevitably noise that filters through, the call quality is more than adequate.
Final Thoughts
So, what’s the verdict? Well, the Edifier ES850NB are a superb addition to the midrange headphone market. Offering excellent comfort, a truly balanced sound that is a pleasure to listen to. With hi-res codec support, solid ANC and ridiculously good battery life. My only slight negative would be with the build quality and if it holds up. If you’re in the market for some ANC headphones that get the basics right but don’t break the bank though, these might just be the ones for you.
The Edifier ES850NB earn the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
Disclaimer: A sample was received in order to write this review.
If you love all things tech and audio, feel free to check out some of our previous hardware reviews here.