I am reviewing the Tecknet Headphones because I didn’t really believe they could be any better than what you get on a regular airplane ride in economy class (you can get these for less than $30 on Amazon at the time of writing this review!) but… given the amazingly affordable price they actually sound OK! This is not your audiophile set meant for critical music listening. So… do not expect a broad soundstage and amazing instrument separation. That’s just not what is there. What is there, however, is – I think – addressed to a casual, daily listener on the go. And… it’s NOT terrible 🙂 Personally, I hate using the “in this price range” phrase but in this case, it really matters. It is incredibly difficult to find any decent-sounding headphones for less than $30. Basically, they do not exist! Or… do they?
Let’s start with the good:
– noise cancellation on these actually works well. It’s not the best I ever experienced but let’s be honest: it does an ok job canceling basic noises in your surroundings. When you play music through these at a higher than the average volume they will cancel regular conversation in the room, tv noise, etc. Not COMPLETELY but it will be vastly reduced. You will still hear a dog barking in the same room (but then even Bose or Sony can’t completely cancel that out!)
– build quality is surprisingly good for the price this headphone is offered. The surfaces are nice to the touch. Padding is sufficient. They are lightweight compared to a lot of other headphones.
– BT pairing was as fast as you could expect from any current BT device! Once it was paired the device picked up my sound source every next time it was turned on with no issues.
– BT connection was pretty stable over several songs. I walked around an average size house and it never dropped. It did have some problems with one song later in the day but I am not sure if it was the headphones’ or my iPhone’s problem.
– they fold! great for easier transportation if you travel.
The neutral:
– buttons are very “clicky”. I have no opinion about that fact, either way, I think some people will actually like it but some may find it “cheap”… like if you ever drove a 2018-2020 Honda Civic the buttons on the steering wheel just feel horribly cheap. That’s what I mean. Personally the buttons on this headphone feel similar but not even as “cheap” as the ones on the Civic steering wheel. However, they do work well.
The bad:
– ear cups are relatively small. I am a 5ft11 male with an average size head and ears and these earcups fail to cover my entire ears. I am sure this affects the noise canceling (if the earcups were bigger the noise canceling would probably be more effective).
– the overall fit is questionable. Somehow the engineering of the shape of this headphone is not very well done. They just don’t lay flat against your ears on your head. It feels like there is a lot more pressure on the lower part of each headphone than there is on the upper part. Maybe after a while, they will “set in” but the first impression is: this could be much improved.
– no clear indication of which headphone is L and which is R. Why? Small detail but important. Should be there.
– not enough fitment adjusmtment IMHO. My head is not particularly big and I had to stretch the arms to max length for each headphone to barely reach the center of my ear on both sides.
I think everything depends on the expectations and when these are set right you will actually NOT be disappointed with this headphone. One nice surprise comes in the form of the built-in Equalizer. It has three settings: BASS, VOCAL, and POP. IMHO it works especially well in POP. So just press the EQ button three times, set it to POP, and listen in that mode. The sound AT THIS PRICE POINT is not the worst I ever heard. The bass enhancement does a decent job and there is enough in mids and treble to have an ok listening experience.