1More dual driver BT ANC in-ear headphones

1More is slowly and steadily making its mark in India. It just never fails to impress. From great design, to great packaging, great pricing and last but not least absolutely great sound. They seem to have headphones for everyone, whatever your listening preferences, ear types, and budgets they have a headphone for you. 1More has launched a pair of headphones with active noise cancellation, the Dual Driver BT ANC In-Ear Headphones (yes 1More, you must do something about those names). As expected the headphone does not disappoint in any way.

As expected the build quality and materials used are top class, giving the headphones a nice look and premium feel. These are a neckband style headphone which may or may not suit people, but I found them superbly comfortable both on the neck and in the ears. They come with several ear tips so you are bound to find one that fits perfectly. I was able to wear these for several hours with no fatigue.

Controls and sound

The controls for the headphones are on the left portion of the neckband and very intuitive. A multi-function play/stop button provides you with the ability to start, stop, skip and answer or reject calls. A little slider for ambient noise control and two-levels of noise cancellation and finally an on/off switch which is also used to put the headphones in pairing mode.

The headphones sound great, a very balanced sound with good representation of all frequencies from the highs to the lows. Enough depth to enjoy a variety of music. My own tastes revolve around Jazz, Classic Rock, Hindustani and Western Classical and several voice casts. It delivers perfectly on all these counts. I was a little skeptical about the noise cancellation, for no matter what you do it will take away from the music, however the implementation of the noise cancellation is truly brilliant and while you can certainly make out the difference in the music it does not deteriorate to the extent of interference. It just remains subtle.

When it comes to noise-cancellation, the standards are set very high by so many other brands. I decided to try these on an aircraft and was very pleased with what I heard. Engine sound cut down to a mere gentle hum and once you add music you are fully immersed in the sound. In fact, I would happily replace my older pair of wired noise-cancelling headphones with these any day. In fact, if you ask me, that does seem to be the target audience for this headset. While it would keep an audiophile wanting for more despite the great sound, an average listener would be very pleased.

Some of the extras with this headset, a wired USB-C to 3.5mm cable included so that you can connect older devices or non-bluetooth devices and of course the included airline adapter. There is also the 1More app which can be downloaded for firmware upgrades and one of the few who actually provide a headphone burn-in.

Charging is thankfully also down via the same USB-C port reducing the number of cables you carry assuming you are on a modern phone.

Some things that seemed strange, the headset uses Bluetooth 4.2 rather than 5.x it seems to be a design decision for better and more stable connectivity. Though I am sure a future model will be Bluetooth 5.x Also the fact that it uses only a dual-driver instead of a triple or quad driver since they exist in the 1More arsenal. Again, this will surely be addressed with future models.

It is interesting to see that there is a triple driver wireless equivalent but without active noise-cancellation. These are bound to sound better and would be the choice of an audiophile. However, the dual driver with active noise-cancellation will be the choice of many more.

If you are in the market for a wireless headset with noise-cancellation, this would most certainly be a very good choice.