These headphones from Boltune are a pair of over-ear headphones that have built-in active noise cancelling and support Bluetooth 5.0.
Video Review
Design
The design of the headphones is practical and simple with a strong matte plastic construction with metal slide bars. The design isn’t flashy at all – and I quite like that, the headphones are entirely matte black throughout, so they won’t stand out when you’re wearing them. The design reminds me a little of the Bose QuietComfort headphones.
The headphone controls can all be found on the bottom of the right-hand side ear-cup. This does mean that there are a lot of buttons on one side of the headphones, so it can be a little tricky to press the correct button when you first get the headphones.
The right ear-cup has volume adjustment buttons which act as track skip buttons as well as the power button which doubles as a pause button. There’s also a switch for the active noise cancelling which has an LED indicator in it which will light up when ANC is on. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack if you want to use the headphones wired. Since there is so much on the right-hand side earcup, the left-hand side only has the microphone and micro-USB charging port.
I think there are advantages and disadvantages to having all of the buttons on one earcup as it means that you can use one hand to access all of the controls that you’d need for the headphones but it does mean that it may take a little longer to find the correct button.
The headphones are also extremely comfortable and lightweight, so they’re nice to wear for long periods of time. This is also thanks to the padding that is on the earcups and headband. The metal slide bars on the headband have numbers on them, so if you need to use them you can easily get them to the correct length. The earcups feature clear lettering to indicate which orientation you should wear the headphones; these markings can also be found on the earlap bracket.
These headphones also fold up so they can be small and portable when you aren’t wearing them and the earcups also swivel up to 90 degrees, which also helps with getting the right fit. I do wish that the earcups could be tilted more as they can only tilt a very small amount in comparison to my Audio Technica ATH-M50X headphones.
I really like the design, though, it’s simple, works well and the build quality feels solid.
Sound Quality
Headphones
The headphones provide a good listening experience. Much like the Mpow H5’s that I recently reviewed, the headphones have punchy bass and clear high frequencies – yet somehow the headphones sound a bit muddy in comparison to my M50X’s.
As a result of the powerful bass, kick drums thump and bass frequencies are prominent and can overwhelm some of the higher frequencies. High-end treble is also extremely clear and clean but the mids and lower treble sound muffled which gives the headphones a muddier sound overall, which does lessen the listening experience a little.
Sound isolation is pretty good thanks to the fit and earcups of the headphones, which manage to sit comfortably on my head and provide a relatively solid seal around my ears – paired with the active noise cancellation, it’s difficult to hear ambient noise when listening to music.
Microphone
The microphone on these headphones is surprisingly great, Boltune has done a great job at selecting a good microphone that works well for a range of use-cases. If you need to take a phone call, you’ll have no problem as the microphone is clear, picks up my voice well and sounds good.
Features and Accessories
The main feature of these headphones is their active noise cancelling, which manages to work quite well at cutting out low-pitched background noise such as hums and rumbles. The active noise cancelling works even without the headphones powered fully-on and ANC can be toggled with the switch found on the right earcup.
The headphones also come with a hard-shell carrying case which will allow you to safely store them in a bag when you’re travelling, I really like that a hard case has been included because it ensures that your headphones will be safe. The case also has a small pouch inside of it where you can store the charging and AUX cables.
Battery Life
The headphones support Bluetooth 5.0, which is more energy efficient than Bluetooth 4.2 which is found on many other headphones. This gives these Boltune headphones an advantage compared to the competition.
You can expect up to 30 hours of listening time with these headphones, which is great as you’ll get a full day listening experience without needing to charge the headphones.
You’ll also be able to quickly charge up these headphones in an hour or so to have them fully charged and if you need a couple of hours listening time, you’ll be able to get 2 hours listening time with only 5 minutes charging time.
The headphones charge with the included micro-USB charging cable although I would’ve liked to see the newer USB-C port instead of micro-USB.
Conclusion
So, to conclude. If you’re looking for a comfortable pair of Bluetooth headphones that sound good, offer more than a full-day battery life and active noise cancellation for around £50, these are a great choice.
Sunvalley, who provided these headphones for review, has provided me with a coupon, so you can save 30% by using the code ZT9N79FJ at checkout.
