Soundcore House One assessment in a nutshell: incredible value-for-money headphones with adaptive noise cancellation, personalised sound, comfy ear cups and folding design.
Soundcore by Anker is a well-liked model, because of their skill to design audio merchandise – primarily headphones, earphones, and transportable audio system – that sound good however do not price the earth. Their newest product, the Soundcore House One, matches completely into this mould and presents a bunch of wonderful options for not some huge cash.
The brand new cans aren’t one of the best noise-cancelling headphones, however they’re a tremendous value-for-money various for related audio merchandise from big-ticket manufacturers similar to Sony, Bose and Beats. Positive, some corners have been minimize, however you continue to get quite a lot of headphones on your hard-earned money. Must you purchase one? Let’s discover out.
Soundcore House One assessment: worth and availability
The Soundcore House One headphones had been launched in August 2023 and are in the stores now at Soundcore UK and Soundcore US for a really helpful retail worth of £89.99/ $99.99, which is a superb worth—AU worth and availability TBC. The cans can be found in three colors: Jet Black, Latte Cream, and Sky Blue. I examined the Latte Cream colourway.
(Picture credit score: Matt Kollat/T3)
Soundcore House One assessment: specs
- Driver dimension: 40mm dynamic speaker
- Most Quantity: 93dB
- Sensitivity/SPL: 115dB @1KHz 1mW
- Speaker Impedance: 16h
- Harmonic Distortion: Enter 0.126V, 50Hz-8KHz ≦3%
- Frequency: 20-20KHz
- Sign to Noise Ratio (dB): 70dB, f=1kHz, Pin=1Pa (A-Weighted)
- Sensitivity: -35dB, f=1KHz, Pin=1Pa, 0dB=1V/Pa
- Codecs: AAC, SBC, LDAC
- Microphone: 3-MIC, AI-powered
- Ingress safety: N/A
- Lively noise cancellation: Adaptive Noise Cancelling (depth of noise cancelling: 40dB)
- Transparency mode: sure
- Battery life: 40 hours (ANC on), 55 hours (ANC off)
- Weight: 265g
- Connection: Bluetooth 5.3
- Different options:
(Picture credit score: Matt Kollat/T3)
Soundcore House One assessment: design and construct high quality
The Soundcore House One look good-looking within the photos, and I preferred the brand new colourways, which jogged my memory of the Beats Studio Professional with its earthy tones. Not like Soundcore’s cans are earthy; they’re making an attempt to look totally different, not only a cheaper, dumbed-down model of common manufacturers’ merchandise, an method many reasonably priced headphone producers adopted over time.
The House One look good however really feel barely much less premium within the hand. The scarf and the earcups are made from a mixture of PU leather-based and cushioning, that are smooth and cozy however not fairly as smooth as – you understand – premium over-ear cans. For the worth, although, they’re excellent and are available throughout as decent-quality headphones.
On an anecdotal stage, one in all my colleagues mistook the Soundcore House One for the Beats Studio Professional, partially as a result of Soundcore’s emblem seems to be much like Beats (from a distance), and the fabric of the headphones seems to be refined. Lengthy story brief, the Soundcore House One look the half.
Soundcore House One folded of their carry bag
(Picture credit score: Matt Kollat/T3)
They do not simply look cool but in addition match properly, because of the big ear cups and the 8° Floating-Axis Design. This permits the cups to maneuver independently and to a really excessive diploma, making certain they do not press on any components of your ears/cranium the unsuitable method. The smooth PU leather-based cowl of the scarf and the cups is reasonably comfy, too.
My solely concern is the longevity of the headphones, which I am unable to touch upon after simply a few weeks of use. To this point, the plastic joints that facilitate the folding mechanism of the Soundcore House One are nice, however I’m wondering what number of folds you will get out of them earlier than they snap.
The all-plastic building may not lend an air of indestructibility to the Soundcore House One, however it positive helps them really feel mild. At solely 265 grams, the House One headphones are what I might name market common by way of weight. They’re lighter than the bass-heavy Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 (332 grams) and the top-rated Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wi-fi (293 grams).
One cool characteristic (at this worth level) is put on detection, which, unusually, is not activated robotically. To activate it, it’s important to pair your House One with the Soundcore app, go into the settings, and arrange the characteristic. I discovered the method barely unusual, as I assumed put on detection was good to go straight out of the field. That stated, it isn’t arduous to arrange the perform as soon as you discover the choice within the app. I simply want it was highlighted a bit higher.
(Picture credit score: Matt Kollat/T3)
Soundcore House One assessment: audio efficiency
Soundcore places essentially the most emphasis on the energetic noise cancellation prowess of the House One, claiming that the cans supply twice as substantial noise discount because the Soundcore Life Q30 headphones. Mentioned ANC can also be adaptive, that means it robotically adjusts primarily based on the environmental sound ranges round you.
ANC is powerful sufficient, though it’s miles from one of the best in the marketplace. The very best noise-cancelling audio product title goes to the Apple AirPods Professional 2, carefully adopted by the Beats Studio Buds Plus. In fact, these are a lot smaller than the Soundcore House One headphones and have the benefit of sitting in your ear canal, which improves passive noise cancellation.
However again to the House One. Lively noise cancellation does an admirable job of lowering noise ranges. Nonetheless, in my expertise, it struggles with blocking out some sounds within the decrease register. As an alternative, it makes them sound muffled and distant however nonetheless audible. Growing the amount helps to drown out these sounds, however you will not be capable to utterly cancel them out.
(Picture credit score: Matt Kollat/T3)
On a extra constructive notice, the Soundcore House One headphones have one in all my favorite options, HearID, which tailors the sound to your listening to. That is particularly helpful for older customers who may not decide up sounds within the larger register as properly anymore. I activated this as quickly as I began utilizing the cans, and so they sounded fairly good consequently.
In fact, activating HearID can considerably alter the sound profile, however I doubt audiophiles would go for the House One anyway. For on a regular basis use, they sound greater than ok, albeit a bit bass-heavy, which isn’t all that shocking from a Soundcore product (they typically are). And though there isn’t any Dolby Audio or spatial sound, the sound emanating from the cans is full-bodied and well-balanced.
The headphones have a transparency mode and a characteristic referred to as Simple Chat, which resembles Apple AirPod Professional 2’s upcoming Adaptive Audio. You possibly can activate Simple Chat by protecting the left face plate or beginning to communicate (the latter is in beta mode). Simple Chat robotically reduces the amount and will increase mic sensitivity, so you’ll be able to chat with individuals with out stopping the music.
Admittedly, protecting the left face plate whereas speaking to individuals is clunky, however as soon as the algorithm is skilled to carry out the duty robotically, this might be a killer characteristic for sub-$100 headphones.
(Picture credit score: Matt Kollat/T3)
Soundcore House One assessment: verdict
It feels extraordinarily nitpicky to criticise the Soundcore House One. They are not essentially the most premium headphones, nor are they wonderful audiophile audio gear, however at this worth level, these smooth cans are an absolute steal. For $100/£90, you get respectable, bass-rich sound, comfy folding design, adaptive ANC and transparency modes, in addition to a set of extra options, similar to HearID.
I am unable to stress sufficient how good value-for-money the Soundcore House One are. You will not get something practically as succesful as these cans for this worth that are not simply low-cost knock-offs of huge manufacturers. Should you’re on a finances and do not need to compromise an excessive amount of on sound or consolation, you need to significantly take into account the Soundcore House One.
Soundcore House One assessment: additionally take into account
It is arduous to suggest another headphones on this worth bracket. If you cannot fairly spend as a lot because the Soundcore House One, you’ll be able to take into account the JBL Tune 660NC. Robust, wealthy audio with a heavy deal with the low-end is what you get from these headphones. They are not as bassy because the House One, however their punchy sound efficiency paired with a easy, good design, wonderful noise cancelling capabilities and hours upon hours of battery life make these among the greatest finances headphones you should buy. Learn Yasmine’s full JBL Tune 660NC assessment.
