The headphone and earbuds have been slowly been coming into the Techaeris headquarters, each waiting their turn to be fondled and reviewed by one of our staff. This time around the Phiaton BT 220 NC Wireless Active Noise Cancelling earbuds are getting the look over by yours truly. So keep on reading to see what I thought of the Phiaton BT 220 NC Wireless Active Noise Cancelling earbuds! Man that is a mouth full!
Specifications
- High Quality Dynamic Speakers Unit: 14.3 mm
- Frequency Range: 10 Hz ~ 27 kHz
- Impedance: 32 Ohm
- THD: Less than 1% at 1 kHz
- Sensitivity: 100 dB at 1 kHz
- Communication Network: Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX
- Operating Range: Within 10 m / 33 ft.
- Music Play Time: 16 hrs
- Standby Time: 500 hrs (NC off)
- NFC capable
- Multi-Point connection
Design/Quality
The Phiaton BT 220 NC’s are no slouch when it comes to design, they’re almost stealth like in their looks and that’s a good thing. Constructed from high quality materials they are definite lookers and something people will ask you about when they see them. I’ve said it before that earbuds tend to not fit me very well and in my last earbud review I had finally found a pair that did. The Phaiton design follows along those same lines and these earbuds fit nicely into my misshapen ears. The rubber tips are well made, they don’t feel like most other cheap earbud tips that easily tear or get loose very quickly. Battery life on these buds fell just beneath the advertised 16 hours of music play. I got about 14.5 hours before they needed charging. The quality overall is pretty amazing for a set of earbuds and the design falls inline with the quality. The packaging is high end, no blister pack here but instead a nicely presented set of earbuds in great packaging. Phiaton has done some nice things with design and the quality build of these earbuds.
Sound
So getting to what really matters, the sound. I like a variety of music so I tested these listening to Rock, Blues, Classical, Jazz, Voice, Rap and even some Country. I also watched movies on my iPad while connected to the BT 220 NCs. The results were always the same – crisp, clear sound. The bass on these things is actually quite good, better than most earbuds while the mids and highs are crisp and even. Even at high volumes the buds never cracked or felt like they were under too much stress. The killer feature of the BT 220 NCs though is the active noise cancelling, something I was skeptical about when I received them. The active noise cancelling on these guys is excellent. The feature works flawlessly nearly as good as over ear ANC headphones. The one thing you’ll have to keep in mind when looking at these headphones is the money clip sized control module.
The control has a clip on it designed to fit on your clothes and contains the controls as well as the noise cancelling hardware within it. It can be a bit inconvenient to have to clip the module on your person, but it does do an excellent job of noise cancellation. It’s not too heavy but it’s also not super light and might weigh down some lighter clothing. For me it was a minor inconvenience to have the great noise cancelling feature.
Price/Value
OK, let’s get to the second most important part of this review, the price. The Phiaton BT 220 NC earbuds are going to set you back around $160 on Amazon and slightly more on other outlets. That’s a pretty steep price for earbuds and you’ll have to make the final call on if they’re worth it. For my part I can say these earbuds have killer sound amplified by the awesome active noise cancelling they offer, that’s why the price is a bit higher than some other earbuds. The design is also killer and at the end of the day I’d say if you’re looking for quality noise cancelling earbuds and have some extra money, then the BT 220 NCs are a short list item for certain. It’s certainly understandable to do a double take over the price, but I think the value is there.
Wrap Up
The Phiaton BT 220 NCs are some wicked awesome earbuds and are on the higher priced end of the spectrum. The sound is top notch, and the design is also top notch killer. The addition of active noise cancelling sweetens the deal here and it works really well. Battery life isn’t stellar with an advertised 16 hours of music play, I got around 14.5 hours. Overall these buds are worth the price and I’d recommend they be on your short list.
[rwp-review id=”0″]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
