Phiaton BT 100 NC - Review 2022

Combining wireless earphones with quality noise-canceling technology finally became a reality terminal twelvemonth when Bose released the pricey QuietControl 30. So when we come across that Phiaton's BT 100 NC earphones are not just wireless, noise canceling, and water resistant, but also $99.99—a third of the QC 30's toll—it's easy to exist skeptical. The audio experience is bright and clear, with some solid bass depth. Simply ultimately the earphones don't really excel at anything, and the noise cancellation is below boilerplate.

Pattern

Bachelor in blue, gray, or white models, 100 NC are neckband-manner earphones with a slightly peculiar expect. The eartips are designed to be tucked into the ends of the neckband when they're non in utilize, but this means both ends of the flexible, comfortable collar have odd-looking hollow spots when they are in use. With an IPX4 rating, the earphones are resistant to splashes. To add together even more than features to the checklist, they can be used in wired mode—a rarity for Bluetooth in-ears.

Phiaton BT 100 NC inline The top left panel of the collar houses a phone push for answering or catastrophe calls (this is likewise the power/pairing button), and the interior of the band houses the on/off switch for the noise-counterfoil circuitry, every bit well as a volume rocker, which works independently of the chief volume levels on your Bluetooth source device. The rocker also allows y'all to navigate through tracks and fast forwards/rewind, depending on how long y'all concord it in.

The outside of the left console is where you'll find a covered port for the micro USB charging cable, also as the congenital-in microphone. On the correct side, there's a play/pause push button up peak, and that's it. The collar itself can vibrate for alerts, just sometimes it vibrates for reasons that are unclear—when making a vocalisation recording, for example. The inline mic offers decent intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every word we recorded, but the audio sounded somewhat thin and tinny at times.

The included charging cable is generously long. The micro USB port is also where the included audio cable for wired listening connects—it's a USB-to-3.5mm cable that has no inline remote. Plugging it in kills the Bluetooth connection, so you won't be able to field calls in wired fashion. You tin can still utilise the noise-cancellation circuitry in wired mode, withal, which brings united states to a positive design signal—having the power to switch the noise cancellation on and off, rather than having the feature tethered to Bluetooth, means yous can save battery life when you don't need one or the other.

Phiaton rates battery life to exist around 7-12 hours—the wide range accounts for mix of bombardment-draining possibilities the earphones nowadays. Your results will vary with your book levels and your mix of dissonance canceling and wireless usage.

Other than the charging and audio cables, the earphones transport with four total pairs of variously sized silicone ear tips, and four cable cinches that fasten to the neckband to adapt cable slack.

Performance

First, let's tackle the dissonance counterfoil. It will lessen Ac hum and train or plane rumble, simply it as well adds a subtle high-pitch hiss (similar to tape hiss), which is typical for lower tier racket cancellation. It as well doesn't eliminate much in terms of nearby voices, while the Bose earphones significantly lessen speech around you. In general, the noise-cancellation circuitry isn't atrocious, merely it's non really that great, either, and performs nearly also as you might await for the price.

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the earphones deliver an beauteous thump and don't misconstrue, fifty-fifty at acme book levels. It's worth noting they don't get terribly loud compared with about earphones we exam—this isn't a bad thing. Peak levels on your telephone and the BT 100 NC will unleash plenty of volume, simply the earphones don't button things to the unwise listening levels that are now commonplace.

Beak Callahan's "Drover," a runway with less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the BT 100 NC'southward sound signature. On this track, the drums can sound unnaturally heavy on bass-forward earphones, simply that's not the case hither. The drums take a subtle thump to them, but goose egg you lot'd call thunderous. The sound is far more vivid than bass-forward, and Callahan's baritone vocals and the guitar strumming both receive generous doses of crisp treble edge.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop'southward attack receives plenty of high-mid presence, and we hear more of the vinyl crackle typically relegated to the background of the mix—this indicates some prominent sculpting in the loftier-mids and highs. The event is clear, crisp vocals and a brilliant overall audio signature, but the mix isn't devoid of bass. However, we hear far more than of the low and low-mid thump on the drum loop than nosotros do the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get some added low-mid richness, only it is very subtle. The result is that the lower annals instrumentation plays a supporting office to the far more prominent presence of the higher register brass, strings, and vocals.

Conclusions

Overall, the BT 100 NC'south sound signature can be described as bright and clear. If you're looking for a booming bass experience, this isn't information technology. And if y'all're looking for excellent racket cancellation, y'all'll need to spend more than coin. The Phiaton BT 100 NC are decent earphones with several notable features for their modest $100 price, but they excel at nigh none of them.

If you want tiptop-notch noise cancellation, the aforementioned Bose Serenity Control 30 is the way to get. Just we have been surprised by far-amend-than-average recent efforts like the Libratone Q Adapt Lightning—but that model isn't wireless and requires an Apple tree Lightning connectedness to piece of work. If it's just a solid Bluetooth audio yous're looking for, both the JBL Reverberate Mini BT and the very affordable Skullcandy Method Wireless evangelize stiff experiences, minus the racket cancellation.