HAYLOU S35 ANC – At less than €40 they are the best HEADPHONES equipped with ANC and infinite autonomy
Isolating yourself from the various daily contexts is often essential to find calm and serenity in which to face the day, but trivially we don't want distractions while we are intent on listening to our favorite musical artist or TV series. ANC technology was also born for this purpose and finding it on cheap devices is now quite simple but very often the result obtained from cheap headphones does not live up to expectations. But as we know there is always the exception to the rule and the Haylou S35 over ear headphones are proof of this, promising ambitious performance thanks to a noise reduction of up to -42 dB and autonomy that goes up to 60 continuous hours. I don't want to spoil anything else and therefore I invite you to spend 5/10 minutes reading this review, after which you will be ready to treat yourself to the best low-cost ANC headphones on the market.
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unboxing
To reduce the final costs of the product, the company had to make careful choices, excluding the superficial from the sales package. In fact, in the box, made of hardcover (probably recycled), we only find the headphones, the instruction manual (English, Russian and Chinese), Type-C charging cable and 3,5 mm jack/jack cable. Absent therefore a rigid or bag-type case, which would have preserved the headphones during transport in backpacks or bags. Overall, however, I don't find this shortcoming so serious, considering the price at which the Haylou S35 ANC are offered.
DESIGN AND MATERIALS
Haylou's proposal is expressed through three colors, namely: Dark Blue, Off White and Velvet Orange. Apart from the latter color, the headphones are minimal and elegant but above all they enjoy excellent construction quality and the materials used, although they are mostly polycarbonate. In fact, a metal slider is inserted inside the upper arch which allows the headphones to be lengthened to adapt to the different dimensions of the end user's head, thanks also to good flexibility, while both the supra ural pavilions and the upper arch , are covered with a padded imitation leather of soft material, contributing to the excellent comfort that the Haylou S35 ANC offer, even after several hours of use without creating discomfort or redness in the area in contact with the pads.
Of good general appearance, the matte finish of the plastics contributes to that premium feeling at a glance, as dirt and fingerprints do not seem to take root on the Haylou S35 ANC and the absence of logos, or rather not flashy logos, is also appreciable , as the company limited itself to inserting a sort of screen printing on the drivers, bearing the letter H, the initial of the brand. Returning for a moment to the bearings, these can be disassembled for greater maintenance and cleaning, but tomorrow they can be replaced if they are too damaged. We can then recognize the wearability direction, as inside the retina that separates the ear from the driver, we find the letters L and R, but in any case they should fade over time, just remember that all the commands are arranged on the driver right.
In this regard we find the ANC button, which allows you to switch between the Transparency function, off mode and precisely the ANC. Then we find the volume control button (one click to increase, long press to decrease) and then the multifunction button that allows the device to be switched on and off, pairing but also the forward or backward skip of the music / video tracks. Finally, there is also a small status LED, the USB Type-C input for charging and the 3,5 mm jack input to take advantage of the headphones in wired mode, without exploiting precious mAh but above all effectively eliminating any type of latency , naturally losing the smart features of the headphones. We can then glimpse the two microphones with ENC function, being able to manage calls with the Haylou S35 ANC.
I did not say that the Asian brand's proposal can be closed on itself for greater compactness during transport. The wearability is excellent and the stability in use is perfect, without however feeling pressure or discomfort, even during training sessions. A particular IPXX certification is not mentioned, but in my tests the Haylou S35 ANC resisted sweat and small splashes of water, although in sporting contexts I recommend the use of TWS headphones. Complete by saying that the right pavilion has a touch-sensitive area, being able to enable game mode (double tap), call up the phone's voice assistant (triple tap) or obtain a "fourth" audio mode. In fact, by holding down the touch surface with two fingers, a transparency mode is enabled, which accentuates the noise of the environment we are in and lowers the volume of the multimedia content all of a sudden. A real convenience for many situations, perhaps while you are listening to good metal and your wife interrupts you by telling you what you want for dinner…
HARDWARE AND CONNECTION
The Haylou S35 ANC use 40 mm dynamic drivers and as already mentioned, the design is of the over ear type, i.e. the pavilions will completely cover your ears, giving good basic isolation. The manufacturer claims the impedance to be 32 ohms +/- 15%, similar to headphones of the same genre but higher in price. As for the Bluetooth version, we rely on a 5.2 module that supports a wide variety of codecs including AAC and SBC, with a range of over 10 meters.
Therefore, the aptX codec, typical of headphones with Qualcomm chips, is not present, but I can safely say that the performance of these headphones is amazing. However, we have the Bluetooth Multipoint protocol available, a real rarity even on more expensive brands, but above all it works very well. In practice we can associate the headphones to two devices at the same time, for example to a PC for watching movies and to the smartphone to answer any incoming calls. You must first associate the Haylou S35 ANC with a source, then deactivate Bluetooth from this first source and proceed with pairing the second device to conclude by turning on Bluetooth on the first source.
Naturally it is not possible to play music from both sources at the same time, which will alternate according to the priority assigned. Switching between one or the other device is immediate and in my tests the connection has always been perfect, no failures.
ANC PERFORMANCE AND SOUND
To better understand the goodness of the product covered by this review, I have to make comparisons and in my case the comparison I have to do it with the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones, much more expensive than the Haylou S35 ANC. We could define Sony headphones as professional and their price is repaid by the unquestionable quality, in terms of audio but also in the ANC function. What if I told you that with a tenth of the price the Haylou S35 ANC are very close to the performance offered by Sony?
Noise is deeply filtered, leaving only nearby high-frequency sounds audible. The typical sounds of car engines, fans, chatter, animals etc. are completely cancelled. The manufacturer has inserted a sort of white noise to better reduce the "buzzing" sounds unfortunately at the expense of the musical performance, which is less clean but overall if we really want to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, it's a small price we have to pay. In fact, between the ANC function and the natural isolation offered by the headphones, it is practically impossible for unwanted noise to reach our ears.
The audio rendering of these headphones I could define as "intimate". With certain pieces of music it seems to be sitting in front of the singer, especially if we use the Haylou without ANC or in wired mode, gaining definition and sonic detail. Let me be clear, the ANC does not seem to have a negative impact on sound quality, but I found it particularly enjoyable without the aforementioned function. Naturally, I also tried the Transparency mode and while listening to the music some external noise is reproduced, but without exaggeration and without compromising the rendering of the piece listened to. All musical genres are well reproduced with clear and detailed sounds, appreciating the various nuances of the piece, with bass body and fullness of the same.
As mentioned before, we can also manage calls, even if the Haylou S35 ANC (but in general all products of the genre) are not born for this purpose. Having said that, the call quality is more than decent, taking advantage of the microphones coupled with the ENC technology: my interlocutor reported that he could clearly hear my voice, even in poco optimal, for example in the center with heavy traffic. The capture of our voice is also managed well, for example by isolating it from the chatter from BAR.
COMPANION APP AVAILABLE
The Haylou Sound companion app is not missing, although it is not full of functions. However, from here we can update the firmware (I received one as soon as I paired the headphones to the smartphone) and see the battery charge status, change the listening mode (ANC activated/deactivated, Transparency mode) and take advantage of some audio presets, as well than enable low latency mode (game mode). Unfortunately, a personalized equalizer is absent but auspiciously that the brand can release this function we find the Sound Market section, assuming the release of other audio presets in the future. Finally, I would like to point out that to access the app, you will have to register and log in, something that I personally don't find annoying, but it is useless.
AUTONOMY
The manufacturer claims that the Haylou S35 ANC are able to offer up to 60 hours of continuous music playback by means of a 600 mAh battery, which itself recharges in about 2,5 hours. The autonomy value refers without enabling the ANC function, which would bring the autonomy value to 40 hours. I tested these headphones for a long time and I can say that the values quoted are real, differing by only 1 hour from the declared ones, so no problem managing an entire working week.
PROJECTED IMPACT
I was very skeptical about the goodness of the ANC function in consideration of the really cheap price of these Haylou S35 ANCs. Let's not forget, however, that the Haylou brand belongs to the Xiaomi "gadget" ecosystem, generally a guarantee of quality in relation to the selling price. The Haylou S35 are the demonstration of how you can go to top levels without making the end user pay for everything. The brand's proposal is comparable to headphones with at least double / triple the price with an ANC function that rivals the best headphones around. The call performance and audio quality in general should also be enhanced, also boasting the Hi-Res AUDIO certification and then the practically infinite autonomy. Premium design and extra functions, such as the touch surface pavilion complete the picture of this product, a true work of art. What are you waiting for? Run and buy them using the discount code that allows you to buy the Haylou S35 at a price price of around 37 euros at the current exchange rate using the discount code XIAOMITODAY
