Noise cancelling headphones are becoming increasingly common, but great ones are still relatively expensive. Mixcder, however, wants to flip that trend — and has released the Mixcder E9 over-ear noise-cancelling headphones in that vein.
The Mixcder E9 headphones offer a slick design and noise cancellation at only $60 — but do they sacrifice too much in order to meet that price range? We put the Mixcder E9 headphones to the test to find out.
Design
Despite the low price tag, the Mixcder E9 headphones actually have a pretty slick design — and seem to be relatively well-built too, at least for a pair of headphones in this price range. The headphones come in an all-black design, and are pretty subtle in terms of their overall look. That’s not a bad thing necessarily — just something to keep in mind.
On the left ear cup, you’ll find a switch for activating noise cancellation and an aux port, while the right ear cup is where you’ll find everything else — including power controls, volume controls, and a MicroUSB charging port. We would have preferred a USB-C port here — it’s 2019.
As mentioned, the build quality is pretty good for a pair of headphones in this price range, but that’s not to say it’s amazing. The headphones are largely built from plastic, and feel a little light. Still, we think they should be able to withstand most of the abuse that you can throw at them — plus they come with a card case for taking on the road.
Apart from the headphones and the carry case, you’ll also get a MicroUSB charging cable, an aux cable, and a flight adapter. It’s a nice selection of accessories, and we think it’s everything you’ll need.
Comfort
Ultimately, the Mixcder E9 headphones are pretty comfortable, but they’re not perfect. We found that there was plenty of padding around the ear cups, but the clamp on the headphones was a little hard. Of course, that’s to be expected for a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, but it’s still something to note. After a while of using the headphones, you’ll get used to their fit, and we found that listening for a few hours was easily achievable with little discomfort.
Sound
When building budget headphones, the thing that most companies sacrifice on is sound quality. While the Mixcder E9 headphones don’t sound bad, they certainly leave a little to be desired, especially for those that want a little excitement from their music. That said, they’re definitely not bad for their price range
Let’s start with the bass, which is generally pretty powerful and strong. Kick drums are heavy and prominent, while bass guitars are smooth and strong. The headphones don’t go over the top with the bass either — it still sound relatively natural.
Mid range is where things start to fall apart a little, but again, it’s not terrible. The low mids are warm and thick, and they do end up sounding a little muddy. That, however, is also partly due to the slight lack of high mids, which affects the cut of vocals and guitars.
The highs could use a little work on these headphones. There’s really little definition and clarity in these headphones, making for a relatively boring listening experience. Again, it’s not terrible, but it’s nothing to write home about.
That trend continues when it comes to the noise cancellation. The noise cancellation on here is fine, and it will certainly block out some outside noise from plane engines and the hustle and bustle of a city, but don’t buy these headphones expecting Bose-level ANC.
Performance
The Mixcder E9 headphones connect to your listening device through Bluetooth 4.0, which is a slightly dated version of Bluetooth. That said, we found that they actually retained a pretty good connection, and never really experienced any skips or jumps during playback. You’ll get 10 meters, or 33 feet, of listening distance.
With the Mixcder E9 headphones, you’ll get a battery life of around 24 hours with noise cancellation on, or 30 hours with noise cancellation off. It’s actually not a bad battery life, which is always good news.
Conclusions
The Mixcder E9 headphones offer decent quality at a pretty low price — and we ultimately liked them for their good design and comfort-level in this price range. That said, they’re not perfect — they don’t sound amazing, and the noise cancellation isn’t amazing — but they’re not terrible either.
But is there a better option? Well, in this price range, not really. Of course, if you’re really willing to splurge, you could go for the $350 Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones, but in this price range, we think these are pretty much the best cans to go for.
Because of their excellent value for money, we’re giving the Mixcder E9 headphones the Headphone Review Bronze Medal.