Mixcder E7, a budget-friendly ANC headphone (Review)

As music lovers, we all look for that pair of over-the-ear headphones that can give us great sound quality without costing us an arm and a leg. Since your average consumer can’t afford Bose, Sony, or Beats headphones, we strive to look for a pair that will give us what we need at a price that fits our budgets. There are a lot of manufacturers that produce headphones that aim to meet in the middle, and one such company is Mixcder.

Mixcder has three different, over the ear, noise canceling headphones: The E9, E8, and E7. For the last few weeks, we’ve been testing out the E7, which is the most affordable model of the three, to see how it fairs in providing us with quality audio.

DESIGN

Right out of the box, you’ll realize that the E7 does not use any premium materials in its build. Which is expected for the price point. The ear cups are made from the same plastic that you would find in other budget-friendly headphones. The plastic itself doesn’t have the same premium feel that you would get from metal or polycarbonate plastics, but the headphones itself doesn’t feel cheap. It has a bit of durability and sturdiness to it, and if I were to drop the headphones, they won’t break.

The headband on the E7 feels to be made from a thin piece of aluminum that gives it toughness and pliability. The aluminum is wrapped in foam for comfort, which is then wrapped in leather-like fabric. The padding on the ear cups as well is wrapped in foam and the leather-like material. The headphones are surprisingly comfortable to wear. I didn’t feel any pressure being pressed up against my ears, nor did It ever feel like the headphones were squeezing my head.

On the E7 you’ll find physical buttons on both the left and right side. These buttons are not seamlessly blended into the frame, but instead pop out just enough to make it easy for you to find them. They have a nice tactile and responsive feel to them, but they do downgrade the headphones overall pleasing look. On the right channel is where you’ll find the power/pairing button, micro-USB port for charging, and the volume buttons. On the left channel is where you’ll find the switch to turn on/off the ANC and a 3.5mm auxiliary port. A blue LED light does come on to let you know that ANC is activated.

PERFORMANCE

When I usually see headphones with ANC under $100, I’m pretty skeptical about how it will usually sound, but the E7 diminished that skepticism. Built with 40mm drivers, the headphones sound great on the low end. The headphones have enough room to allow the drivers to really move and push out that bumping feeling. At high volumes, you can feel the drivers really working. Without using any presets, the headphones already favor the low end, which sets the mids and highs just where they need to be to compliment and balance out the lows. At higher volumes, I was surprised that there wasn’t any type of distortion in the mids or highs.

The E7 does suffer from a lot of sound leaks, so be wary when wearing these headphones in public spaces. At medium volumes, anyone within a foot or two next to you will be able to hear what you’re listening to. Listening to the music at high volumes, well you can forget about the people around you, as they’ll probably be annoyed as they’ll be able to clearly hear what you’re listening to. When it comes to the ANC, I didn’t hear any difference when it was either on or off, so it was difficult to figure out if it was even working. I knew it was on, only due to the fact I switched it on, but other than that. I was pretty much left in the dark.

Battery life is really impressive on the E7. On a single charge, I was able to use the headphones, with moderate use for about an entire week before I needed to recharge it. Mixcder states that the E7 can give you about 20-hours of continuous use without ANC, and 18-hours with ANC. To fully charge the headphones will take you just 2-hours, so you can get back to listening to music in just a short amount of time. The E7 uses Bluetooth 4.0 which will give you a range of about 30-35 feet, which also gives a really good signal when watching videos, as I didn’t experience any delay or latency while watching YouTube.

FINAL REACTION

When buying Over-the-ear ANC headphones for less than $100, you’ll always have that speculation of “Am I getting a bang for my buck.” You can either strike gold with your purchase, or you can be left with something that will ultimately turn into a paperweight. Priced at just $59.99, the E7 by Mixcder is a comfortable pair of headphones, that, though lacks a quality and premium build, easily makes up for it with a great and dynamic sound. Battery life will keep you moving and grooving for up to 20-hours, but the ANC hardly makes any discernible difference and you’ll suffer from a lot of sound leaks. The thing I appreciated the most about the E7 is the inclusion of a carrying case. Where most headphones under $100 wouldn’t include one, such as my Audio-Technica SR30, which are priced at $99. The Mixcder E7 proves that sometimes you don’t always need to go with the name-brand and that buying the smaller guys can lead you to get that “diamond in the rough.”

Score. 3.5/5