Skullcandy Method 360: One minute review

As my editor at TechRadar well knows, I’ve spent the last year enamored with the Nothing Ear (a) as the best earbuds you can buy for a relatively affordable price, and nothing has come close to toppling these svelte and low-cost buds.

That’s all changed now though, because the Skullcandy Method 360 give their year-and-change older rivals a run for their money. And I see them being the new big buds that, going forward, I shall compare all contemporaries too.

These buds from American audio company Skullcandy are dead ringers for the brand’s cheap Dime Evo buds, coming in the same novel carry case, but I’ve already got to correct myself: these aren’t just from Skullcandy, but from another key player too.

In a big partnership, top audio dog Bose contributed to the sound of the Method 360, and it shows. These have the energy of Skullcandy buds but the audio precision of Bose ones, and the fantastic audio quality shows that the Method 360 benefits from the best of both worlds.

While Skullcandy boasts that the Method 360 have ‘Sound by Bose’, the design of the new buds also bears more than a passing resemblance to recent Bose earpieces too, especially with a gel fin around the buds to help them stick in your ear. Whether this was another case of the Bose helping hand or just a total coincidence, it’s welcome, with the Method 360 staying in the ear reliably even during workouts. They’re comfortable too, letting you listen for long bouts without your ears getting achy.

Design of the buds may be great, but the carry case itself provides problems: namely, that it’s absolutely huge. It’s a massive long tube which hides an inner shell that you slide out to retrieve the earbuds, and it’s far too big to easily fit in trouser pockets. According to promotional images Skullcandy sees you using the O-ring to strap the case to your bag, or perhaps your trousers, but the sheer size would make that about as unwieldy as walking about with a scabbard.

A few rough edges show their face in the feature set too: the app often failed to connect to the earbuds, even when they readily connected to my phone without issues, which was irritating when I wanted to change ANC mode. Plus, the voice announcer on the buds is both terrifyingly loud and surprisingly low-res, making me wonder if I’d accidentally been sent a pair of Method 360 which had been cursed by the Babadook.

Are these flaws enough to ruin the Skullcandy? Not by any means, they’re just minor gripes, and ones that give me something to write about to seem even-handed too. But they do little to counteract the real strengths of the Method 360: its reliable fit, its fantastic sound and its affordable nature.

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Specifications

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Price and availability

• Announced in April '25
• RRP $119 / £99 / AU$189
• Priced against mid-range rivals

Skullcandy announced the Method 360 in April 2025 and put them on sale straight away afterwards.

The official price of the buds is $119 / £99 / AU$189, although they were cheaper for their first few weeks of existence thanks to introductory pricing. When considering their value, though, we’ll consider this official price.

At that price these can be considered mid-range buds, with the aforementioned Nothing Ear (a) costing more or less (depending on region) at $99 / £99 / AU$192. Their other big rival at that price is the WF-C710N which has an RRP exactly the same as the Skullcandy and we’ll get more into the differences in our comparison section below.

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Design

• Huge case that's fiddly to insert buds into
• Buds are comfortable and fit reliably
• Range of color options

The worst part of the Skullcandy Method 360 is its case. It’s absolutely huge – you’ve got no chance of fitting this thing in your trouser pocket and it was even a squeeze fitting it into the folds of my jacket. It’s significantly bigger than the case of any other earbud I’ve tested recently, making it a pain for portability.

That’s a shame because it’s a bit more interesting-looking than your generic clamshell earbud case. It uses what Skullcandy calls ‘Clip It and Rip It’; this means that there’s an internal column holding the earbuds which you reveal by sliding it out of a protective tube. There’s an O-ring which lets you clip the case to a bag or, according to Skullcandy, trouser belt loop, which also makes it easy to do this sliding action.

It’s an interesting design which Skullcandy has used before, but two extra things beyond the size damn the case. Firstly, the charging port is on the bottom of the internal column so if you slide this column up, the charging port is hidden by the external case – it’s quite a procedure to keep charging while you remove the buds. Secondly, the buds only fit in their respective slots if you insert them at just the right angle, and it’s hard enough to tell which bud goes in which slot, let alone which angle to put them in at (there are a faint ‘L’ and ‘R’ to solve the first problem but it could be made more clear). These are the single most frustrating earbuds I’ve ever tested in terms of returning them to the case after use, and I constantly wasted time trying to rotate the buds to work out how to get them into their gap.

It’s not just me on this latter point: Skullcandy’s listing for the Method ANC has an FAQ question and one query is “How do I put my Method 360 ANC earbuds back in the case?” complete with a surprisingly in-depth 5-point answer. Skullcandy: if earbud users need to go through five steps to put an earbud in the case, perhaps there’s a better way of doing things. I also presented my much-smarter girlfriend with the buds and the case and she too found it akin to solving a Rubix cube.

At least Skullcandy has done something I love in earbuds: offered multiple color options. As well as the standards of black and white there’s bright red, a sandy hue which Skullcandy calls ‘Primer’ and your grandma’s favorite option: leopard print.

Now onto the buds themselves: they seem to work as a medley of the two core types of in-ear buds with large bodies which stay in your ears with a silicon ridge, but they also have a slight, dumpy stem. Whatever color of case you fit, affects the buds too, though in the case of leopard print it’s just on one surface.

The buds weigh 11g so they’re among the heaviest earbuds I’ve tested, but in the grand scheme of things a couple of grams doesn’t make much difference on the ears. And that tells – not once in my testing did the buds fall out of my ears, even though I went on runs with them and took them to the gym. I’m going to point towards their fin as the reason for this, with the material of the tip also making them stay in my ear snug. In the box you get an array of sizes for both too.

Both buds have touch controls, activated if you tap the right spot on the body of the bud (if you look at the picture, it’s just below the slight ridge, around where the LED light is). This worked fine in picking up fingertips but I found it quite hard to reliably tap the correct spot when I wanted to pause music.

The buds both have an IPX4 rating making them protected against splashes of water, which essentially means they’re safe against sweat or a light drizzle of rain but nothing stronger (or wetter).

• Design score: 3.5/5

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Features

• Good on-bud battery life
• ANC is strong, but not competition-beating
• Skull-IQ app for extra features

With a case of its size, you’d expect the Skullcandy Method 360 to have a battery life longer than creation. And it’s definitely good, though set your expectations a little lower than ‘forever’.

According to Skullcandy, the bud battery life reaches 11 hours with ANC off or 9 hours with it turned on, with the case providing an extra 23 or 29 respectively. From my testing I’d say Skullcandy’s figures are, if anything, a touch conservative – either way those are respectable figures

You’re offered the two standard noise cancellation modes we often see: standard ANC and ‘Stay-Aware’, both with a slider letting you change intensity mode (before you ask the same question I did: higher intensity affects the strength of ANC, not of background noise allowed through).

Regardless of which option you pick, the ANC is strong and capable, and you’ll struggle to find better at this price point. It’s so effective, however, that Stay-Aware often failed to let through the kinds of loud nearby sounds that these ambient modes are designed to do. In fact I didn’t notice a huge difference between ANC and Stay-Aware most of the time.

You can download the Skull-IQ app on your phone or tablet to get extra features for the earbuds. Some of these are ability to toggle ANC and change what tapping the buds does, but there are a few more.

One of these is nigh-on mandatory at this point: an equalizer. You get several presets here but there’s also a five-band custom option. While that’s not as complex as we normally see in equalizers, I honestly don’t mind, as it’s a lot more simple for the average earbud user to get their head around.

Beyond that we’ve got features for low latency audio (useful for gaming), multipoint pairing to connect to multiple devices at once, the ability to use your earbud as a remote trigger for your smartphone camera and Spotify Tap, which lets you press and hold an earbud to instantly play from a certain Spotify playlist.

A few features I like to see are absent like Find My Earbuds, listening tests or earbud fit tests, but the features you do get work well… unlike the way you control them.

One thing that I’d love to see Skullcandy fix with the app is its reliability. A fair few times I’d boot it up while listening to music only to be told that the earbuds weren’t in use – one time this incorrect message was ironically covered up by my phone system’s own notification telling me the buds’ battery life. I’d have to either refresh the app, or give up on plans to change the EQ or noise cancellation.

On the topic of annoying features: the voice announcer, which tells you when the buds are connected when you put them in as well as when you change ANC modes, is both incredibly low-res and incredibly loud. Calm down please, announcer!

• Features score: 4/5

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Sound performance

• 12mm drivers
• Bose tuning pays off
• Energetic sound with meaty bass

As I said in the introduction, Bose helped with the tuning of the Skullcandy Method 360 (though possibly not in lending the 12mm drivers, which are actually bigger than the ones we normally see Bose use in its earbuds).

This helping hand shows because the Method 360 are some of the best-sounding earbuds I’ve ever tested for their price. And, more obviously, they faintly resemble the tone of the Bose QuietComfort Buds from last year, in that music sounds rich, meaty and full (which I doubled down on by activating the bass booster EQ repeatedly through testing, though it’s far from necessary).

That’s not to say that the buds are just for bass-heads, as mids were just as energetic and electric as lower-frequency sounds. I found the audio profile perfect for punchy and fast-paced rock music which fits well with the Skullcandy branding. Treble could have been a little more glistening though and, while not audibly falling behind in the mix, it did lack a little zest when other parts of a song were going full-force.

If you like listening to high-velocity music, you’ll be glad to know that the Method 360 gets very loud, and I didn’t even test it at its top volume.

The Skullcandy also has a fairly pronounced sound stage, perhaps not as dramatic as the aforementioned Bose buds, but still great compared to many same-priced rivals. Instruments aren’t just panned left or right but to varying degrees around you, and audio was clear enough that I could hear the sound of fingers on guitar glissando or the type of drumstick a drummer would use.

Here’s where I’d discuss audio codecs or connection types but neither Skullcandy’s website nor the Skull-IQ app make any mention of them, so I’ve got to presume that high-res music isn’t supported.

• Sound performance score: 4/5

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Value

The Skullcandy Method 360 are great value for money because in two big ways, they rival alternatives which you'd be spending twice the price on.

Both the sound quality and precision-designed fit feel like features you'd normally have to pay way more for. Yet here you go, finding them at a mid-range price. Good job!

• Value score: 4/5

Skullcandy Method 360 review: scorecard

Skullcandy Method 360: Should I buy?

Buy them if...

Don't buy them if...

Also consider

How I tested

I used the Skullcandy Method 360 for about two weeks before writing this review.

For the most part of the review, the headphones were paired with my Android phone for Spotify streaming as well as the occasional gaming and Netflix. I listened to music at home and in quiet environments, but also took the buds for a spin at the gym and on runs.

I've been reviewing products for TechRadar since the beginning of 2019 and have tested countless headphones amongst other gadgets. I've also used past Skullcandy options not for review purposes, but simply through having bought them myself.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed: September 2025

JLab Go Pods ANC: Two-minute review

I’ll admit that it was with reticence that I agreed to test earbuds clearly angling for the title of ‘cheapest ANC buds’ but let me dispel any similar cynicism you may have: the JLab Go Pods ANC are, for their price, excellent.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, because these new cheap earbuds come from esteemed affordable audio brand JLab, which has a lot of experience with affordable audio options. But anyone who’s tried to save a buck by buying lower-cost tech knows that you can’t take anything for granted, even with legacy brands.

Let’s first address the selling point in the headline: are these the best noise-cancelling earbuds on the market? No, but if you add 'cheap' to that question, quite possibly. They are cheap, they do have noise cancellation, and they certainly are earbuds. Plus, they’re really good at what they do, and so I can give them a tick there. But are they the cheapest buds with ANC?

I was expecting to be able to find plenty of cheap Amazon rivals with ANC, but I was wrong; one or two ANC-toting options from unnamed brands sit at the same price as the JLabs here, but there’s not much on offer for less that also has ANC. So from the right angle, the Go Pods ANC tick that box too.

What same-price rivals probably don’t offer is decent audio quality. For budget earbuds these sound really good, with (depending on how you set up the equalizer) crystal-clear treble, hearty mids or scooping bass, and a broad soundstage that you don’t often get in buds twice the price.

The ANC itself also works well, plastering over background sounds with little tact but with heart. That said, the transparency mode is a nightmare which will cause you to hear every little thing going on around you with frightening accuracy.

Like all good earbuds, the JLabs are also nice and lightweight, so you can wear them for ages without getting earache. Similar can be said of the tiny plastic carry case, which completely disappears into a trouser pocket.

I can’t pretend that these earbuds are perfect, and they do have a few things which annoyed me during testing. For one, JLab has replaced a charging port with a charging cable, so you plug the case into something, rather than plugging something into the case, to power it up. Good in theory, but functionally I found it less useful than the standard option which every other company uses, of simply letting you plug a cable into the case.

The in-box ear tips also didn’t offer much in the way of grip, so when I walked or ran in the buds they had a habit of falling out pretty quickly. This is a problem you can solve with the added expense of third-party eartips (or using ones you have left over from your last earbuds).

But even as earbud shortcomings go those aren’t the biggest I’ve ever faced, or even a huge issue at all in the case of the first one. Know this: these are fantastic-value earbuds.

JLab Go Pods ANC review: Price and release date

• Released in summer 2025
• Costs $36.99 / £29.99 (roughly AU$60)

The JLab Go Pods ANC were announced in May 2025 and put on sale in the months after. It took them barely any time to go on offer, but more on that in a moment.

The default retail price for these buds is $36.99 / £29.99 (roughly AU$60), so they’re some of the most affordable noise cancelling earbuds you can find, and the few alternatives I can find at this price tag almost all come from unknown brands on Amazon.

I say ‘default price’ because only a few months after release, the Go Pods ANC can easily be found for a discount. In the US I found them for $29.99 and in the UK they’re at £24.99, making these super-cheap buds even cheaper. And that’s before Black Friday.

JLab Go Pods ANC review: Specs

JLab Go Pods ANC review: Features

• Battery life of just 5 hours with ANC on
• Good ANC but iffy transparency
• JLab app brings a few useful extras

During my testing time, I didn’t once have any kind of connection issue with the JLab Go Pods ANC, so you don’t need to worry about them having an unreliable Bluetooth link.

The buds have some extra features via the JLab app, though it’s mostly just some customization and tweaks rather than anything truly novel.

It took my while to get my head around the Noise Control Modes tool, which lists ANC on, off and Be Aware mode, but with toggles by all of them, so it’s easy to turn two or all three of them on at the same time… right? That’s what I thought, until I realized that toggling these selects whether you can switch to them via the buds via touch controls. The real way to switch ANC modes is to physically select the mode you want, not toggle its slider.

Another option via the app is an equalizer, which comes with three unnamed presets and a custom mode. It’s a 10-band equalizer so it’s pretty advanced, and audiophiles will be able to get a lot of depth in how they customize their tunes.

Running down its list, the app also lets you set a max volume limit for safety, change what touch controls do, switch between a Music Mode and Movie Mode (which seems to increase the sound spread but decrease quality) and… set up a workout interval timer? That’s not exactly a standard headphone feature but it might prove useful to a few people.

The battery life of the Go Pods sits at 7.5 hours, according to JLab – that’s with ANC turned off and, from my testing, you’re looking at about 7.5 hours with it turned off which isn’t exactly a competitive figure. The company puts the extended play time offered by the charging case at 26 hours.

One final thing we probably need to touch on is the ANC itself – is it any good in these cheap buds? Surprisingly, it really is. It hushes your surroundings pretty substantially, and while it obviously doesn’t reach the heights of rivals in the market – a light background hum always got through, and sharper noises weren’t dimmed as much – it’s a lot better than JLab could have got away with for the money.

I wasn’t as impressed, though, with Be Aware mode (JLab’s take on Transparency). While using it I was too aware – not only did it not cancel noise, it seemed to amplify every little thing that occurred around me in a jarring experience overall.

• Features score: 4/5

JLab Go Pods ANC review: Design

• Both buds and case are super lightweight
• Case has a built-in charging cable
• Ear tips don't offer much grip

The JLab Go Pods ANC have one small design difference that sets them apart from the vast majority of other samey wireless earbuds, and it’s built into the case.

The buds’ charging case is a 4.52 x 6 x 2.61cm pebble which opens lengthwise along the side; it’s made of plastic so it only weighs 27.6g (for context, most buds I test have cases double that weight). This is all to say that it’s quite small and very light.

While most charging cases are nondescript save for perhaps a logo and a USB-C charging port, JLab does away with the latter and replaces it with its own USB-C cable; you can plug this into a port to easily power up the buds.

In theory I get why JLab would use this instead of a simple port: it means you can power it up via your phone or laptop without needing an extra cable. In practice though I found it annoying, as it meant I couldn’t use the standard USB-C charger I bring for my other gadgets. I couldn’t power up the case from my phone if I was also charging said phone, and I couldn’t plug it into wall outlets on public transport or adaptors at my home (all of which use standard USB).

Onto the buds: these weigh 4.2g each so they continue the Go Pods style of being lighter than the competition. They’re stem-style buds, consisting of a large body, tips angled slightly downwards and a flat stem bearing JLab’s logo.

There are touch controls on each of said logos, which worked reasonably well although there were a few mis-touches when I was readjusting the buds or times when one press would be picked up as two. Also the default controls are a little odd so I’d recommend jumping into the app to customize them yourself.

I really appreciate low-weight buds like the Go Pods as they were easy to use for long periods of time without feeling any ache or wear. That was only the case if I was sitting still though.

The in-box eartips seem to offer so little friction that they may as well be made out of WD40: as soon as I went for a walk, or heaven forbid a run, the earbuds began slipping from my ears (yes, I tried all three options included in the box). Even putting in or removing the buds normally, you can feel how little they’re inclined to stay in the ear – not great for active people.

While the case doesn’t have any official protection, the buds have an IP55. This means they’re mostly protected against dust ingress and can withstand low-press jets of water (including rain and sweat) but aren’t suitable for swimming.

The JLab Go Pods ANC come in three color versions: black, lilac and green, and as you can tell I tested the former.

• Design score: 3.5/5

JLab Go Pods ANC review: Sound quality

• Single 10mm driver
• Can handle regimented bass and clear treble
• High max volume

I’m going to wager that your expectations for the JLab Go Pods ANC’s audio chops probably match what mine were going into the testing: you see the price and shudder at the thought of those cheap buds you bought on Amazon once and know what to expect. But banish the thought.

The JLab Go Pods ANC actually sound pretty good; I’m not sure I’d pick them over something like the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro but for the price, they’re surprisingly capable.

By default (that is, with the JLab Signature equalizer mode), music sounds bright with defined treble and mids, and a laudable breadth of soundstage so you can hear different passages and harmonies in the music surrounding you.

There’s clearly a little distortion crackling away when too many different instruments are playing at once, or when the hi-hat gets going, but only in mixes that can trouble much pricer buds too.

I’ll admit that I largely listened with some heavy equalizer tweaks, but I was surprised by how much bass the Go Pods were capable of when asked. There’s scope for hearty, scooping bass with the right song and right EQ set-up. But even without this set-up, lower-register lines felt well-defined.

The buds’ max volume is really high – higher than you’d ever normally need, unless you accidentally held down the ‘volume up’ button on your phone like me – and doesn’t distort as much at louder settings as many other buds do.

• Sound quality: 4/5

JLab Go Pods ANC review: Value

The JLab Go Pods ANC are basically the cheapest noise-cancelling earbuds that are actually worth buying.

Because of their feature set and audio quality, these aren’t just ‘good for the price’; they’re good full stop. JLab didn’t need to offer them for such a low price but in doing so, it’s made them a fearsome value proposition.

• Value: 4.5/5

Should I buy the JLab Go Pods ANC?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

JLab Go Pods ANC review: Also consider

How I tested the JLab Go Pods ANC

• Tested for four weeks
• Tested at home, in the office, working out and on walks

I tested the JLab Go Pods ANC for about four weeks, which is longer than the standard TechRadar testing process, but is a testament to their audio chops.

I used the buds while they were connected to my Android phone, mainly for Spotify but also for streaming movies, games and listening to voice notes. I used them while at home, at the gym, on runs and on walks around my neighborhood.

I've been testing gadgets for TechRadar for over five years now and in that time have used other JLab products as well as some of their biggest competitions.

• First reviewed in August 2025

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

Noble FoKus Amadeus: Two-minute review

Can earbuds make you feel like royalty? Well, Noble Audio are here to give it a good old college try with their Noble FoKus Amadeus earbuds; the latest and cheapest in the FoKus series, but which benefit from some posh new engineering in both soft- and hardware. Specs-wise, these true wireless ‘buds knock it out of the park with LDAC and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth connectivity (other codecs are available), customizable sound profiles and an extensive battery capacity I actively struggled to exhaust during review.

Sound is the primary reason to buy something like the FoKus Amadeus – and these do sound great, with a cushy low-end and plucky transient response that makes for a playful listening experience straight out of the box. But these earbuds’ ergonomics are almost more noteworthy than their fidelity. Noble’s expertise in custom IEMs shows, with an asymmetrical design that follows the contours of the average ear canal better than any other generic-fit ear-thing I’ve tried. A glut of spare and swappable ear tips seals the deal with a thoughtful kiss.

These earbuds are only really let down by a lacklustre ANC, which is far from best-in-class – though their stock sound profile could be a little divisive, too, depending on your taste. That said, this writer found them to auditorily succeed exactly where they promise to, and even exceed expectations in other areas. If you’re looking to put some serious money behind a serious set of the best high-fidelity earbuds out there, these are very likely the earbuds you seek.

Noble FoKus Amadeus: Price and release date

• Release date: June, 2025
• Price: $320 / £299.99 / approx. AU$615

Noble sits pretty at the cutting edge of the in-ear monitor (IEM) market, with a suite of four-figure products that are as much to look at as they are to listen to. Noble’s custom IEMs are rightfully lauded for the incredible attention to detail they possess in practically every sense. With the recent FoKus series, Noble offers that rarefied approach to quality audio at a (slightly) more palatable price.

Indeed, the Noble FoKus Amadeus (the brand's latest offering) are clearly designed to evoke a different form of rarefied quality, often ascribed to classical music. If the presence of “Amadeus” in the name (for Falco Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, no less) wasn’t enough, look instead to that regal red finish on the earbuds. It's at once a refined finish in its own right, as well as a subtler nod to the firebrand composer via his oft-painted tailcoat. These surface-level signifiers are here to guide your thinking on the Noble FoKus Amadeus’ guts, too, where Noble has aimed to “[blend] classical artistry with contemporary engineering”. Rich stuff indeed.

The FoKus Amadeus wireless earbuds retail for $320 / £299.99 / approx. AU$615, putting them firmly above the peloton as far as the average earbud is concerned. That retail price does, however, make these the cheaper earbuds in Noble’s FoKus range, and hence the most accessible in Noble’s entire premium-quality oeuvre. Still, for your money, you’re buying a rarefied piece of portable kit, with multiple modes of Bluetooth connectivity, 42 hours of out-and-about-iness and a considered approach to conveying your faves ear-ward.

Given the highly competitive entry-level price band some dozens of dollars below, this price could be a bit rich for some consumers’ blood – but Noble Audio does an excellent job of justifying their expense, in theory and in execution.

Noble FoKus Amadeus: Specs

Noble FoKus Amadeus: Features

• Excellent Bluetooth connectivity
• Exceedingly decent battery life
• Shame the ANC isn’t great

The key audiophilic selling point for Noble’s latest buds is the new driver design. The Amadeus sport a single triple-layer diaphragm driver per earbud, utilizing three skins of different materials – ceramic, titanium and PEEK – for enhanced frequency control. This commitment to single-driver superiority is backed-up by a holistic approach to audio excellence; there’s multifarious Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, with support for SBC, AAC, LDAC and aptX Adaptive codecs.

While this driver's sound profile is great out of the box (more on which later), there are extensive EQ-fiddling opportunities in the Noble FoKus app, which is a pretty sweet one-stop shop for controls and customization. As well as graphic EQ bands, curves and presets, you’ll find a nifty Personal EQ algorithm, courtesy of algorithmic boffins Audiodo. Complete a short hearing calibration process, and you get a fully personalized sound profile with which to enjoy your investment all the more.

The Amadeus purport to provide three different listening modes: standard listening, ANC, and an Ambient mode which boosts the sound of the outside world for safer public groovin’. These features can be accessed and toggled via the aforementioned Noble FoKus app, or more readily via the Amadeus’ dual-bud capacitive-touch control capabilities.

Unfortunately, the latter two modes leave a little to be desired. I was willing to make concessions for the ANC mode when testing it on a loud rush-hour bus, but even in my quiet living room, it did little to quell incidental sounds from elsewhere. The Ambient mode possesses quite a high noise floor, too, which naturally proved a little distracting at times.

All that said, these earbuds do an excellent job of passive sound isolation anyway, so I didn’t really feel additional noise cancellation to be necessary. For the Ambient mode, sharp and loud sounds cut through any music with remarkable fidelity – fundamentally, I’d rather suffer a hissy soundtrack and not get hit by a car, than the opposite.

Lastly but no less importantly, the Amadeus offer up to 12 hours' continuous battery life in one sitting – and up to 42 hours using the charging case (thus outliving mayflies, but that's only part of the story, as I'll explain). It’s never easy to estimate what on-paper battery-life specs mean for real-life usage, so let me say this: outside of early days review-related stress-testing, these earbuds made it through six weeks of casual everyday usage on a single full carry-case charge. If that’s not enough for you, a 10-minute charge will gift you two hours of playback. You’ll never be caught short with these.

• Feature quality score: 4.5/5

Noble FoKus Amadeus: Sound quality

• Broad, comfy, forgiving low-end
• Transients and dynamics handled marvellously
• Customizable sound profiles

For the majority of my time with the Noble FoKus Amadeus, I elected to listen at their stock, undoctored best, reserving the ‘calibrated’ experience for after I’d gotten a feel for what exactly they’re aiming for. In a nutshell, I can describe what they aim for as ‘presence’.

They lean warm and cushy, giving you a real solid base of bass to lean on; that warmth is a great foil for the pluckier high-end, which shines when handling percussive brilliance. Gelli Haha’s Bounce House is a catchy piece of slant-pop ear candy and all the more, er, moreish for the combination of speedy transient response and supple low-end on display. It's a great primer for these earbuds' capabilities out of the box.

The Amadeus landed on my desk around the same time I discovered the discography of 1970s American soul underdog Leroy Hutson, who replaced Curtis Mayfield in The Impressions. As such, quintessential DJ-fodder albums like the eponymous Hutson were frequent listens through the Amadeus’ smoooth-with-three-‘o’s drivers. Standout fave and stone-cold banger Lucky Fellow is resplendent in its tactile width. Hard-panned percussive guitars, leaping dynamic drums and fulsome, reedy vocals-in-harmony are all presented at their level best

Moving on to less-novel territory, one of my more common tester albums is Queens of the Stone Age’s Songs for the Deaf. This is a record I have known inside-out and back-to-front since its 2002 release, and which hasn’t lost a speck of luster in all 13 intervening years (because it is absolutely 2015 right now, Bowie’s absolutely still alive, and I am absolutely NOT an ancient fossil of a tech reviewer).

I’m pleased as punch to report that, through the FoKus Amadeus earbuds, this benchmark album still very much punches me in the face with urgent snares, sausage-fat guitars, growling bass and Mark Lanegan’s gruesome gravel-words. Again, the Amadeus' transient capabilities shine – spiky but not sharp, sudden but controlled, and in possession of a unique tactile clarity. It’s actually a bit addictive.

Nevertheless, there are some minor criticisms to be made –sometimes, energy can be a little misplaced. That plush, supple low-end can allow kick drums to take up a little too much real estate on occasion and, otherwise, can serve to cover for an occasional lack of width in the upper ranges.

Also, I did briefly test Audiodo’s sound profile calibration via the Noble FoKus app, and will say that I’m personally not a fan. The test is fun, using different volumes of tones at different pitches in each ear to develop a picture of your hearing sensitivity across the spectrum, but I found the results a little disarming first time round.

I won’t be knocking the Amadeus for featuring this algorithmic tech. I do think it’s a great thing to have – particularly as a way for people with gig-battered ears to improve the audibility of spoken voices in podcasts or phone calls. For music, though, my personalized EQ curve only served to put an uncanny mid-scooped sheen over sounds I was already familiar with and mentally compensating for. The great thing about these EQ options is exactly that: they’re optional.

• Sound quality score: 4.5/5

Noble FoKus Amadeus: Design

• Satisfying satin-red carry case
• Absurdly comfortable in-ear fit
• Touch controls are great, but finicky to start

You don’t design a set of wireless earbuds to look like this without wanting someone to talk about it. The FoKus Amadeus are waggling their figurative eyebrows at you, and trying not to drop a monocle in the process – an image befitting something non-ironically named for a classical composer.

There’s the glossy red finish on each earbud that recalls at once a luxury guitar plectrum and a Rover 800 dashboard (a lesser-spotted Sterling 800 if you're in the U.S.) – it serves to turn your head into an oddly proportioned executive sandwich accordingly. There’s also the delicious satin-red charging case lid, which incidentally possesses one of the more satisfying clasps I ever did feel. I could open and close this little box all day long.

The Amadeus earbuds are presented so lushly that you daren’t simply drop the case in your tote bag, among your keys and other scratchy effects – and Noble thought of that too. To prevent the marring of that pleasing finish, you can slip the case into a tiny velour drawstring pouch, and feel delightfully dainty in retrieving your earbuds from within.

Striking as these are as objects d’art, it’s my view that comfort is really where these buds stand above the rest. It’s not an easy job to make something relatively substantial fit so comfortably, and yet Noble’s achieved it with more success than any other brand I’ve tried.

For one, I’m a big fan of the different eartip options, handily provided by Noble in a little plastic case for your perusal. There are three sizes of single- and double-flanged eartips respectively; I personally got on best with the mid-sized double-flanged eartips, which delivered a security of fit hitherto unexperienced in other wireless earbuds.

This level of security is aided all the more by some clever topology. These earbuds share the same design principles as moulded in-ears, with angled drivers that seek to nestle close by the second bend in your ear canal. This, coupled with a clever balance of weight above the drivers, makes for a supremely snug and happy fit.

The capacitive touch functionality on the Noble FoKus Amadeus earbuds is great, by virtue of being very difficult to engage accidentally. The control scheme, though, is a little difficult for the sheer amount of functionality there is.

Noble has tried to make this as intuitive as possible, dividing tasks between earbuds – double- and triple-tapping the left earbud controls volume, while the same actions on the right move between tracks – but this isn’t the easiest to internalize without frequent revision. Even after a month of daily use, it’s still 50-50 whether I switch ANC mode on or activate my phone’s voice assistant.

Mercifully, the Noble FoKus app enables you to customize these controls to your own liking; a small but crucial gesture, that soothes the old-man-yelling-at-cloud in me. That something so insignificant (and readily rectified) commands so much of my attention is, in fact, proof that these earbuds are probably doing something right.

• Design quality score: 5/5

Noble FoKus Amadeus: Value

• Great feature-set
• Outstrips competition
• Worth it if you’ve got it

That $320 / £299.99 / approx. AU$615 price point isn’t one to be sniffed at. The vast majority of wireless earbuds come in well below this price, as do the vast majority of soundbars, consumer-grade monitor speakers and even integrated hi-fi systems. If you’re willing to spend this much, you obviously care a great deal about your mobile listening experience and understand that spending a little over the odds is the only way to get clear of that entry-level quality trap.

With an extensive battery life and some excellent Bluetooth connectivity, the FoKus Amadeus meet the basics well. With a great build quality and reassuring carry case, there are no qualms to be had about their design either. With an incredible set of newly engineered drivers, capable of providing all the oomph and splat you could ever want on the move, their sound fidelity is quite simply excellent.

All together, these facts make for a very compelling argument as to the Noble FoKus Amadeus’ value. Still, it’s a lot to drop on some earbuds. Which is exactly why you might have noticed some heightened scrutiny, with respect to the miniature frustrations I experienced during my testing.

This higher standard is an unfortunate function of pricing something in that difficult “middle” range (which looks indistinguishable to the top shelf, from the point of view of the average, budget-conscious buyer). Such frustrations would be somewhat forgiven in cheaper earbuds, and absolutely unforgivable in a set that dared to ask for more.

Even with this nitpicky frame of review, the Noble FoKus Amadeus earbuds absolutely pass muster. And that’s without noting the various ways in which Noble have outstripped the competition at this same price range – with longer battery life, better sound and better connectivity besides. If you’re spending this much on earbuds, you’re buying these, their twee, reverential branding notwithstanding.

• Value score: 4.5/5

Should you buy the Noble FoKus Amadeus?

Buy them if...

Don't buy them if...

Noble FoKus Amadeus: Also consider

How I tested the Noble FoKus Amadeus

• Tested for six weeks
• Used at home and on the go
• Predominantly tested using streaming services Bandcamp and Spotify, on a Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphone

The Noble FoKus Amadeus became my daily-driver earbuds, taking up a permanent space in my tote bag for daily usage on public transport and while gallivanting about town. I streamed music from Spotify and Bandcamp mostly, via my Samsung Galaxy S23; I occasionally used them at home, too, using my HP Pavilion laptop and the same services.

First reviewed August 2025

Denon AH-C840NCW: Two-minute review

Sometimes when testing some of the best earbuds (and sets that don't make it into that group), it feels like products can easily be broken down into three categories: buds trying to rival AirPods, buds trying to rival the AirPods Pro, and buds which are clearly doing their own thing. The Denon AH-C840NCW can easily be filed into the middle category.

These are the siblings to the Denon AH-C500W, buds listed straight in the former category, but the set you're reading about here come with a key difference: these buds come with silicon ear tips, and noise cancellation to boot. That’s what gets them bumped from the first category to the second.

Denon is a high-end audio company based in Japan that has made a respectable name for itself with home audio, AV systems and speakers, and while it’s also no stranger to personal audio (like headphones and earbuds – see also the PerL Pro), this clearly also isn’t its bread-and-butter diet. Case in point: the AH-C840NCW are perfectly fine earbuds that certainly are a viable option given Apple’s expensive earbuds… but they don’t quite match all the other AirPods Pro alternatives on the market.

The Denon AH-C840NCW hark a lot closer to Apple’s options than most rivals, and that’s most obvious in the design department. There’s no denying that these are doppelgangers – Denongangers if you will – and there’s nothing wrong with that. Denon has aped the well-respected build and these lightweight buds are easy on the ear, even if the tips let the side down a bit.

In audio quality too, these buds are inoffensive. The audio mix is fairly neutral-sounding, skewing slightly towards bass but otherwise offering an easy-to-like (though hard to truly love) quality to songs.

So far, so AirPods Pro, and that isn’t necessarily a flaw – the buds undercut Apple’s premium buds by a meaty margin. But Denon isn’t the only company trying to offer prospective earbuds buyers a Pro option on a non-Pro budget, with so many alternatives at this price point that my word count forbids me from listing even a fraction of them.

It’s the feature set that lets the AH-C840NCW down. Despite some impressive active noise cancellation there’s an overall dearth of extra functionality, and a few stumbles within what’s actually there. This is the area that most often than not defines the best earbuds you can buy, and so I struggle to find a unique selling point for the Denon.

I generally enjoyed listening to the Denon AH-C840NCW during my testing, but that’s not the same as recommending them to buy with your own money. Their myriad rivals typically have a lot more to offer, so they’re only worth buying if you’re looking for buds that match the AirPods Pro exactly, instead of beating them in any way.

Denon AH-C840NCW review: Price and release date

• Unveiled and released in April 2025
• Costs £149 (roughly $200, AU$300)

The Denon AH-C840NCW were announced in released in April, alongside the AH-C500W which are similar but slightly cheaper and miss ANC.

You can buy the AH-C840NCW for £149 (around $200, AU$300) so they’re mid-ranged in price. I couldn’t find them on sale in Australia or the US, but Denon does offer earbuds in those countries (especially in the US, which saw the AH-C500W and AH-C830NCW) so a launch in those regions is possible.

Judging at least by the UK price, that’s about an 8% price hike on the last-gen model but a 50% higher price than the non-ANC siblings.

I have to point out that, writing three months after the buds’ release, it’s pretty easy to find them discounted. Not by a huge amount, but by 10%-15% depending on which color you want, which is still worth bearing in mind.

Denon AH-C840NCW review: Specs

Denon AH-C840NCW review: Features

• Solid noise cancellation
• 7-hour battery life with ANC on
• Relative lack of extra features

Unlike their siblings, the Denon AH-C840NCW offer ANC, which I think is what the ‘NC’ in the name refers to. I wasn’t expecting much – why would the company skip ANC on that other product if it had anything worthwhile up its sleeves – but was pleasantly surprised by what this model offered.

The AH-C840NCW’s noise cancellation is meaty, wiping out annoying background noises without a trace. The app also offers you a Transparency mode which seemed to work slightly differently from others: instead of scanning for important noises to filter in to your ears (such as voices and important, twig-snapping-in-the-woods treble sounds), I got the impression it was just a weaker ANC. I could be wrong about this, but things felt quieter in Denon’s Transparency mode than in equivalents I’ve tested.

Talking about the app, it’s simply called 'Headphones', but you can find it in the Play Store or App Store by searching Denon’s name. As well as changing ANC modes, it lets you customize the touch controls, monitor the buds’ connections (multi-point pairing allows for two concurrent pairs), turn on LE Audio, change the wear detect to only apply for one earbud and monitor battery levels.

Finally, there’s an equalizer, which is only a 5-band one and doesn’t offer presets. If you’re used to customizing your own earbuds' sound, you might find this one just a little restrictive.

Battery life hits 7 hours with ANC turned on or 10 hours with it off, figures which can go up to 24 or 35 respectively when you factor in the case. The battery life is ever so slightly above average and my own testing roughly matched Denon’s stats provided.

This might be one of the shortest ‘Features’ sections I’ve ever written in a review, because the Denon don’t offer much in the way of useful features beyond the basics. That’s a shame because it’s in the feature set that (headphone) boys become (headphone) men, and with rivals offering plenty of extra modes and functions, it affects the competitiveness of the AH-C840NCW.

• Features score: 3.5/5

Denon AH-C840NCW review: Design

• Small pebble carry case
• AirPods Pro lookalikes
• Sensitive touch controls

By referring to the Denon AH-C840NCW as ‘AirPods Pro lookalikes’, I’ve probably conjured certain images of stem-toting earbuds with silicon tips and slight tilts. This description doesn’t necessarily denote AirPods – the world of wireless earbuds is much more varied than that, with buds of different shapes and sizes – but in this case it’s totally right. You’ve seen the pictures, you knew where this sentence was going.

The buds weigh 5.1g so they’re nice and light, and as that description suggests, they’re made up fo a stem that says ‘Denon’, a round body and a tip which protrudes at a slight angle. You can buy the buds in black or white (which also applies to the case) but the design is identical.

Hidden somewhere is a touch control, which you can customize in the app to change volume, play or pause music, and so on. I say ‘somewhere’ because I never quite figured out where to tap to trigger it – usually tapping the top of the stem worked but occasionally I’d accidentally press it while readjusting the buds in my ear, when my fingers were nowhere near the top.

On that topic, I did have to readjust the buds quite frequently in my ear; never when sitting around at home, but when running with the buds (ill advised; these aren’t running earbuds), when walking with them, or when working out at the gym (sit ups is the ultimate fit test!). I even tested different tip sizes in the box (there are four, not counting the ones on the buds by default) and this didn’t help – I’m going to point the finger at the material used in the tip, for not offering enough friction.

If you’re not going on walks and constantly having to readjust the earbuds, they’re pleasant to wear, with the light build ensuring you never get earache from long periods of listening. The buds also have an IPX4 rating which protects them from splashes of water, but not a serious drenching.

Equally lightweight and portable is the AH-C840NCW’s case, which is nice and small at 58 x 21.3 x 25.4mm and light at 54g. Something bijou like this is easy to slip into trouser pockets without it bulging out, or hide it on your desk when you’re charging it up via its USB-C port.

• Design score: 3.5/5

Denon AH-C840NCW review: Sound quality

• Single 12mm driver
• Ever-so-slightly warm audio profile
• Max volume is too low

Denon has fit the AH-C840NCW with a 12mm driver. That’s the same piece of kit that its sibling saw but with the eartips ensuring surrounding sound doesn’t leak in, the buds sound a lot better.

The AH-C840NCW have a gently warm sound profile that emphasizes bass just a little, but it's so slight that it won’t put off people who prefer a more neutral sound. Bass is scooping and well-defined, but treble is also is also crystal-clear and sharp.

I’d have liked to see a more pronounced, expansive and layered soundstage, as the buds seemed to lose instruments and harmonies that weren’t prominent, but they’re fairly detailed where it counts in vocals, drums and keys.

The maximum volume isn’t too high though. It’s fine for everyday listening when you’re at home or in an office, but if I wanted to hear music well over traffic, or get some extra oomph for an energetic song on a run, I found myself continually pressing my phone’s volume up button – and it didn't really help.

• Sound quality: 4/5

Denon AH-C840NCW review: Value

• Decent value compared to AirPods...
• ...not so much compared to other rivals

Compared to the Apple AirPods Pro, I’m willing to say that the Denon AH-C840NCW offer decent value for money. They undercut the big name buds without cutting down on the quality too much.

However, when you consider some of the other options on the market at this price, you realize you could still be getting a lot more for your money. Rivals within a similar $/£/AU$ range offer hardier designs, wider feature sets or better audio quality, and usually a combination of all three.

• Value: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Denon AH-C840NCW?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Denon AH-C840NCW review: Also consider

How I tested the Denon AH-C840NCW

• Tested for two weeks
• Tested at home, in the office, working out and on walks

My testing period for the AH-C840NCW earbuds was two weeks long, and it came straight after I wrote the Denon AH-C500W review, so I got to test the siblings back-to-back.

I paired the Denon with my Android smartphone for the whole testing period and tested apps like Spotify, YouTube, Netflix and certain games. Testing was done at home, around my neighborhood (on runs and on walks), on public transport, at my office and at the gym.

I've been reviewing audio products for TechRadar for years now, including products made by many of Denon's rivals and all three competitors mentioned above.

• First reviewed in July 2025

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