1More’s follow-up to the best budget noise-cancelling headphones is coming, and it promises better noise cancellation than the Bose NCH 700
The 1More Sonoflow headphones are our pick for the best noise-cancelling headphones for budget buyers, despite sharing an awfully similar name to that of toilet and macerator manufacturer Saniflo. And now there’s a follow-up: the Sonoflow Pro HQ51. As before, they’re exceptionally affordable for noise-cancelling: the sticker price is $90 (around £70 / AU$135), and there will be a $20 discount for early bird orders.
The new Sonoflow HQ51 looks virtually identical to the current model, except that the ear cushions are now leather. The main changes, however, are internal, including improved battery life and noise cancellation that 1More claims beats the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 . That’s a tall claim, considering that Bose’s headphones are genuinely good – and cost more than four times as much (when they were new).
Sonoflow HQ51: main features and specifications
The Sonoflow’s battery life was already impressive at 50 hours, but now it’s even longer: a claimed 65 hours with ANC on, and 100 hours with ANC off. That’s even higher than the mighty Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 or Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless, both of which hit 60 hours and earned lavish praise from us. Oh, and again, it costs several times more than the 1More.
Sound quality should also be improved. There are new 40mm diamond-cut carbon drivers, which 1More claims deliver lower total harmonic distortion than the mighty Sony WH-1000XM5, and like Sony’s headphones, the HQ51 support the hi-res LDAC codec for wireless music.
I’m going to risk predicting that the 1More headphones won’t be better headphones than Sony’s. We didn’t find the current version to be anything special in terms of sound quality, and while the new drivers will likely sound better, I expect it’s still a good result rather than a mind-blowing one.
I think it’s telling that the metric used in the marketing is total harmonic distortion, something that’s largely meaningless to the average listener. THD is a measurement of signal accuracy, but once you get down to the low levels of distortion found in headphones like the WH-1000XM5, the distortion is inaudible. It’s in other areas that the extra cost of the Sony headphones is felt.
But we’re still very much looking forward to 1More’s new headphones. The current Sonoflow headphones are a steal, so getting improved ANC and audio for the same money – or even less if you get in early – is even better. As we said in our Sonoflow review: “You’ll find better ANC and sound out there, but, crucially, not at this price.”
