REVIEW: QCY H3 ANC has spectacular noise cancellation

A QCY emerged in 2009 and has been quite successful by offering products that combine good quality and very attractive prices, it's no surprise that they are among the 5 largest manufacturers of Bluetooth headphones on the planet. In a reality where headphones cost from R$400,00 to R$2.000,00, having good options for less than R$250 is wonderful.

In addition to creating smart watches, wireless headphones — the acquaintances true wireless (TWS) — the company now enters the headphones market with the QCY H4 and the QCY H3 ANC, which, as the name suggests, offer noise cancellation. See below what we think of the product — and already giving spoilers: it is very good in several aspects!

Design

It is an over-ear or earphone. on-ear (over the ear) very pretty, without flashy details, with good build quality and finishing and even though it's an entry-level product, it doesn't give you the feeling that it won't last long. It is made of good quality plastic with some parts made of leather-like fabric. Even though it is an entry-level product, it looks like a premium, as it closely resembles the XM4 from Sony.

It is very comfortable to use. I work all day on the computer and before receiving the H3 I used the HyperX Cloud Flight S, which became heavy after a long time of use, so I switched to Sony WH-1000XM5 which is lighter, but tightens my head. The QCY H3 manages to be light without weighing me down, combining the best of both worlds. Even if you wear glasses you won't feel the temples putting pressure on your head, the rubbers are very good, making you more comfortable.

Speaking of the rubbers, they are replaceable, and that's a big positive point. My 2020 Cloud Flight S is already completely peeled off and knowing that I can change the rubbers on the QCY H3 in the future, if I need to, gives me a great feeling of relief. It also makes cleaning a lot easier.

A very valid detail to remember is the possibility of folding it, it is very compact, something that the XM5 from Sony it doesn't and takes up a lot of volume in suitcases and backpacks.

In the box — which is very beautiful on the outside, by the way, and feels premium — In addition to the headset, there is a USB-C cable for charging and the P2 cable, along with the manual. One was missing CASE​ travel, but in its price range, it's worth mentioning!

On the right shell there are buttons to control:

• Increase e lower the volume (which can be used to skip and return to the track by pressing for a longer time);
• Turn on e to turn off the headset (which allows you to activate gaming mode with lower latency);
• activate e deactivate noise cancellation, transparency mode and everything off mode.

It also has USB-C inputs for charging and the P2 input, if you want to use it wired. It is the company's legacy to give the user the chance to choose how they want to use it.

The model we tested is the herd, but it is possible to buy it in colors Black e dark blue.

sound quality

Before talking about the sound quality, I'll continue what I said in the previous paragraph about the connection possibilities: wireless; via P2 cable; or via USB-C, if your cell phone, like mine Galaxy S22, there is also no sound output. It's great for those who don't like using headphones via Bluetooth and don't have a P2 output on their cell phone.

Its sound is very good, very pleasant and the bass is strong and impactful, ideal for those who like pop, rock or electronic music. You can do the equalization in the QCY app so you can leave it the way you like best. I would say that this is a headphone for those who are not looking for high sound quality to listen to music, who use it more to watch videos, social networks and things like that. You can't expect it to deliver the same quality as super expensive headphones. Even so, the mids and highs are well highlighted, it is a really good headphone and does its job well, especially in this price range.

It has the Hi-Res Audio seal, which is basically high-resolution audio, which helps to endorse its sound quality. He has driver 40mm dynamic with titanium coating that provides more durability and quality.

When connected via Bluetooth there is a delay It's noticeable that when you activate game mode, it ends up crashing and you can even use it to listen to music and watch videos.

Noise cancellation

Going straight to the point: it is excellent. Even with 2 fans on and the sound of the notebook fan, the QCY H3 ANC performed great, canceling out all the noise. It's the first time I've seen such a cheap phone perform so well.

It has a technology called “Bimodal Adaptive”, which according to QCY itself “allows the headphones to detect the structure of your ear canal and the way you wear the headphones, creating unique noise cancellation parameters so that the headphones deliver the same audio quality to different people".

Through the application, available for Android e iOS, there are some noise cancellation modes, which is really cool to use and test, it allows you to use it adapted to your needs and situations. Are they:

• Adaptable
• Noisy
• Daily trips
• Indoor
• Wind noise

And you can adjust between 3 levels on some of them, to allow some noises not to be canceled.

We see some products that have ANC (Audio Noise Cancellation, or audio noise cancellation in direct translation) in the name and don't always have good results, but the QCY H3 ANC has proven itself excellent in this regard. If you are looking for a headset that needs to have good noise cancellation, the H3 is for you.

Ambient mode

Ambient mode is not its strong point, I don't recommend it. He accentuated, for example, the sound of the cooler of the notebook and the phone made a hissing sound.

Bluetooth

The Bluetooth here is type 5.4 which, in theory, should offer lower latency — and even offers it in active game mode. I believe that QCY chose not to offer such low latency without having the game mode active to help preserve the battery, after all, 60 hours of playback is quite a lot.

One of the wonderful features of Bluetooth 5.4 is the possibility of connecting to 2 devices at the same time. I used the H3 ANC paired with my cell phone and computer at the same time, and it's very good, you don't need to keep switching from one to the other, since both are connected.

The range is ok, QCY reports that it is 10 meters without obstacles. I used it while walking around the house with my cell phone/notebook in another room and it worked smoothly in a not very large space, around 60m², with few walls separating it.

About the codecs Accepted are the SBC and AAC, the most common.

Microphone

The 3 microphones do their job well. In all the calls I made using it, I asked if people heard me well and the answer was always positive, with some echo from the environment and a perception that there was something different. In addition to being used for calls, microphones play an important role in noise cancellation, so it is important that they are of high quality, and judging by the quality of noise cancellation, we can say that the microphones are very good.

QCY App

It's a very beautiful application, complete with several useful features. You don't need it to pair with your cell phone and for basic functions, but through it you can control more features of the H3 ANC.

Summarizing the possibilities you have through the app:

• Music equalizer features;
• Control the noise reduction mode in different ways;
• Activate transparent and normal mode;
• Check the battery level;
• Sound channel balance (increase or decrease the left or right side);
• Configure what the buttons do;
• Find the phone (it starts ringing if you've lost it and it's within Bluetooth range);
• Scheduled shutdown;
• Activate and deactivate Game Mode;
• Update the firmware;
• Change the device name;
• Reset to factory settings;
• Clear pairing history.

It's a very complete app, I confess that I didn't miss any of the most important features that an average person might need. Congratulations to QCY!

It can be downloaded from Play Store, for Android devices. You’ll also find places to stay in App Store, for iOS devices.

Battery

Battery life will vary depending on how loudly you use it and whether noise cancellation is active or not. The manufacturer reports that 2 hours of charging offers up to 60 hours of use at 50% volume, and that's fabulous. With noise cancellation, the autonomy drops to 35 hours, which is still very good.

I used it for more than 5 days, for about 5 hours, with volume in the 35% range and active noise cancellation and the battery was still at 20%. This is the type of product that you don't even remember uses a battery, you use it, use it, use it and use it and after a long time you remember that you need to plug it in to charge. Another super positive point from him.

I love that even connected to Windows I can monitor the battery life, it's very practical.

Price

There are two companies selling QCY products in Brazil, and our contact at QCY Global informed us that the official distributor is qcybrasil.com and there the H3 is costing R$ 239,00. But it can also be purchased from QCY Global at Amazon for $ 199,00, or AliExpress, for R$ 179,00 but you are subject to extra fees, it may or may not happen.

It also offers a 12-month warranty, which is surprising!

Conclusion

A QCY It quickly became famous in Brazil mainly due to the excellent cost-benefit ratio between its products, the company showed that it is possible to make very good products without charging high prices and the QCY H3 ANC is another one of these products.

It is an entry-level headphone with many of the features of higher category headphones, and excellent quality in almost everything, but especially the main thing: sound and noise cancellation.

Worth to buy? For sure! I don't know headphones in this price range that deliver what it does.

QCY H3 ANC Technical Specifications

Model	QCY H3 ANC Headphones
Colors	White Black Dark blue
Material	Plastic, ABS, Leather
Phone type	Supra-auricular or on-ear (over the ear)
Noise cancellation	Yes
Hi-Res Audio	Yes
Wired Connections	3.5mm audio cable; USB-C
Microphone	Yes 3
Bluetooth version	5.4
Bluetooth Profile	A2DP/AVRCP/HFP
Multipoint Connection	Yes
Bluetooth range	About 10 meters in open space without obstacles
Frequency	2,4 GHz-2,480 GHz
Speaker driver size	40 mm
Impedance	32+-15%
Frequency response	20Hz ~ 20KHz
Headphone sensitivity	96+-3dB at 1KHz.
Microphone response	-42-+3dB (0dB=1V/Pa,1KHz)
Battery	500mAh
Charging Time	2h
Playback Time	60h with volume at 50%
Size	160.2 * 81.7 * 196.8mm
Shot Put	260g
Digital Certificate	CE, ROHS
Latency	78ms
Warranty	12 months by seller
Price	R$ 239,00

Source: QCY

Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim