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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2024
I'm not a person that is a big audiophile or anything like that, but I do love technology and always try to get the best available for the best price. Headphones for me have never justified buying the most recent technological product and spending a lot of money.
Back in 2019, I bought my first ANC Headphones, for just £35, the Bluedio T7 Plus, for the price they were amazing, sometimes connection drops a bit but nothing serious, ANC is good enough for the price, battery life is amazing and sound quality for me is good enough. Build quality is also amazing. They don't fold, are a bit on the heavy side and my left ear sometimes warms up a bit, but nothing serious that I need to take them off. But sound wise, ANC and quality is there when you look at the price.
Before Christmas I was looking to upgrade to something better and with much better quality, my wife was also interested and searching for Headphones, so after much research I decided to gift her the Sony WH-CH720N white colour, they were on offer for £79.99. After trying them out, I could tell the ANC and sound quality was definitely 10 times better compared to my old and cheap Bluedio, they are very very light which makes them very comfortable. Connection is amazing, no drops or loss of audio quality, ANC is very good. They don't fold and don't include a case. Build quality could be better. At this price point I was impressed, specially the ANC, comfort and sound quality. She loved them and kept them.
I decided to spend much more so I could see if the higher prices means much better, and so I bought the Sony WH-1000XM4 for £199, was between these and the newer model XM5, after reading reviews decided to try these and they were also £79 cheaper, I liked them, sound quality was good, ANC hiss was a bit annoying but good as well, they fold and have a case. Considering these costed much more than the WH-CH720N I was expecting much more. The touch controls were horrible, less comfortable, connection lagged some times. Sound quality and ANC were a bit better, but in my opinion nothing that justifies spending and extra £120 for better build quality and a case. If I'm honest the ANC was on par with the WH-CH720N. For this decided to return them and was going to buy the WH-CH720N in black, but at the time they were sold out and couldn't exchange them.
This comes to the point where after trying to find alternatives I decided to buy the Soundcore Q35, they were on offer at £75.99, good reviews, almost same price as the WH-CH720N, good features with a case included. What could go wrong? Truth is, everything.
Considering these Headphones are supposed to be high end to rival something like the Sony WH-1000XM4 which costed around £300 and they released at a price point of around £130, I was expecting something similar to the XM4, but I wasn't impressed, they are just horrible, connection kept dropping all the time, my ears started going on fire, ANC barely exists, sound quality is basically not good, build quality is bad, I could hear creaking everywhere. To the point I realised, wait a minute, my 5 year old £35 cheap Bluedio have better ANC, sound and build quality than this? How can this be? But it is the reality.
In my opinion, it's all marketing and paid reviews to make the product look good when it's not, these Soundcore Q35 are definitely not worth the money.
In conclusion, if you are on the market for some good headphones at around £80, I definitely recommend the Sony WH-CH720N, it's not perfect, they don't fold and you need to buy a case. But you definitely get very good ANC, comfort and sound quality for this price, to the point I recommend them over the XM4 due to the price difference. Honestly, the XM4 are not that better and the ANC hiss is annoying.
Back in 2019, I bought my first ANC Headphones, for just £35, the Bluedio T7 Plus, for the price they were amazing, sometimes connection drops a bit but nothing serious, ANC is good enough for the price, battery life is amazing and sound quality for me is good enough. Build quality is also amazing. They don't fold, are a bit on the heavy side and my left ear sometimes warms up a bit, but nothing serious that I need to take them off. But sound wise, ANC and quality is there when you look at the price.
Before Christmas I was looking to upgrade to something better and with much better quality, my wife was also interested and searching for Headphones, so after much research I decided to gift her the Sony WH-CH720N white colour, they were on offer for £79.99. After trying them out, I could tell the ANC and sound quality was definitely 10 times better compared to my old and cheap Bluedio, they are very very light which makes them very comfortable. Connection is amazing, no drops or loss of audio quality, ANC is very good. They don't fold and don't include a case. Build quality could be better. At this price point I was impressed, specially the ANC, comfort and sound quality. She loved them and kept them.
I decided to spend much more so I could see if the higher prices means much better, and so I bought the Sony WH-1000XM4 for £199, was between these and the newer model XM5, after reading reviews decided to try these and they were also £79 cheaper, I liked them, sound quality was good, ANC hiss was a bit annoying but good as well, they fold and have a case. Considering these costed much more than the WH-CH720N I was expecting much more. The touch controls were horrible, less comfortable, connection lagged some times. Sound quality and ANC were a bit better, but in my opinion nothing that justifies spending and extra £120 for better build quality and a case. If I'm honest the ANC was on par with the WH-CH720N. For this decided to return them and was going to buy the WH-CH720N in black, but at the time they were sold out and couldn't exchange them.
This comes to the point where after trying to find alternatives I decided to buy the Soundcore Q35, they were on offer at £75.99, good reviews, almost same price as the WH-CH720N, good features with a case included. What could go wrong? Truth is, everything.
Considering these Headphones are supposed to be high end to rival something like the Sony WH-1000XM4 which costed around £300 and they released at a price point of around £130, I was expecting something similar to the XM4, but I wasn't impressed, they are just horrible, connection kept dropping all the time, my ears started going on fire, ANC barely exists, sound quality is basically not good, build quality is bad, I could hear creaking everywhere. To the point I realised, wait a minute, my 5 year old £35 cheap Bluedio have better ANC, sound and build quality than this? How can this be? But it is the reality.
In my opinion, it's all marketing and paid reviews to make the product look good when it's not, these Soundcore Q35 are definitely not worth the money.
In conclusion, if you are on the market for some good headphones at around £80, I definitely recommend the Sony WH-CH720N, it's not perfect, they don't fold and you need to buy a case. But you definitely get very good ANC, comfort and sound quality for this price, to the point I recommend them over the XM4 due to the price difference. Honestly, the XM4 are not that better and the ANC hiss is annoying.
