French audio brand Edifier’s new true wireless earbuds have a unique proposition: adaptive noise cancellation without having to cram your earbuds into your ear canal. The W320TN earbuds have an open design that’s rather reminiscent of Apple’s wired EarPods, but they also promise effective ANC.
That’s not all. The specs are a lot more advanced than any EarPods ever were. There’s Bluetooth 5.3, LDAC for higher quality audio, IP54 environmental protection and up to 27.5 hours of battery life: 22 hours from the charging case and 5.5 hours from the earbuds themselves. That’s with ANC turned off. With noise canceling turned on you can expect a still respectable total of 17.5 hours, based on 3.5 hours from the earbuds and 14 from the charging case. A full charge takes about an hour for the earbuds and an hour and a half for the case.
How do Edifier earplugs block sound?
According to Edifier, the W320TN has an “AI Multimodal Adaptive System” that uses multiple noise reduction algorithms to compensate for the inevitable air leakage you get from wearing open earbuds. As the company puts it: “Based on massive human hearing data, combined with an AI algorithm to analyze the frequency response of the ear canal, real-time detection is performed every time you wear it, and adaptive adjustment is made to matching with the appropriate bass compensation coefficient to reduce the loss of sound quality caused by air leakage during wearing, bringing a unique and excellent sound effect.
The fact that there are relatively large 13mm drivers in each button probably helps too. While the knobs produce an output pressure level of up to 94 dB, that same air leak means they shouldn’t get uncomfortably loud.
In addition to the ANC, there are triple microphones with noise reduction for clearer speech during calls, intelligent start-stop with wear detection, Google Fast Pair support and dual device connection for fast switching. There are AirPods-style squeeze controls, low latency (80ms) for gaming, and plenty of customization options via the Edifier Connect app.
That’s a lot of tech, but the price is pretty low. The Edifier W320TN will cost just £99.99 when it launches in the first week of September. I’m looking forward to hearing how good they sound and how well that smart-sounding ANC actually works against the best noise-canceling earbuds.