ANC headphones that reviewers recommend without hesitation are now on sale! For less than a thousand, it's a great buy

Active noise cancellation used to be the domain of more expensive headphones. You can now buy Soundcore Q20i with code ALZADNY35 for 969 CZK instead of 1,490 CZK – and international reviewers agree that for this price, they are the easiest recommendation on the market.

👍 Get them if you commute, work in an open-plan office, or study in a dorm and want to escape noise without a big investment.
🤔 Hesitate if you make a lot of phone calls – reviewers agree that the microphones are the weakest aspect of these headphones.
💰 Price tag: 969 CZK for hybrid ANC, Hi-Res certification, and forty hours of battery life – that’s a ratio that competitors can’t beat.

Hybrid ANC for a thousand is not a given

Hybrid noise cancellation means that the headphones have microphones both outside and inside the earcups, allowing them to filter out more frequencies than simpler systems. A reviewer who tested the headphones for two weeks on a bus, subway, and in an office described the result soberly: the noise didn’t disappear, but it noticeably decreased – and at this price, he said he was shocked.

The second argument is battery life. Forty hours with ANC (and according to the manufacturer, up to 60 hours without it) means you charge the headphones once a week, not every other day – and that’s a value that reviewers repeatedly call better than some premium models. Five minutes of charging is enough for four hours of listening.

The sound is handled by 40mm drivers with Hi-Res Audio certification, and the main strength lies in the Soundcore app, which reviewers praise as one of the best in this category: 22 preset equalizers by genre and a custom ten-band equalizer, so you can tune the sound exactly to your liking. Also included are a transparency mode for when you need to hear your surroundings, and connection to two devices simultaneously.

Where the low price is noticeable

Reviewers agree on two criticisms. Firstly, the microphones – the headphones are excellent for music and podcasts, but they lag behind more expensive competitors during calls and video conferences; those who make a lot of phone calls should pay extra. Secondly, the materials: the body is plastic, although according to testers, it feels solid and not cheap, and the earcups are made of artificial leather, which doesn’t press uncomfortably after two hours of listening.

Also missing is the LDAC codec for lossless transmission from Android, which more expensive models of the same brand have. And while ANC works for constant hums like a fan, bus engine, or office noise, it doesn’t dampen sharp and sudden sounds as well as headphones ten times the price. However, the headphones fold flat, so they easily fit into a backpack.

Do you use noise cancellation, or do you not mind hearing your surroundings?