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COWIN E8 [Upgraded] Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Bluetooth...
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- COWIN E8 [Upgraded] Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Bluetooth...
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![COWIN E8 [Upgraded] Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Bluetooth Headphones with Microphone Deep Bass Wireless Headphones Over Ear, Great Audio for Travel/Work/TV/Computer/Cellphone, Black](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41YiPR9+miL._AC_US60_SCLZZZZZZZ__.jpg)
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November 25, 2018
Downgrading this to 1 star. The company offered a refund if I changed my review to 5 stars. If you want good reviews, then make good products.
I bought these because after 2 sets of the Sony MDRXB950BT/B breaking due to their poor construction, I was tired of dealing with it. I also wanted to try out some noise-cancelling and see what the fuss was about. I bought these when they were at $150, they're even cheaper now so a pretty good way to try out the ANC features.
The Good:
- The noise-cancelling is pretty nice. It's not industry-leading, but it works. I underestimated how important it was. I'm an engineer and I work in a production environment. There is a lot of noise, particularly a lot of low rumbling sounds. If you're not listening to anything and just turn on the ANC, it makes a noticeable reduction but of course you can still hear plenty of mid to high frequency noise. So you may think (as I did) "Eh, there's still noise. Whatever." When you're listening to something however, like a podcast or music, it makes a huge difference. You're no longer subconsciously struggling to hear through the noise. After experiencing this I'm a firm convert to ANC for headphones I'll wear out of the house.
- The sound is pretty good. Coming from the super-bassy Sony headphones (a feature I loved), these seemed a little more flat on the low end. However, I used the EQ settings on my phone to bump up the low end and get them to a place I was happy with. No real complaints here, I was a happy camper for the price.
- The price. These are significantly cheaper than some of the usual contestants for ANC headphones. If $300 for a set of Bose QC35s seems crazy to you, then paying 1/3 the price for 3/4 of the performance is a pretty good deal.
The Bad:
- Durability. I owned these for less than a few weeks. Never dropped them, sat on them, threw them around, etc. Kept them in the case when not in use. So far the headband adjustment mechanism on the right side has stopped working. It's just loose now with the detents having disappeared into Narnia. It will fall all the way down if you just let the headphones hang. I have a big head so it sort of works out but it's not a great sign. The adjustment on the left side has now become super stiff and is difficult to adjust without feeling like I'm going to break the headband.
- Battery life. With my old Sonys, I felt as though I had to charge them maybe every 2 days. I'm usually at work between 10-12 hours every day and wearing the headphones the whole time. I charge these every night, and start using them around 10am. By around 5-6pm the battery starts dying. This wouldn't be the end of the world except that for the last 15% or so of the battery life (at least an hour's worth) whatever you're listening to is constantly interrupted by a voice saying "BATTERY LOW" every minute or two. And it doesn't just overlay the voice, it stops whatever you're listening to, says "BATTERY LOW," then resumes playing. It's incredibly jarring, annoying, and totally unnecessary. Say it ONCE and then please shutup. It feels like you're constantly in a race against time before the battery dies.
- ANC on/off. This is more trivial, but still annoying. The ANC is turned on and off separately from the actual audio/bluetooth portion. This means that if you don't remember to turn off the headphones AND flip the switch to turn off ANC, then ANC will stay on and drain the battery. It's a minor nitpick but I would forget this all the time and just put them back in the case thinking they were off, only to put on dead headphones later. Fortunately though, you can listen to them while charging.
- Comfort. They're comfortable when you put them on, but if you're using these at work for 8+ hours a day you're gonna notice them.
- Weight. They aren't too heavy for me, in that I notice the weight but don't mind it. Where it's annoying is if you look down or up, they may try to fall off your head. I wear headphones at the gym, and anytime I would lay down on a bench they'd slip backwards off my head. The Sonys were lighter and never did that unless I shook my head. For most people this probably doesn't matter but if you plan to workout or run in these, you'll probably have this issue.
- No forward/back buttons. You can pause and play by pressing the power button, but you can't go to the next or previous track as far as I'm aware.
All in all they're not bad for general use. The $150 I paid isn't enough to demand perfection, but it's too much to accept these flaws, so these are going back.
I bought these because after 2 sets of the Sony MDRXB950BT/B breaking due to their poor construction, I was tired of dealing with it. I also wanted to try out some noise-cancelling and see what the fuss was about. I bought these when they were at $150, they're even cheaper now so a pretty good way to try out the ANC features.
The Good:
- The noise-cancelling is pretty nice. It's not industry-leading, but it works. I underestimated how important it was. I'm an engineer and I work in a production environment. There is a lot of noise, particularly a lot of low rumbling sounds. If you're not listening to anything and just turn on the ANC, it makes a noticeable reduction but of course you can still hear plenty of mid to high frequency noise. So you may think (as I did) "Eh, there's still noise. Whatever." When you're listening to something however, like a podcast or music, it makes a huge difference. You're no longer subconsciously struggling to hear through the noise. After experiencing this I'm a firm convert to ANC for headphones I'll wear out of the house.
- The sound is pretty good. Coming from the super-bassy Sony headphones (a feature I loved), these seemed a little more flat on the low end. However, I used the EQ settings on my phone to bump up the low end and get them to a place I was happy with. No real complaints here, I was a happy camper for the price.
- The price. These are significantly cheaper than some of the usual contestants for ANC headphones. If $300 for a set of Bose QC35s seems crazy to you, then paying 1/3 the price for 3/4 of the performance is a pretty good deal.
The Bad:
- Durability. I owned these for less than a few weeks. Never dropped them, sat on them, threw them around, etc. Kept them in the case when not in use. So far the headband adjustment mechanism on the right side has stopped working. It's just loose now with the detents having disappeared into Narnia. It will fall all the way down if you just let the headphones hang. I have a big head so it sort of works out but it's not a great sign. The adjustment on the left side has now become super stiff and is difficult to adjust without feeling like I'm going to break the headband.
- Battery life. With my old Sonys, I felt as though I had to charge them maybe every 2 days. I'm usually at work between 10-12 hours every day and wearing the headphones the whole time. I charge these every night, and start using them around 10am. By around 5-6pm the battery starts dying. This wouldn't be the end of the world except that for the last 15% or so of the battery life (at least an hour's worth) whatever you're listening to is constantly interrupted by a voice saying "BATTERY LOW" every minute or two. And it doesn't just overlay the voice, it stops whatever you're listening to, says "BATTERY LOW," then resumes playing. It's incredibly jarring, annoying, and totally unnecessary. Say it ONCE and then please shutup. It feels like you're constantly in a race against time before the battery dies.
- ANC on/off. This is more trivial, but still annoying. The ANC is turned on and off separately from the actual audio/bluetooth portion. This means that if you don't remember to turn off the headphones AND flip the switch to turn off ANC, then ANC will stay on and drain the battery. It's a minor nitpick but I would forget this all the time and just put them back in the case thinking they were off, only to put on dead headphones later. Fortunately though, you can listen to them while charging.
- Comfort. They're comfortable when you put them on, but if you're using these at work for 8+ hours a day you're gonna notice them.
- Weight. They aren't too heavy for me, in that I notice the weight but don't mind it. Where it's annoying is if you look down or up, they may try to fall off your head. I wear headphones at the gym, and anytime I would lay down on a bench they'd slip backwards off my head. The Sonys were lighter and never did that unless I shook my head. For most people this probably doesn't matter but if you plan to workout or run in these, you'll probably have this issue.
- No forward/back buttons. You can pause and play by pressing the power button, but you can't go to the next or previous track as far as I'm aware.
All in all they're not bad for general use. The $150 I paid isn't enough to demand perfection, but it's too much to accept these flaws, so these are going back.
July 27, 2018
The price of these headphones is based on packaging alone. These sound like a bootleg recording being listened to in a tin can. Do not waste your money!!!
August 9, 2018
After using a borrowed set of ANC headphones on an international flight, I decided to take the plunge and buy a pair to use at the gym. I selected the E8 because of price and reviews. I am not an audiophile but I like the sound. It has a nice solid quality about it. The ANC feature is excellent. It cancels virtually all of the background noise at the gym, music, machine noise, dropped dumbells and background conversations.
The headphones seem well built. It doesn't have a cheap feel to the materials.
Only two drawbacks so far--the headphones are a bit heavy compared to my old set but the added weight may be due to the ANC tech. I don't have a comparison. Because of the heaviness, the headphones sometimes slip when I am doing horizontal exercises such as sit ups. I can usually fuss to keep them from slipping. I wonder if I can tighten up clamping. The other drawback may be a feature for some. When the battery is low, you hear a voiced alert on top of whatever you are listening to that 10% of battery is left. The alert repeats until the battery dies. Once I know that the batteries are low, I would prefer the unit to shut up so I can enjoy whatever juice I have left.
sadly, I received a defective unit. cowin happily replaced it with a unit that was also defective. After two attempts, I asked for my money back and it was readily processed. Sad because I really liked the design, sound quality, etc. it would have been a great value.
The headphones seem well built. It doesn't have a cheap feel to the materials.
Only two drawbacks so far--the headphones are a bit heavy compared to my old set but the added weight may be due to the ANC tech. I don't have a comparison. Because of the heaviness, the headphones sometimes slip when I am doing horizontal exercises such as sit ups. I can usually fuss to keep them from slipping. I wonder if I can tighten up clamping. The other drawback may be a feature for some. When the battery is low, you hear a voiced alert on top of whatever you are listening to that 10% of battery is left. The alert repeats until the battery dies. Once I know that the batteries are low, I would prefer the unit to shut up so I can enjoy whatever juice I have left.
sadly, I received a defective unit. cowin happily replaced it with a unit that was also defective. After two attempts, I asked for my money back and it was readily processed. Sad because I really liked the design, sound quality, etc. it would have been a great value.
November 29, 2018
These headphones are garbage. Save your money and buy a better name brand like maybe one that rhymes with “nose”. I wanted these to replace my quiet comforts at a more reasonable price point, but MAN are these a let down. I can hear so much static noise when the noise cancelation is on, and when On a call, the other caller can’t hear me. It sounds muffled they say. The sound quality is abysmal.
March 13, 2019
Cons
1. The active noise canceling sounds like a pot of boiling water. In other words, the "silence" is gargling white noise.
2. When the ANC is on, the music/podcast cuts out for about a half second approximately 1 or 2 times per minute. This problem has not occurred with any of my other listening devices. This is annoying and infuriating to listen to.
3. The automated sounds that occur when turning the headphones on/off or pressing the volume buttons is deafening. I purchased ANC headphones to protect my hearing from further damage due to loud noise, not make it worse.
4. The lowest sound that the headphones could possibly produce without going mute is the loudest that I would want to play my music/podcast. (I adjusted both my phone and the headphones to the lowest volume possible.) For casual listening, you would not want to play music/podcasts any louder than this lowest volume setting, which is restricting because it may still be too loud for some listeners.
5. They have a strong clamping force and do not extend out very far so I would not recommended them for people with larger heads otherwise you run the risk of breaking them which I have read is a common occurrence.
6. These headphones are advertised as "over-ear", whereas I would categorized them more as "on-ear". The ear pads themselves are huge. However, the center hole of the pad is smaller than most adult ears so it is quite likely that some part of your ear will be compressed by the ear pads.
Pros
1. More comfortable than I had anticipated, to be clear though, I set the bar at medium-low. I was concerned about them compressing the frame of my glasses into my ear and head which can be very uncomfortable. After wearing them for one evening I can confirm that they caused me no pain.
2. It was able to actively cancel out the noise from my refrigerator(... but not the fan above the stove). So you could say that the ANC works to a certain degree.
3. Sound quality was fine, I suppose. I was distracted by all the other issues that were apparent and obvious that I had little time to give thought to the balance of the sounds that were coming out of the headphones.
1. The active noise canceling sounds like a pot of boiling water. In other words, the "silence" is gargling white noise.
2. When the ANC is on, the music/podcast cuts out for about a half second approximately 1 or 2 times per minute. This problem has not occurred with any of my other listening devices. This is annoying and infuriating to listen to.
3. The automated sounds that occur when turning the headphones on/off or pressing the volume buttons is deafening. I purchased ANC headphones to protect my hearing from further damage due to loud noise, not make it worse.
4. The lowest sound that the headphones could possibly produce without going mute is the loudest that I would want to play my music/podcast. (I adjusted both my phone and the headphones to the lowest volume possible.) For casual listening, you would not want to play music/podcasts any louder than this lowest volume setting, which is restricting because it may still be too loud for some listeners.
5. They have a strong clamping force and do not extend out very far so I would not recommended them for people with larger heads otherwise you run the risk of breaking them which I have read is a common occurrence.
6. These headphones are advertised as "over-ear", whereas I would categorized them more as "on-ear". The ear pads themselves are huge. However, the center hole of the pad is smaller than most adult ears so it is quite likely that some part of your ear will be compressed by the ear pads.
Pros
1. More comfortable than I had anticipated, to be clear though, I set the bar at medium-low. I was concerned about them compressing the frame of my glasses into my ear and head which can be very uncomfortable. After wearing them for one evening I can confirm that they caused me no pain.
2. It was able to actively cancel out the noise from my refrigerator(... but not the fan above the stove). So you could say that the ANC works to a certain degree.
3. Sound quality was fine, I suppose. I was distracted by all the other issues that were apparent and obvious that I had little time to give thought to the balance of the sounds that were coming out of the headphones.
August 14, 2018
Pros-They are loud
Cons-The bluetooth made a noise every 20 seconds or so and the Active noise Cancelling sounded like a breeze was blowing in my ears. when i tried to charge them while listening at the same time there was a loud electrical feedback noise. For the price of these i was really dissapointed.
Cons-The bluetooth made a noise every 20 seconds or so and the Active noise Cancelling sounded like a breeze was blowing in my ears. when i tried to charge them while listening at the same time there was a loud electrical feedback noise. For the price of these i was really dissapointed.
August 25, 2018
Have had two sets now in one week. Without the noise cancelation they were fine but turn it on and the static in the first set right side was painful and with the second set the same thing happened but with the left earpiece. It didn't matter if using Bluetooth or wired music or non at all the static was horrible and painful. Turn the noise cancelation off then they were fine. If you want noise cancellation don't buy these. These seem to be a bad set of them. I have tried E7 and E7pro and the noise cancellation was fine.
Update 6/29/19 update
Owner comtacted me about my issues and is to give a full refund while keeping the headphones I have. The headphones work wothout the anc. The people behind Cowin do read these coments and contact you. That is much more than i had had with other customers. For that and told i will get my money back I give Cowin a 4/5 for support and backing
Well it is now the end of July the person from cowin called back and wanted to put the money back on my ebay account though I did not get them through ebay. It was a scam to change my rating. It was too good to be true. I refused to give any ebay information out and the caller said he would find away to get my money back. That never happened. Can't tell you if this really was a cowin rep or a scam but my rating of these headphones and service is back to 1 star because I can't give them 0.
Update 6/29/19 update
Owner comtacted me about my issues and is to give a full refund while keeping the headphones I have. The headphones work wothout the anc. The people behind Cowin do read these coments and contact you. That is much more than i had had with other customers. For that and told i will get my money back I give Cowin a 4/5 for support and backing
Well it is now the end of July the person from cowin called back and wanted to put the money back on my ebay account though I did not get them through ebay. It was a scam to change my rating. It was too good to be true. I refused to give any ebay information out and the caller said he would find away to get my money back. That never happened. Can't tell you if this really was a cowin rep or a scam but my rating of these headphones and service is back to 1 star because I can't give them 0.
February 5, 2019
I was looking for a noise cancelling solution to use my iPad while my wife watches TV at night. I already have a pair of Bose noise-cancelling earbuds, but the idea of a Bluetooth over-ear solution for this application prompted me to dig around and I decided to give these E8 headphones a shot. They arrived today and I compared them with the Bose earbuds.
The E8 headphones are comfortable. The controls are logically laid out and the tactile feedback is good, the build quality also seems good and the instructions are easy to follow. COWIN has obviously gone to great lengths to create a product with a competitive user experience.
Why three stars and why did I return the headphones? They simply didn't measure up to the Bose earbuds in the realm of noise canceling. I fired up a TV and went back and forth between the E8's and the earbuds. The earbuds suppressed a much wider frequency range than the E8's, which seemed to focus on lower frequencies. This might be fine and a good value for flying where the ambient noise tends to be a low frequency rumble, but sitting in front of a TV the E8's passed the mid and higher frequencies through with more of a discerned pitch alteration than actual suppression. The suppression performance difference between the E8's and Bose earbuds was immediately apparent.
It boils down to what you're looking for in performance and what you're willing to spend. The earbuds are three hundred bucks, the E8's are less than half that. The over-ear Bose headphones are a whopping three fifty, which I just can't justify seeing as I've already got the pricey earbuds.
If you're looking for a solution for flying and don't care that the E8's don't fold up (a light carry-on load is why I bought the earbuds in the first place), these might work just fine.
The E8 headphones are comfortable. The controls are logically laid out and the tactile feedback is good, the build quality also seems good and the instructions are easy to follow. COWIN has obviously gone to great lengths to create a product with a competitive user experience.
Why three stars and why did I return the headphones? They simply didn't measure up to the Bose earbuds in the realm of noise canceling. I fired up a TV and went back and forth between the E8's and the earbuds. The earbuds suppressed a much wider frequency range than the E8's, which seemed to focus on lower frequencies. This might be fine and a good value for flying where the ambient noise tends to be a low frequency rumble, but sitting in front of a TV the E8's passed the mid and higher frequencies through with more of a discerned pitch alteration than actual suppression. The suppression performance difference between the E8's and Bose earbuds was immediately apparent.
It boils down to what you're looking for in performance and what you're willing to spend. The earbuds are three hundred bucks, the E8's are less than half that. The over-ear Bose headphones are a whopping three fifty, which I just can't justify seeing as I've already got the pricey earbuds.
If you're looking for a solution for flying and don't care that the E8's don't fold up (a light carry-on load is why I bought the earbuds in the first place), these might work just fine.
October 13, 2018
I've been using the E7 headphones for about 7 months now. And I love them! The sound is great and they fit great. So much so I decided to upgrade.
The E8 sound in my opinion isn't much of an improvement. And for some reason there shorter than the E7??
Needless to say, I'm not impressed with my expensive purchased upgrade to the E8. Disappointed!
Save your money and purchase the E7 model!
The E8 sound in my opinion isn't much of an improvement. And for some reason there shorter than the E7??
Needless to say, I'm not impressed with my expensive purchased upgrade to the E8. Disappointed!
Save your money and purchase the E7 model!
September 30, 2019
I bought this when I had my first child a few weeks ago to help deal with the screaming that inevitably comes with newborns.
Big drawbacks: when using the microphone, the receiving end gets a feedback echo which makes the voice feature on these phones completely useless, can't make phone calls, can't use for gaming. The constant and jarring "battery low" noise which ruins the use of the headphones for the last hour or so of battery life. The lack of volume control on the system voiceover (power on, power off, battery low). Also, the headband adjuster broke within 1 week of light use. Not sure how they pulled that one off, but it seems like a recurring issue based on other reviews. Also, beware of the return policy. It is contingent on leaving no review or a positive review. See below.
Pros: The noise canceling does well enough without streaming music to break up background noise, but comes with a whine. If you leave it plugged in while wearing them, the whine is louder and distracting. With streaming music pumped to the speakers via bluetooth, this thing will block out conversations with people right in front of you. The phones are generally comfortable, over-ear is sufficiently big enough for my ears.
I have to ask Cowin, did you even product test these things before sending them out? These are E8 so I assume you could refine some quality of life upgrades with E1 through 7...
Edit: I edited this review down to a 1-star because I added that the microphone is useless with the feedback issue and because Cowin is suggesting they will not issue me a refund unless I delete this review. "My goal is to see if I can earn a review deletion from you. I can offer you with a full refund back to your original form of payment" is verbatim from the support email. A pretty boldly unethical move. The review will stay and I'd like a refund, but I'd rather eat the $150 than delete the review.
Big drawbacks: when using the microphone, the receiving end gets a feedback echo which makes the voice feature on these phones completely useless, can't make phone calls, can't use for gaming. The constant and jarring "battery low" noise which ruins the use of the headphones for the last hour or so of battery life. The lack of volume control on the system voiceover (power on, power off, battery low). Also, the headband adjuster broke within 1 week of light use. Not sure how they pulled that one off, but it seems like a recurring issue based on other reviews. Also, beware of the return policy. It is contingent on leaving no review or a positive review. See below.
Pros: The noise canceling does well enough without streaming music to break up background noise, but comes with a whine. If you leave it plugged in while wearing them, the whine is louder and distracting. With streaming music pumped to the speakers via bluetooth, this thing will block out conversations with people right in front of you. The phones are generally comfortable, over-ear is sufficiently big enough for my ears.
I have to ask Cowin, did you even product test these things before sending them out? These are E8 so I assume you could refine some quality of life upgrades with E1 through 7...
Edit: I edited this review down to a 1-star because I added that the microphone is useless with the feedback issue and because Cowin is suggesting they will not issue me a refund unless I delete this review. "My goal is to see if I can earn a review deletion from you. I can offer you with a full refund back to your original form of payment" is verbatim from the support email. A pretty boldly unethical move. The review will stay and I'd like a refund, but I'd rather eat the $150 than delete the review.
![COWIN E7 PRO [Upgraded] Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Bluetooth Headphones with...](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41K8IEinpCL._AC_US90_SCLZZZZZZZ__.jpg)
