Linner NC50 Review – £50 Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Earphones

1. Introduction2. Unboxing and First Look3. Testing4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

Wireless earphones are becoming more and more popular. Alongside that, we are now seeing active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones beginning to take over the market as well. High end products that combine both wireless and ANC technology don't usually come cheap, though, so what if you want some ANC action on a budget? Enter the Linner NC50 – a £50 earphone with proper ANC.

Usually we wouldn't expect much from a £50 earphone, let alone one that also includes ANC as well. If Linner is to make a success of its NC50, it will have to sound good, boast impressive ANC functionality and back that up with solid battery life. Is it up to the task? Let's find out.

Specification

• Talk time: Up to 13 hours
• Charging port: Micro USB
• Charging time: 2 Hours
• Voice Prompt
• Standby time: 400 Hours
• Sweat proof
• Bluetooth version: V4.1
• Bluetooth profiles: HFP v1.6, HSP v1.2, A2DP v1.2, AVRCP v1.4
• Operating distance: approx. 33ft/10m

The Linner NC50 ships in a very clean white box, with just a simple photo and some subtle branding on the front.

Inside we find the following accessories: 2x spare ear tips, 2x spare ear hooks, 1x carry pouch, 1x microUSB cable, 1x user guide and 1x warranty card.

Getting to the NC50 itself, the first thing to note is that these wireless earphones utilise a rubberised neckband. The neckband plays multiple roles – it stores the batteries, makes it harder to lose the earphones, and also provides the ability to enable or disable the ANC functionality.

At each end of the neckband, there are two hard plastic sections which stick out slightly. These house the NC50 batteries, with the left-hand section sporting Linner branding.

On the other side, this plastic piece houses the ANC/monitor button – here you can quickly control whether you want ANC on or off, while you can also put the earphones into ‘monitor mode', something we discuss on the next page.

On the underside of that plastic section, we also find the microUSB charging point as well as the on/off button. I would've preferred a USB Type-C charging port, but that is a minor issue.

One last piece of the neckband is worth touching on – there is a small remote which has volume buttons as well as a multi-function button which allows users to pause music or to take calls. This in-line remote is not positioned on the neckband itself, but is halfway up the right earbud's cable.

Speaking of the earbuds, the first thing to note is their metallic backs, which are also magnetic. This means you can attach the two buds together to stop them from bouncing around when you're not wearing them.

Other than that, it is also interesting that Linner designed the NC50 to utilise ear hooks which sit just inside your antihelix, helping to keep the buds in place. By default, medium sized ear hooks and ear tips are attached to the NC50, though there are small and large sizes included in the box.To test the Linner NC50, I used the earphones as my daily driver for over a week. This meant using them for listening to music, watching videos and making phone calls.

During this time, I also flew to Las Vegas for CES 2018. Using the NC50 on a ten-hour flight provided an excellent test for both the ANC capabilities of the device as well as the battery life.

Sound

Starting with the actual sound quality of the Linner NC50, I must admit I did not expect much. Considering it's a £50 Bluetooth earphone, I thought the bass would be bloated, mids would be recessed and the treble would be slightly boosted to give the impression of ‘extra detail'.

However, I am very glad to say I was very wrong – I judged the NC50 far too harshly. In actual fact, I had a simply lovely time using the NC50 for listening to music.

For me, the enjoyment came from the NC50's very balanced sound. As I mentioned, I was expecting big bass, but that is not what you get – the low-end is clean, tight and punchy, but it is far from over-bearing and provides just the right amount of presence to keep the bass from feeling weak.

Building on that clean bass is the smooth and rich mid-range. The likes of Queen's Freddie Mercury, Adele and Anchor & Braille's Stephen Christian really shone with the NC50. It's a full, rich sound without being overly forward. Naturally, this also helps for watching YouTube – speech sounds natural without being tinny, so I had no problem watching plenty of videos with the NC50.

In terms of the high-end, the NC50 doesn't get much wrong here either. Initially, I did find that the treble would occasionally sound slightly ‘crunchy' – ever so slightly distorted and unnatural. However, after about 20 hours of use I found that tendency had completely disappeared, leaving a natural treble which provides good detail without being harsh. Obviously, the NC50 is still a £50 earphone so its detail retrieval is not going to rival the Sennheiser HD 800, but music won't sound veiled either.

All in all, the sound is balanced and natural. It is definitely a fairly lean sound, so bass-heads or those who like the ‘Beats' sound signature may not find it too appealing, but I really enjoyed using the NC50.

Active Noise Cancelling

ANC is obviously a big feature of the NC50 – that's why it is in the product name! As such, it is worth talking about my experience with it.

I first used the ANC sat in a busy Starbucks at Gatwick Airport. As you can imagine, there was music playing, the sound of various drinks being made and the loud hum of conservation – it was not a quiet and peaceful scene.

Putting the earphones on, I started playing some YouTube videos and turned ANC on. The effect was immediate and quite dramatic – all of the deeper sounds were completely cut-out, including the background music and the sound of the staff working. The only sound that was still audible – but still significantly reduced in volume – was the mundane chatter of the other customers. Those conversations came through almost like whispers – quiet, muted, but just about audible.

A couple of hours later, my plane took to the skies with engines roaring. In this instance, the NC50 also did very well – much better than I expected. The bassy rumble of the jet engines was almost completely eliminated, with the most audible noise being the gentle hissing of the recycled air being pumped into the cabin.

Using a small button on the right-hand side of the neckband, users also get to choose between ANC mode and monitor mode. Monitor mode essentially lets you listen to your surroundings by playing the audio feed received by the microphone through the earbuds – making it great for catching quick announcements on the train without pausing the music or taking off your earphones.

Overall, I was not expecting the ANC to be anywhere near as good was it proved to be. Obviously, for the best ANC experience, on-ear headphones like the Bose QC series or Sony's 1000XM2 are required. But for £50, these earphones actually do a very competent job. I am impressed.

Battery

The last area to touch on is battery life. Linner hasn't been too clear about what sort of battery life to expect, as the company only mentions 13 hours of ‘talk time', but nothing in regards to using the NC50 with ANC whole playing music.

In my experience, I got about 10 hours of music playback ,with ANC enabled, before the battery died. I used the NC50 for the bulk of my flight to Las Vegas, and got about another two hours of use in at the hotel before the battery failed. Recharging takes another 1.5-2 hours.

Ten hours with ANC enabled is quite good, I think. If you were to turn ANC off you'd be able to get a bit more from the NC50, but as a noise cancelling earphone you would lose a major feature of the device.When I first got hands-on with the Linner NC50, my expectations were quite low. After all, it's a £50 ANC earphone – surely it can't be that good?

Once I started using the NC50, though, it quickly became clear that I was quite wrong – for £50, the NC50 is frankly a bargain.

For one, the overall sound is very good, with a lean and well-balanced sound signature that reminds me somewhat of Sennheiser's HD 600 headphone. No single area dominates, so those looking for a really bassy sound may not enjoy it, but for me the overall balance and clarity of sound is very pleasing.

Coming to the noise cancelling feature, I was also very impressed here. Despite being an earphone – thus requiring smaller microphones than ANC headphones – the noise cancelling still works very well. I used the NC50 on my flight to Las Vegas and the low rumble of the engines was almost completely eliminated – it was great!

Lastly, battery life. I got about 10 hours from the NC50 with ANC enabled. This is pretty solid so I cannot complain – most Bluetooth earphones without ANC last between 12-14 hours, so I reckon 10 hours with ANC is a good deal.

All in all, the Linner NC50 is a remarkable product. Not only does it sound very good for a £50 earphone, but it also offers surprisingly capable active noise cancelling technology, while battery life is a solid ten hours. For £50, I don't think it gets better than this.

You can buy the NC50 from Amazon for £52.99 HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

Pros

• Affordable.
• Excellent sound quality.
• ANC is actually very effective.
• Battery life is around 10 hours with ANC enabled.

Cons

• MicroUSB charging port instead of USB Type-C.

KitGuru says: If you've been wanting to try some noise cancelling headphones, the Linner NC50 is an excellent product at an affordable price. I don't often say this, but they have really surprised me with their overall quality – a fantastic product for the money.

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