TaoTronics TT-BH046

These over-ears make a great first impression with their robust plastic housing and rotating ear cups with suspension, ensuring they can be adapted for a perfect fit, every time. Luxurious imitation leather padding offers quality sound shielding, while a relatively tight fit ensures a secure enough fit that makes them ideal for wearing when jogging without the worry of them slipping free. One sore point, however, is that due to the materials used, this circumaural device tends to generate a little too much heat during operation.

Thanks to the fast charging battery, you can look forward to about two hours of playback time after a charge of just five minutes. A 2A USB adapter is included for this purpose. After a full charge of approximately 60 minutes, these headphones are fully charged and ready to go, with a full battery promising 20 hours of playback with active noise cancelling enabled. When ANC is turned off, you can enjoy up to 25 hours of playback. A 3.5 mm audio input ensures these wireless headphones can always be used as conventional wired ones when needed. A corresponding mini jack comes included with the accessories, with gold-plated elements to resist corrosion.

Device Control

The TT-BH046 support Bluetooth 5.0, with no obvious connection problems when this test was carried out. I tested across a range of Android and iOS devices, with stable connections maintained in urban environments at a range of twelve metres. Pairing is simple. Simply hold down the power button on the right-hand earpiece to switch on the system and automatically trigger pairing. The multi-function button is then used to control the start/stop function, while also allowing you to answer and terminate phone calls. Plus and minus buttons are also features so you can adjust volume with ease, while the buttons double for track skipping forward and back. Another key feature probably familiar to fans of TaTronics headphones is the CVC 6.0 noise suppression of the integrated microphone. This increases intelligibility when making calls, even with busy urban background.

Sound

The sound output of these headphones is bolstered by an impressive bass foundation, which delves well into the depths of the low bass range. Ideal for club music, hip-hop and electro, even if the lower frequencies sound a touch awkward. Otherwise, the bass that is reproduced is relatively dry and benefit from a dynamic start to tracks. In spite of the heavy bass levels, the midrange and treble have noticeable presence, conveying a sense of openness and audio clarity.

The bass range can seem father crowded when it comes to enjoying quieter, more restrained ballads, jazz and classical music. The ANC mode, which can be activated by a designated switch, brings a little bit of enhancement to these genres. The function also serves to slim down the bass response, providing a sound that’s brighter overall. The real standout of the so-called hybrid Active Noise Cancelling functionality, enabled by low and high frequency filtering, can be attributed to the minimising of complex background noises. Ambient sound and audio leakage is already given a great buffer by the generous upholstery of the faux leather ear cups, while the innovative ANC ensures much more impressive noise suppression results.