Traditional earphones that come with phones and other devices let in too much noise from your surroundings. Over-ear headphones like Mixcder E10 headphones cancel it out for better audio.

If you only ever listen to music, podcasts and videos in a really quiet room with little or no external noise, then standard earphones offer excellent quality music. I like the sound of Apple's earphones bundled with the iPhone in these situations. My Android phone's earphones are pretty good in these situations too.

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Try using them on a train, plane, bus or other place where there is a significant amount of external noise and it ruins the quality of the audio in the earphones and appears to reduce the volume. You have to crank it up a notch or two to hear it over the incoming noise from around you.

There are two options and one is in-ear earphones, which significantly reduce outside audio interference. Apple AirPods Pro are excellent and not only does the in-ear design cut external noise, they have built-in noise cancelling technology which filters out the external noise. There are alternative brands, but AirPods Pro are hot right now.

There are two problems with in-ear earphones and one is the price. You won't get much change from $250 from Apple, but if that doesn't bother you, then I suggest you try them. The second problem is that some people just don't like in-ear earphones. I am one of them and they don't fit, they fall out, and even before they fall out, they lose the seal with my eardrum, worsening the sound and letting outside noise in.

Reduced background noise

Over-ear headphones, those big cups you put over each ear, are an alternative that some people prefer. The Mixcder E10 Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth V 5.0 Headphones are an example of these.

The over-ear design naturally reduces external noise and distractions are significantly lower. You can still hear some noise, such as someone next to you talking, but compared to normal earphones, the difference is huge. If you want to reduce distractions, over-ear headphones are a great way to do it.

The Mixcder E10 headphones also have noise cancelling capabilities too. This feature is enabled or disabled using a button on one of the earphones. It is claimed that it cuts noise from airplanes, subways, city traffic and busy offices by 96%. I could not put a figure on it, but tapping the button to turn it on it in a noisy environment does noticeably reduce external noise. You can actually hear the music instead of the train or traffic sounds.

In a quiet room the audio quality sounded better to my ears with the noise cancelling feature switched off. It is not needed in a quiet room anyway, so this is not a problem. It is best to use the noise cancelling only when necessary.

Audio quality

The audio quality had a bit too much of the lower frequencies and not enough of the high - too much bass and not enough treble for my liking, but this is just me and some people like the strong bass. The iPhone has many preset EQ settings, so there is likely to be one that suits your ears and the headphones. I was able to get a slightly better sound from my Android phone because it had an EQ control with multiple sliders to adjust different frequencies. I boosted the upper frequencies a little and the headphones sounded good.

In a quiet place, I prefer ordinary earphones, but in a noisy environment the Mixcder E10 headphones were far better because of the amount of external noise they blocked. When it's noisy, standard earphones just don't work. Mixcder E10's don't block everything, but they do a good job and provide reasonable sound quality in noisy environments.

Volume buttons on the headphones mean you don't need to get your phone out to adjust it.

Connect your phone

Most of the time you will use the headphones in wireless Bluetooth mode and once they are paired with your phone, tablet or other device, you just have to switch on the power with a press of the button on the side and they are connected. I had no problems with an iPhone, iPad and Android phone. There is also an audio-in socket and cable is provided that plugs into the headphone socket on a phone, tablet or computer. The headphones then work in wired mode. You might want to do this if the battery is running low because it uses a lot less power than a Bluetooth connection.

Battery power

These headphones contain a rechargeable battery and a USB cable is provided. This can be plugged into any USB socket and they are common on phone chargers these days, so you probably have a charger or two going spare.

The headphones battery has a claimed life of 30 hours. I have not timed how long they lasted, but they do seem to go a long time between charges. With light usage you might only need to charge them once a week, which is pretty amazing. They also charge very quickly and just a few minutes charging can give a couple of hours listening. A complete charge takes just one hour, which is fast.

Conclusion

The Mixcder E10 Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth V 5.0 Headphones are great for noisy environments when you need to block out as much external noise as possible. They are well made, they look good and they come in a handy travel case if you want to take them somewhere, such as on holiday.

Save money, use discount code: MIXCDERE10 for 10% off

The cost is reasonable. They are not cheap, but not expensive and they were priced at $112.99 when I visited the Mixcder website. However, they are much cheaper on Amazon, so check the price on Amazon US or the price on Amazon UK for a bargain.