Fiio EH3 NC ANC Wireless Bluetooth Headphone Stereo Review | Hifigo

Fiio Audio 

If you’re looking for a new pair of headphones, you may have come across Sony or Bose, which has become well known for high-quality noise-cancelling headphones and wireless earphones. The products from other brands are usually not competitive at ANC function or sound performance or comfortable capability. If they were good enough, then the prices are much higher. That is the problem.  But Fiio does a great job on this. 

We had the chance to test the EH3NC wireless headphones. We were impressed by their excellent noise cancelation and sound performance, but you'll have to wait until our full review to find out if they make it into the suitable headphones.

Are the Fiio EH3NC well built?

Fiio EH3 NC Bluetooth Headphones come in a mixed silver and black style with 2D fiber glass faceplate of the ear cups. Different from some headphone's concept of integrating design, EH3 NC delivers us more sense of modern, professional and technical.  

EH3 NC Bluetooth headphones have a stainless steel sliding structure which is durable, well-structured, rigid and is comfortable to wear. The first layer and the earmuffs are made of protein skin leather which is comfortable even for prolonged usage.  The earmuffs could be changed to breathable mesh fabric which could be purchased separately. 

Fiio EH3 NC provides a Type-C cable, which could use as charging cable and USB DAC connected to a computer as well as a universal  3.5mm jack cable.  

Different from WH1000XM3, Fiio EH3NC  uses buttons instead of touch panels on the earcups to control play, pause, skip and volume. Buttons is an easier means of control and buttons are at the bottom of the R earcup. 

Charging is hasslefree because of the USB-C cable. I’ve only charged my pair a few times, thanks to the 30 hours of battery life. If you turn noise canceling off, you can stretch it to nearly 50 hours. Few competing headphones can hold a charge this long, and I have really noticed how little have to worry about it.  

EH3 NC supports BlueTooth control of Fiio App, you could adjust EQ, display status and ECO mode.   

How well do the Fiio EH3NC  cancel noise?

FiiO EH3NC  adopts Bluetooth 5.0 which makes it compatible with practically every Bluetooth audio format out there, including AAC/SBC/AptX low latency AptX HD, LDAC, and even HWA. There’s also NFC capability to ensure simple and easy one-touch pairing with compatible source devices. 

ANC function is both available once it is in Bluetooth mode or USB -c connected, it is disabled once it is connected with 3.5mm cable.  

Besides thick earmuff for passive noise cancelation, FiiO EH3NC adopts active noise cancellation using  FeedForward (FF) and FeedBack (FB) hybrid approach with two ANC microphones inside and two ANC microphones outsides. The company says they use dual ANC chips ADI1777 from  ADI. 

Most bass and low-mid noises could be canceled by EH3NC. It does a great job of canceling out the drone and rumble of everyday life, whether in a busy office or on your daily commute – and with or without music playing, too. Some of the harsh highs could be isolated by earpads but it is hard to canceled with ANC function. Frankly, it cannot catch the level of  WH-1000XM3 or Bose 700, it is kind of MDR-1000Xs ANC level in terms of ANC. 

How do the Fiio EH3NC sound?

Nearly no change about sound after 40hours playing, but it is different under bluetooth mode and wired mode. 

1. EH3 NC wireless mode  with AAC

Great, really. We’ve come to a point in wireless headphones that most of the big gripes are gone, replaced by minor ones. For the Fiio EH3NC, the sound is quite good, bolstered by the fact that they target a very consumer-friendly sound by default.  The main takeaway here is that the headphones target a consumer sound, with emphasized bass, a little bump in the mids, and a peak at about 10kHz. If you like pop music and movies, you will love it very much. 

2. EH3 NC wireless mode  with  LDAC

Compared to AAC mode, it is more neutral and a little loose with LDAC. It is a kind of modern and lively style, but it might not be the taste of some audiophiles who pursue perfection. 

3. M11 + EH3 NC  + Original 3.5mm single-end cable 

Sound doesn't crack very obvious under wired mode which is different from many Bluetooth headphones. Under wired mode, Fiio EH3NC featured 45mm titanium-plated dynamic driver deliver high resolution and separation of sound signature. 

It is kind of V style of the sound signature with better resolution and larger soundstage both on width and depth compared to the wireless mode and deliver 

4. M11 + EH3 NC  + Furukawa 3.5mm single - end cable paired. 

Changing the original cable to Furukawa cables, Fiio EH3NC sounds more neutral and transparent with more density for mids.

5. Type C to Type C cable 

The sound transmitted by the inner structure as well, but there is not much difference with wireless mode. 

6. ANC + BT  or  ANC + Type C 

In terms of sound quality, when I turned on ANC, the sound of EH3 NC seems to be covered with a layer of yarn. It seems to lose some energy at bass and mids, but it sounds more neutral and balanced.    

Should you buy the Fiio EH3NC?

If you are in the mood for carrying an ANC Bluetooth headphone $200 that has some of the best features incorporated and very good sound performance, this FiiO model is surely a great catch. It is not a head-to-head competition against Sony WH-1000XM3 or Bose 700, after all, they are significantly expensive. Its super portable design, offers great audio sound, and looks great – what more could you ask for?