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Looking for some budget wireless bluetooth headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC) for your children or just as a backup pair? Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ checks out the new TCL MTRO-200NC ANC Bluetooth Wireless Headphones and finds that they're... okay. The price is right and the sound is surprisingly enjoyable, but there are a lot of tradeoffs that TCL made to get them down to this extraordinary budget price, as detailed.
Check 'em on Amazon: https://amzn.to/309UdxW
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0:00
ANC headphones for around 50 bucks? Let's check these out
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Dave Taylor here checking out these. These are the TCL MTRO200NC ANC headphones
0:20
So, wireless, Bluetooth, as the box says, they are thumpin' clear in dark shadow
0:27
I don't know what that means, but who cares? It's a super fun title, right? So, enough with the box, let's get that out of the picture, and let's talk about the headphones
0:35
So, these are actually okay. I mean, I think as we go down all the features and specs
0:42
they're just okay in a lot of categories. Not a bad pair of headphones
0:46
As you can see, they're relatively small, they're very plasticky, they are reasonably comfortable to put on
0:54
but I have to say, I feel like they're designed for smaller heads, so these might be really good for children
1:01
or for people with, like I said, smaller heads. But, let's talk about the specs
1:06
So, 32mm drivers give you 10 to 22,000 kilohertz, sorry, 10 to 22,000 hertz
1:14
Frequency response, 22,000 kilohertz would be way up at the top of the chart and probably completely pointless
1:21
You can turn on or off ANC. Every time you turn on the headphones, ANC is automatically turned on
1:27
The ear cushions are memory foam. They are relatively small for on-ear, so again, that smaller head factor is a good thing
1:37
Really good battery life, 25 hours battery life, 20 hours with ANC running
1:43
ANC does take power, because there's some processing involved. And a 15-minute charge should give you about 4 hours of listening time, so if your headphones complain they're running out of juice
1:54
it's a solvable problem. So, here is one of the things that I thought was interesting, is that on the TCL website, they say that it's Bluetooth 5.0
2:05
but on the Amazon listing it says it's Bluetooth 4.2. I'm like, hmm. So, turns out there's a way you can see what version of Bluetooth is in use through the system profile information on a Macintosh
2:18
So, I connected these to my MacBook Pro, and as you can see, they are in fact Bluetooth 4.2
2:26
So, don't get confused with that. They worked fine for me. I had no problems with dropout
2:31
I walked all around the office without any issues, so not a huge thing
2:37
They do not have AAC, they do not have aptX, they do support A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, and HSP, which are the basic music protocols
2:50
So, they worked fine with my iPhone, they worked fine with Android, they worked fine with my Mac
2:55
No noticeable latency if you want to watch videos or something. And, you might not realize it, but there's a built-in microphone hidden somewhere on these headphones, and they actually sound pretty decent
3:06
So, I tried a couple of phone calls, and they actually sound good. So, a little surprised by that, but good for them
3:12
Let's see. The earpiece button layout, everything's on your right ear cup
3:18
And, as you can see in the close-up, the top is power. Then there's an ANC on and off, which is active noise canceling
3:26
And then there's a headphone jack, because it comes with a wire and props to them
3:32
This is just regular 3.5mm on both ends. You can plug it in and use these as wired headphones if you run out of battery or you just don't really want Bluetooth
3:41
And then, there's a very heavily overloaded three-button that gives you pause play and like 30 other features in the middle button
3:51
And then, up and down are actually volume up and volume down
3:55
So, if you want to get to the next track, it's two taps. Previous track is three taps
4:00
It's a complicated interface that you might figure out, or you might just say whatever and control the music on your source device
4:08
Both of those are okay choices. One of the things I did notice with this, which I thought was a little bit funny, was that it uses voice prompts, which is very nice
4:17
So, when you turn it on, it says, power on, for example. Let's see if we can get that
4:22
And, those voice prompts are really loud. So, here, I'm going to turn off ANC
4:31
It's really loud, and I couldn't figure out any way to change the volume. It doesn't seem to parallel the volume of the music that you've set
4:38
So, that's something that TCL might look at just turning down a little bit
4:43
I mean, literally, they're on your ears. They don't need to be loud
4:47
So, otherwise, you know, there's the sound, and we'll get back to that in a second
4:52
But, there's the form and fit, and they're just very plasticky. This doesn't feel like a pair of headphones that you're going to be using two or three years from now, which isn't to say that they're not decent headphones
5:05
But, you know, especially for, like, my size head, you know, they're functional
5:12
They can work. The ANC is okay. Remember I said that these are mostly, like, okay headphones
5:19
So, my standard test with ANC is to put on a bunch of fans and then just hear how much of the fan can I still actually hear through the headphones or earbuds or whatever
5:31
So, my reference units, actually, I can stand in front of a floor fan and not be sure that it's working because I literally can't hear it
5:39
These do not offer anything at that level of performance, but they also aren't that level of price
5:44
So, these are not multi-hundred dollar ANC headphones. So, part of this is just calibrating your expectations
5:51
They have ANC. It does work. It drops the background hums and such down, I don't know, maybe 10, 15 decibels
5:59
Not a huge amount. A noticeable amount. I think it'd be interesting to test these on, like, an airplane or something
6:05
But here's the tradeoff, too, is that if you give these to your kids and they lose them or forget them or sit on them and break them, eh, you know, 55, 60 bucks
6:14
Not a big crisis, unlike a 200 or 300 dollar pair of, you know, high-end Sony or Sennheiser ANC or something like that
6:23
So, you know, again, tradeoffs. So, other than that, they are reasonably flexible
6:29
They fold up so you can have them for transport. You can fold them like that
6:34
They charge through micro USB. Another point off. Sorry, TCL. Can't stand micro USB
6:41
But they charge through micro USB. Comes with this 3.5 millimeter. It's about 4 foot long cable that you can use if you want to use them wired
6:51
It's already got a knot in it. Let me do this. Untie it
6:55
These are really cheap cables, too. And, you know, I guess that's all part of how they manage their pricing strategy
7:02
But I think it would be perfectly fine to pay 2 or 3 dollars more for these and get better quality cables
7:09
Again, you might never use these, so it might not matter to you
7:13
And let's see, 6.5 ounces. Not much else to talk about other than the sound itself
7:20
So, here's the thing. They actually sound really good. I was surprised
7:24
They are a bass-heavy pair of headphones. So, you know, when I listen to, like, EDM or something like that, it's not really solid
7:32
Listening to that kind of music really gave me it's a lot of bass
7:37
I really enjoyed that. And the high end, it's pretty tapped down
7:42
That might be something you mess with your EQ. But the sound actually surprised me
7:47
You know, ANC on or off, these actually are nice sound reproducing headphones
7:52
They don't get super duper loud. Which, again, could be a plus if you have these for a younger listener
7:59
But for everything else I said that's okay about these, I would say the sound here is actually pretty good
8:05
It probably will surprise you at how, you know, clean and how much bass there is
8:11
Is there a huge sound stage or anything? Nah, again, you know, these are really not at that level
8:17
But that 32mm drivers do give you some pretty decent sound reproduction
8:22
So, that's what I got. These are, I don't know, a B on an A to Z scale or something like that
8:30
These would be really good for a younger listener or someone with maybe a smaller head
8:36
There's no padding on the top here. So, if you don't know how to adjust them to have them be loose, that could end up being something that's uncomfortable on the top of your head
8:45
Seriously, just loosen the headphones a notch and you'll be fine. But, even that, that loosening, it feels like it's just a plastic on plastic sort of ratchet
8:54
Which means it's going to get a lot of wear and tear and it's not going to last super long
8:58
But, it's also not expensive. So, that is really the fundamental trade-off here
9:04
Is that these are okay, decent headphones. Good for certain categories of users
9:09
They have ANC. It's not fantastic. But the price is really pretty impressive
9:14
So, for all the technology included here, the price is actually something we're talking about
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And we're going to talk about it. Oops, we are. But before we do, I'm going to ask if you can subscribe to my channel
9:27
As is hopefully obvious from this video, I give you the straight scoop
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I am honest. I am straightforward. If it's not good, I'm going to call it out and say that something's not good
9:37
So, go ahead and give me a subscribe. Appreciate that. Now, these..
9:43
I guess maybe turn them this way. These are the TCL MTRO200NC ANC Bluetooth Wireless Headphones
9:52
They come in Shadow Black, which I would actually call Gray. Slate Blue, Ash White, and Burgundy Crush
10:01
Although, I didn't find all the colors were available through Amazon. So, you might have to hunt around if you want one of those other colors
10:08
And they are $79.99 minus a current 25% promotion, which actually makes them $59.99 at Amazon.com
10:18
So, you know, there are things to like about these. These are one of the lowest cost ANC headphones that I have encountered
10:26
They are okay. There are things that I think you might not be thrilled with
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But there are other things that might make these a perfect headphone for someone in your family
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That's all I got. So, I will hope to see you in my next video. ♪♪♪��
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