AIKELA A7 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones
Category: Audio > Headphones

AIKELA A7 Deep Bass Wireless Headphones Review

The Swift Summary

Pros

Cons

  • Active Noise Cancelling
  • Up to 40hr battery life
  • Multipoint connections
  • Clear audio during calls with CVC 8.0 mics
  • Comes with carry case
  • Not a fully folding design, so slightly less compact when in a case

Features list for the AIKELA A7 Headphones

  • Over ear cup design
  • Ear cups swivel 90°
  • Padded adjustable headband
  • Active Noise Cancelling technology
  • Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity using 2 CVC 8.0 Mics
  • 40hr battery life (with ANC off)
  • 30hr battery life (with ANC on)
  • Connect to two Bluetooth devices at the same time
  • 2hrs for a full battery charge

Swift Thoughts

Design

The AIKELA A7 Bluetooth headphones have a reassuring solidity to their design. They don’t look or feel flimsy in any way. They have a classic black with silver colour combination with chunky, easy-to-find buttons around the ear cups.

Whilst the cup design doesn’t fold fully in on itself (only folding flat with a swivel joint) you’ll be thankful for their simplicity and sturdiness. Multi-folding joints can sometimes grow loose and weak with regular use.

The branded clam shell style semi-rigid carry case is also a welcome addition to the AIKELA A7 headphones.

Audio Performance

Considering these headphones are probably from a brand you’ve never heard of, the audio quality is very impressive. There is a superb balance between highs and lows, which an overall rich punchy feel. There is also very little distortion at higher levels.

I was especially impressed with the noise cancelling, it’s a stand out feature. The AIKELA headphones provide excellent sound isolation and minimise a wide range of ambient noises, especially when commuting on buses or trains.

Build Quality

The build quality of the AIKELA A7s is excellent considering the price point. Reassuringly solid without feeling heavy or cumbersome.

Comfort

No complaints in this regard, even for a wearer of glasses. The padding feels slightly thicker than many other headphones I’ve reviewed.

Functionality

The AIKELA headphones may not have many fancy features, but what features it does have they work perfectly.

It seems AIKELA have picked the things that matter to people most. Bluetooth 5.0 equals zero video audio lag, plus a more reliable wireless connection. CVC 8.0 mics gives you crystal clear calls, and I haven’t even mentioned the whopping 40 hr battery life yet.

To be honest, I’m finding it really hard to fault them.

Swift Scores

Design
90%
Audio Performance
90%
Comfort
100%
Build Quality
95%
Functionality
90%
Battery Life
95%

FAQs

Q: Will using the noise cancellation function reduce the battery life?
A: Yes, turning off ANC will help extend the playback time.

Q: Once paired with a device will the headphones auto pair with it the next time they are switched on?
A: Yes!

Q: Is there a power saving mode?
A: Yes, the headphones will automatically switch off after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Q: How long does a full charge take?
A: 2 hours.

Q: Does the microphone work in wired mode?
A: No, like almost all other wireless headphones with ANC, the mic only works in wireless mode.

Q: Is there volume controls on the ear cups?
A: Yes.

Q: Can you use the noise cancellation feature without listening to music/audio?
A: Yes, ANC works independently of the audio.

Q: Does it come with an airplane adapter plug?
A: Yes.

What’s in the box?

  • AIKELA A7 Headphones
  • 3.5mm audio cable
  • Micro usb charging cable
  • Airplane adapter plug
  • Branded carry case (clam shell style)
  • User manual

You want it? We’ve found it.

AIKELA Deep Bass Wireless Headphones are available in 1 colour: black.

AIKELA A7 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones
AIKELA A7 Headphones – Black

Tech Talk

CVC 8.0 mics – what do they do?

CVC is a type of noise cancellation. It stands for Clear Voice Capture. So if you are taking calls in a noisy environment, the technology helps minimises loud and distracting external sounds in order to provide a quieter environment for communication.

This is achieved is a couple of ways.

External sounds are combatted with mirrored internal frequencies to cancel them out. In this regard CVC is much like regular ANC (active noise cancellation).

What’s special about CVC technology is that it also uses a range of algorithms to process your voice audio captured through the mic. By using a range of advanced processing techniques, a device with CVC essentially creates a profile of your voice and isolates it from other ambient noises. It performs this magic trick with:

  • Automatic gain controls
  • Send/Receive equalizers
  • Comfort noise
  • Howling control
  • Nonlinear processing
  • Adaptive equalizers
  • Power savings techniques
  • Auxiliary stream mixing
  • Frequency enhanced speech intelligibility

The result offers CVC users nearly a 30 decibel reduction in external noise when making a call.

Bluetooth 5.0 – what does it do?

Bluetooth is a type of wireless technology that helps one device pair with another in order for data (usually audio) to be transferred wirelessly.

You may have noticed a lot of products boast that they have Bluetooth version 5.0 built-in. What’s so special about version 5.0? There have been many improvements within the technology over the years, but in brief Bluetooth 5.0 has these improvements over its predecessors:

  • Improved reliability
  • Extended range
  • Faster data transfer speeds

Improved reliability means that a wireless connection is less likely to suddenly fail for no obvious reason.

Extended range means that a device will stay connected with its paired device across longer distances.

Faster data transfer speeds offers both higher quality audio as well as greatly reduced audio lag when watching video content.