Active Noise Cancelling on TWS doesn’t need to be expensive which Edifier has proof to us with their second generation of ANC earbuds, the Edifier TWS NB2. With the price of RM 349, there’s no reason for us not to review and shared what does it has to offers.

Edifier TWS NB2 Specification

• Bluetooth 5.0
• 13mm Graphene Diaphragm Driver
• 24 ohm Impedance
• 94dB Sensitivity
• 20Hz – 20KHz Frequency Response
• Profile: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP
• Bestechnic BES2300YP Chipset
• 4 Modes: Ambient, Active Noise Cancellation, Gaming and Normal
• Battery life: ANC On – 7 Hours + 18 Hours (Case) / ANC Off – 9 Hours + 23 Hours (Case)
• IP54 Splash & Dust Resistance
• App Supports: Edifier App

Design & Fitting

The Edifier TWS NB2 doesn’t look like any other earbuds matter facts, it has a bold and edgy design that looks serious for business or gaming.

Although it’s made out of plastic entirely, the colour contour of grey-black does make it look like made out of premium aluminium. There’s a wear detection sensor in the earbuds, more on that later and a huge microphone grill on the earbuds that use for the Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling.

Coming to the charging case, it’s a pebble shape with faux leather. The faux leather doesn’t only offer premium touch to the charging case, it also provides better grip, no fingerprint smudge and would not pick any swirl scratches.

Aesthetically it has a very minimal design with just an embossed Edifier logo and a USB Type-C charging port on the rear. Next to the charging port is the charging and battery indicator with 3 levels.

The Edifier TWS NB2 supports Google Fast Pairing where it will be automatically paired to the connected device when the lids cover is opened. The LED inside the case is the pairing status indicator and the button below it is to switch devices or reset.

The stem design earbuds are very light and fit nicely and comfortably. There are 3 silicone ear tips with different sizes if the stock tip doesn’t fit well on your ear. The earbuds do protrude a little due to big huge size earbuds that packed all the complicated hardware and battery.

Thanks to the lightweight and great in-ear fitting, it able to stay on my ear for long periods of time without worrying it would drop out even on a short jog I made during the review.

Touch Control

Here are what you can control with the touch input on the earbuds;

There are no volume control and voice assistant on the earbuds which is a bummer.

Single earbud use is possible and the switching between stereo and mono is pretty seamless thank to the advanced and power-efficient Bestechnic BES2300YP Chipset.

Sound Quality & Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling

I have been pampered with Balanced Armature driver and aptX codec on Edifier TWS6 for months now and has a little anxiety to switch. To my surprised, the sound quality is impressively good. The soundstage is well constructed and broad. The vocals and instruments are well separated yet the signature Edifier bass are still present. This is thanks to the 13mm graphene-coated drivers that deliver a very solid sound.

There are 3 modes available on the Edifier TWS NB2, Ambient Mode, Active Noise Cancelling and Gaming Mode.

Because its an in-ear design earbuds, the sound insulation is already good and it further enhanced with the Active Noise Cancelling Mode enabled. The difference is pretty obvious especially when I’m in a room with rumbling sound from the air conditioner or ceiling fan. The keyboard typing sound also killed off with the ANC. The common white noise pollution is present at 0% to 30% volume level which still acceptable for such a tiny size of earbuds.

As for the Ambient Mode, it allows you to wear the earbuds when you walk on the street or even talking to your friend without taking it off. It able to pick up surrounding sounds and send back to you ear with some boost so would aware what happening around if you are walking on the street while listening to music. The Ambient sound levels can be adjusted through the Edifier Connect App which is a nice touch, more on the app later.

Edifier included a gaming mode which reduces the latency so you would able to get better audio sync between the earbuds and your device. When the gaming mode enabled, the latency could go as low as 80ms which is great for gaming but there’s a catch. The treble has slightly flattened which is not ideal for music or watching a movie.

Edifier Connect App

There are few Edifier earbuds that support Edifier Connect and one of them is the Edifier W200BT SE which I reviewed last year. The features and setting control are pretty limited. As for the new Edifier TWS NB2, the companion app has more tuning functions including earbuds modes (Normal, Ambient, ANC and Game mode)

You can also view and control the music that playing and as well as other settings like wear detection scenes, perform a factory reset, voice prompt volume and much more. The only missing feature on the app is EQ control or perhaps some preset profiles.

It also features wear detection where it will auto pause and play whenever you remove the earbuds from your ear. You can even adjust the behavior of the wear detection.

Call Quality

Despite not having CvC or MEMS, the dual microphone and some noise cancellation approach with the Bestechnic chipset; it able filter out background noise while picking up voice clearly even on outdoor.

Battery Life

I got an impressive 5 hours plus with ANC on and still left at over 40% battery left. This excludes the extra 18 hours that the case can offer. No reason for me to turn off the ANC to conserve battery.

The earbuds is charged with the updated USB Type-C and take less than 2 hours to completely from 0-100%.