Aukey EP-N5 review: ANC at this price?

Low Cost Active Noise Cancellation? Aukey EP-N5 earphones promise ANC and crystal clear sound at a great price; if it is true you will find out by reading our review!

Contents

Points in favor

Points against

TWS over there, TWS over here. We are now literally inundated with wireless earphones and choosing one model over another is increasingly difficult. Often it is the companies themselves that release a model every month (or almost), where the differences can be counted with the fingers of one hand.

Aukey is a brand that we have come to know on the techgameworld.com pages for its good quality products, offered at a competitive price. What we got to try out are TWS earbuds that promise to offer one active noise cancellation to a really low price. So let’s find out if these Aukey EP-N5 turned out to be surprising or disappointing in the course of the review.

What do we find in the package? – Aukey EP-N5 review

The packaging of these Aukey EP-N5 is, as usual for the company, in eco-friendly recycled cardboard. Opening it we will immediately find ourselves in front of the earphone case with the latter inside. By lifting the sponge base and a cardboard divider, we will go to access the part below. Here will be contained: the fast guide, a instruction booklet, a very short cavo Type-C, 4 spare rubber pads and the classic Aukey 2-year warranty. The rubber pads will therefore boast 3 sizes: small, medium and large, with the medium ones already installed on the earphones. The shape of the latter is not circular, but a little ovalized “AirPods Pro-Style“.

The custody charging from rounded corners is quite compact. With a ‘height of 5.4cm, a width of 6.2cm, a 2.2cm depth it’s a weight of 48 grams with the earphones inside (38 grams without), it fits in the palm of your hand and is also comfortable in your pocket. The entire case is made of plastic with a matte exterior finish, which gives it a premium effect, but tends to slide without too many compliments. The only different part is the one present in conjunction with the hinge on the back side, which enjoys a glossy black detail.

On the lower side we find theentrata Type-C for recharging, while on the front one we have, in addition to the “Aukey” logo, ben 4 green LEDs that light up when the case is opened, depending on the charge level. There closing magnetic is need, wrong’opening turns out a little too easy to trigger. This could be a problem if you love throwing your TWS into your bag or backpack since rubbing with other objects could activate them.

The Earphones – Aukey EP-N5 Review

The two earphones present in the case adopt the famous rod design. Completely black opaque too, they have a generous ear capsule, with the details of the letters “R” and “L” clearly visible, so as not to make a mistake. These details are also evident once the TWS are inserted into the case, from which only the case will protrude. Precisely for this reason, or because the case has a limited opening, take them from the latter it won’t be very comfortable. In inserting them instead we can not go wrong since they have a precise direction and also everything is well magnetized.

Despite the uninspired aesthetics, these earphones do not disfigure in the slightest. In detail, the finishes are not the best, but not to be thrown away: let’s say average. While on the outside of the rod we have a LED and two microphones, on the inside there is a golden pin, while in the lower one there are two (for charging). A microphone is present near the speaker (on the ear capsule) but unlike the others it is used for ANC technology.

In general, these earphones are particularly light (5 grams per earphone). The generous enough capsule may not be suitable for all ear types. We found them comfortable enough, well balanced and firm. Wearing them even while we were making two shots (specifying that it is not an extreme sport) they did not disappoint us even on that side, also because they are equipped with IPX5 water resistance.

By touching the bar it will be possible to activate certain gestures:

1 touch: answer the call or play / pause the content
2 taps on the left earphone: previous song
2 taps on the right earbud: next song
1 long touch: activate / deactivate ANC or reject a call
3 taps: activate the voice assistant.

The activation of the latter takes place without any problem. We would have liked it, however, be able to calibrate the volume directly by plugging on the earphones.

How do they sound? – Aukey EP-N5 review

Here comes the part that most surprised us about these Aukey EP-N5s. The earphones sound very discreet, without letting the lows or the highs prevail. Perhaps the frequency that suffers slightly and the average, but nothing transcendental. Balance is maintained even at maximum volume, to which we have not noticed any particular distortions.

Let’s move on to the “workhorse” of these TWS: the active noise cancellation. Unfortunately nothing here surprising in relation to the price at which they are sold. Once you have performed a prolonged tap, we will hear a sound that will confirm the activation of the ANC technology. With a small rustle at the base, very little audible when we play a content, erasing really does too little more than isolating the rubbers themselves. We will tell you, it is not totally absent, however, so slight that the cases in which it can be really useful will be rare.

On the connectivity side, once paired with our smartphone they are always connected quickly. The only caveat is that from time to time we happen to have some fast (but annoying) disconnections and reconnections. Despite the absence of a low-latency audio codec, the earphones also surprised us here. Watching video content and running tests, we realized that the latency is practically zero: a must for lovers of movies and TV series. In addition to the smartphone, equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, we tested them with the Creative BT-W3 receiver.

A point in favor also on the battery side. Without active ANC technology, the earphones promise an autonomy of 7 hours and so it was. With noise reductioninstead we lose about 2 and a half hours of use. A really substantial difference for a technology so little present. To get the case back to 100%, starting from 0, we measured about 1 hour and a half of time.

The microphone it is in line with the TWS of the same price or even a few tens of euros lower. Decent in low noise conditions, ma they tend to pick up too many ambient noises in everyday situations.

Let’s sum it up

These Aukey EP-N5 are sold at a base price of € 69.99. It is true that we will often and gladly find them with discounts that make them slip to € 10, if not € 20 less. The reason why they should be bought is the ANC technology which is really tempting at these prices. The reality of the facts is different. Right in line with the price, this technology is barely hinted at. This led us to keep it deactivated in our classic use, activating it only in the testing phase.

We are not saying that these are bad earphones, on the contrary, we have given a plus for the sound quality that we have found really enjoyable. If you would like to choose the TWS with noise cancellation, however, we advise you to look elsewhere, increasing the budget. If, on the other hand, you were interested in sound quality first of all, you could take them into consideration, or focus on a model that stands out for this quality, perhaps at a lower price or without ANC.