See link to YouTube review at the end of this post!
Hardware
- 8.4 ounces (vs. 8.6 for QCY H3S)
- Earcup depth - 15.3mm (vs. 18.4 on QCY)
- 40mm composite diaphragm dynamic drivers
- BT 5.4 with dual connection
- Wired connection via 3.5mm cable
- Up to 35 hours playtime with ANC, 70 hours without ANC, 400 hours of standby
- Up to 42 dB of noise reduction
- 10-minute charge supplies 3 hours of playtime
Introduction
LEVN is not exactly a household brand name, but until the release of the LE-ANC041, they had been making headsets for office workers and truckers and not mass-market consumer Bluetooth headphones. Their website doesn't even currently show any signs that they make the LE-ANC041 as you'll still find their headsets there. But the LE-ANC041 are here, so how has the company done at moving into the larger Bluetooth headphone market?
Controls
The headphones have three physical buttons om the left earcup that control the ANC modes, volume, and power on/off. The power button also controls playing and pausing music, answering and ending phone calls and summoning the device's voice assistant. The volume buttons also control track advance/reverse and muting the microphone during calls. The ANC button cycles through ANC on, ANC off, and transparency mode. There is no app for the headphones, so all of the available features are made accessible through the hardware buttons.
Features - ANC
As with most inexpensive headphones, you do not get state-of-the-art noise canceling. There is a bit of white noise when you turn ANC on, but it's not obnoxious. You won't notice it when audio is playing. The noise cancelling is solid for continuous low noise like air conditioners and heaters. With music playing, you won't hear most of your surroundings. But if no audio is playing, you can clearly hear the sound of typing and higher pitched noises. Voices will come through pretty clearly as well, but everything is muted a bit. With ANC off, you get back more of the noise of your surroundings, but it is still much more muted than the ambient sound mode, which gives you sound levels that are higher than having the headphones off. It's a bit like listening to a white noise machine, which is not really what you want from ambient mode. However, it does allow you to clearly hear your surroundings. There are no other special features like covering the earcups to enable ambient mode or removing the headphones to stop your audio. These are basic headphones and that is to be expected in this budget price range.
Microphone
In quiet room, voices come across as loud and clear. They do a fairly decent job of reducing noise in the background and even do a decent job keeping voices audible in light wind. These headphones are an acceptable choice for conducting phone calls in a quiet place and even in a space with some background noise.
Sound
Depending on your perspective, it may be a pro or a con that the LE-ANC041 can get quite loud. I found that I could run them on very low volume settings and get a similar volume to using over headphones somewhere around halfway on the volume slider. If you crave big sound or just have some hearing impairment, this aspect of the headphones may appeal to you.
Over Bluetooth, the headphones have a bit of a bass emphasis out of the box, but I didn't find it to be problematic. I compared them against my QCY H3S, another budget pair of ANC headphones. When I reviewed the H3S, I indicated that their out-of-the-box sound isn't significantly better than the much more expensive Sony WH-1000XM5. The H3S was bassier than the XM5 or the Nothing Headphone (1). This holds true over the LE-ANC041. The LE-ANC041 have bass that is over-represented as are most mainstream headphones, but its bass is more subdued than the H3S. However, that said, the difference isn't really that significant. The bigger difference in sound between the two pairs of headphones is what they do with the midrange and high end. With ANC off, the LE-ANC041 have mids that are very slightly recessed compared to the H3S and the overall sound has more of a nasal sound which leaves drums and cymbals sounding much less natural than they should. The mix also tends to sound congested with very busy music. As an example. "I Believe" by the Funky Knuckles sounds a bit like a jumbled mess even compared to the H3S where everything sounds much more in its proper place in space. And when you turn on ANC, the sound on the LE-ANC041 gets a bit sharper on the high end. These are the first pair of Bluetooth headphones where I preferred to listen to them with ANC turned off. But I want to stress that these differences arre noticeable if you're listening for them, but if you're using music or audio as background activity, they won't be perceptible. It's also important to note that with no app, the sound of the LE-ANC041 will always be what it is out of the box unless you use a third party equalization tool.
When you plug in the headphones with a cable via the aux jack, the congestion eases up a bit, but the sound is still a bit muffled overall. They do not magically tun into amazing sounding headphones, but you do get the benefit of being able to listen to your music uncompressed from a Bluetooth perspective and you can use the headphones without draining the battery. The headphones will automatically power off when you connect the cable. Note that this means that ANC is not available when the headphones are connected via the aux cable.
Aesthetics/Fit
The headphones are lighter than most of the other Bluetooth headphones I have in my collection at a mere 8.4 ounces compared to the previous lightweight, the H3S at 8.6 ounces. They have larger earcups that you tend to get with budget headphones which means you get more of the Princess Leia look from these. They come only in black. The earcups are about the same size as those on the H3S, but the H3S have deeper earcups, so if you have large ears, you'll probably find the H3S more comfortable. I don't have extra-large ears, but I didn't find these headphones comfortable because I have a fairly small head (when measuring from top to bottom) and the headphones cannot collapse small enough to fit my head. This means the earcups hang below the edge of my ear onto my jaw and become annoying to wear after only a few minutes. The headband has decent padding and didn't cause me any issues. The top of the headband has a semi-brushed metallic finish that resists fingerprints a bit better than a shiny finish would. There are hinges that allow the headphones to completely collapse into themsevles for easier packing. The inside of cups are labeled 'L' and 'R' for easy identification but there are no bumps on the body for making this determination by feel nor is there a red indicator on the outside of the right earcup for quick visual clue. You'll have to remember that the buttons are on the left side if you don't want to look inside the earcups.
Other Notes
The headphones do not offer any type of ingress protection from dust or water, so these might not be the best for outdoor use or for exercise. Bluetooth range is pretty good; I was able to use them in my basement while fetching my laundry and to go outside and check the mail. I'd therefore consider Bluetooth range to be just slightly above average.
The headphones come with a small bag that is sturdy enough for travel. This is a rare find at this price range. The case has a mesh pocket for keeping the aux cable and the instruction manual. There is a label inside the case that has the contact email for the company, and I noted in my unboxing that it seemed somewhat strange for the contact email to be an outlook.com email, but hopefully you'll never need to contact the company.
YouTube review:
Member discussion: