Phiaton PS 20 NC: Big Noise Cancellation in a Tiny Package
We’ve been posting a little less than normal here, as summer comes to an end, folks go back to school, and a couple of our writers escaped to the desert and a variety of travel. That doesn’t mean we haven’t been testing gear though- today’s set of headphones has gone through a two-person multi-cross-country journey that ended up hitting ten states. This pair of earbuds was worn split between two people, faced down crying babies on airplanes, and supported late night subway rides. There were a few niggles along the way and eventually they became a bit uncomfortable- but the Phiaton PS 20 NCs offer a pretty slick, quieting way to listen to our tunes.
Despite early reviews, we still haven’t seen these in stores, and as of press time, Phiaton still lists them as “coming soon”. We’ve previously worked with their PS210s, which offered only so-so sound isolation but were quite attractive. This time, the tables have turned- Phiaton focused on the noise-cancellation side of the PS 20s, and to great effect. They claimed that up to 95% of external sounds would be blocked, and we were skeptical. But with some adjustments- getting the right-size earbud is crucial- we found it to be seemingly the case. Like before, there are four included, though all of the same silicone material.
The reason seems to be two-fold: a variety of layers combine to create the tight seal (see the cool graphic), but also they have an unusual design they call “half in-ear”, which means that a fairly significant part of the bud sticks out. This looks a bit odd, but works well against a variety of sound conditions. All but the most irregular, grating or piercing noises were made much less audible, and many of the more common street noises disappeared altogether. This meant that we could turn the volume down a bit, protecting our hearing, but also enjoy our music. Of course, these won’t offer quite the same isolation or cancellation abilities of some over-the-ear models- but they are a fraction of the weight (and often the cost). We weren’t as fond of the look of these- available in black or white, they seem a bit bulbous and, frankly, a bit cheap. Also, we’ve grown used to cloth cords. Sound performance was good- undistinct, but with more bass than the previous model we’ve used, and with no real weaknesses. Low bitrate audio files sounded fine, as did heavier hiphop tracks, and sound separation was surprisingly good. We didn’t make much use of the ‘Everplay’ feature, used for when you don’t want (or the AAA battery runs out on) the noise cancellation, but it’s nice to know that it’s there!
At an MSRP of $150, they seem priced just a bit too high. We did face some durability issues- the cable connector to the small dongle or module was finnicky, and prone to coming loose. Over time, we also found the earbud itself to not sit quite right on one ear, but that could have been due to some fairly punishing use (sitting on them, for instance). If you’re in the market for a solid pair of earphones offering assisted/active noise cancellation, Phiaton’s PS 20 NCs are a good value.
