Review Active Noise Cancelling Headset Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC Traveller

I am happy with my Bluetooth On-Ear Headphone from Beyerdynamic called Aventho Wireless which I have reviewed here. So I was more curious to test their latest model which also should provide a personalized sound experiences after measuring hearing strength and weaknesses with a mobile app. Their latest model is called Lagoon ANC Traveller (Amazon Affiliate) and is part of the premium price segment of over-ear Active Noise Canceling Headphones like Bose (700/QC35), Sony WH-1000XM3 and models which I have reviewed like Jabra Elite 85h, Plantronics Voyer 8200 and Sennheiser MB 660.

I won`t provide a review here where I am comparing Lagoon ANC against their market competitors. I am comparing Lagoon ANC against themselves: with and without personalized profile enabled.

How does my test setup look like?

I am using Bluetooth Connections to my Huawei Mate 20 Pro Smartphone where one Headphone with Sound Profile is enabled, the other Lagoon is connected to my Xiaomi MiPad Tablet. I have also connected both headphones in a second longer test to my SmartPhone and switched Bluetooth connections to figure out what might be different. On the mobile App called “MIY” I have ran a 2 minutes hearing test on my left and right ear which you might know from your ear, nose and throat specialist. A Mimi defined Listener ID is created for me now.

Mobile App can also be used to update firmware and track your amount of listening hours, Beyerdynamic want to make sure that you are protecting your ear with their EarPatron technologies but also defining temporal limits. Using the App I could also find out what might sound different if I oscillate between “No adjustment” and “Full adjustment”.

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I am currently listening to Lorde “Royals” and within first 10 seconds I can hear a clear difference: Song starts with a strong, dynamic punch and song is in general a bit louder. Voice is clearer and it feels like pushing the “loudness” button on my Amplifier in my 80s Stereo. “Mimi defined” Technologies used here help to increase loudness and details without increasing volume.
Let`s move on to something quieter: Tracy Chapman “Baby I can hold you“, a song which I always loved but haven`t heard since years. Tracy`s voice is taking much more space, she is more present in the room and I remember that I always loved the fragility of her voice which is emphasized here. Much more intimate experience than without personalized Sound adjustments. Now time to fill my playlist for the desert of Nevada, Microsoft Inspire Conference next week, and enjoy latest Bruce Springsteen`s songs like “Western Stars“: no strong punch, no fragile female voice but I can still confirm that sound is richer and especially voice is clearer, more direct and centered in the room. Exactly what I like for my music taste around Singer/Songwriter.

Feature Overview

• MOSAYC sound personalisation (via MIY app)
• Digital Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) in two stages
• Operation via touchpad
• beyerdynamic Light Guide System to display various operating states
• Bluetooth® 4.2 with the latest audio codecs (Qualcomm® aptX™ Low Latency, aptX™, AAC)
• Range up to 10 m
• Runtime Bluetooth® up to 45 hours (without ANC)
• USB-C charging socket

Comfort, Microphone Quality, Active Noise Canceling and Usability

I am using Lagoon ANC now since 6 weeks and never complained our comfort. Their soft ear pads and weight of headphone are fine for me, I didn`t experience any kind of pressure. About usability I´d like to highlight their Light Guide System in various different colors which provide status about battery, necessary firmware updates, incoming calls, pairing/connectivity and much more. Nice stylish feature indeed!

Personal Assistants like Siri, Cortana (on Windows10, is anyone still using it?) and Google can be activated by pressing the touchpad for 2 seconds. That works usually fine when SmartPhone is unlocked and provides extra value to me.

Battery time with 45 hours (around 24 hours with ANC) is super impressive – Best in Class!

I have used Lagoon ANC in Conference Calls (Webex, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business) and I am very pleased with Microphone Quality, find my voice sample here. I did calls in noisy environments like Train Stations and Airports where call participants on the other side heard too much background noise.

I have done two shorter flights with Lagoon ANC and fell asleep immediately and missed the drinks onboard. So it did a pretty good job but here I need more tests on longer intercontinental flights and also compare Lagoon with the other guys on the market. I also used Lagoon ANC a lot while waiting for trains as mentioned before and ANC has convinced me here. Two ANC levels can be enabled by switching the dedicated button.

Summary

Yes, I am impressed by the long battery life of 45 hours and the difference you can when turning personalized sound experience on. Sound quality is excellent, one of the best headphones I have ever heard. I might also gain more benefits over the years when my hearing is weaker or left/right (h)ear skills are becoming more different.

Would I also get the same sound effect by tweaking equalizer Apps and adjusting my preferred music profile manually? Maybe. Nevertheless I really appreciate that Beyerdynamic cares about ear protection and wants to compensate differences between male/female ears and ears which differ through ages and aging. So they got me with their story and it`s good to see innovations in this intense and dense market around Active Noise Canceling Headphones.

Full transparency disclaimer : this is an unpaid Blogpost and Beyerdynamic has provided me with 2 Headsets, one is sent back to them