A quality pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones is an essential companion — especially for those of us who travel by plane, commute by train, or work in a coffee shop from time to time (listen, it’s officially PSL season, so I can’t help myself).

Edifier, one of the most established names in audio, released its W830NB wireless over-ear headphones just this past summer, and I got the opportunity to take them for a spin. Edifier has put together what just might be the best budget set of noise-cancelling wireless headphones I’ve had the pleasure of testing.

Price, availability, and specs

These wireless, overear headphones retail for $80 exclusively on Amazon in the US, and can often be found on sale.

Edifier products tend to offer great value for their price point, and the W830NB features active noise cancellation capable of reducing up to 45 decibels of sound from your surroundings when in its highest mode. The outside of each earcup features a built-in microphone that powers the headset’s ANC and works for phone calls and the ambient sound mode, which helps let in some sound from your surroundings.

Edifier is no stranger to high fidelity, and even in a budget set of headphones, the company includes support for high-resolution codecs like LDAC. It’s important to note, however, that the LDAC codec is only supported by certain Android devices, and its peak bit rate is only supported by certain streaming apps.

The W830NB also supports AAC and SBC, the former of which is optimized for Apple devices, and both of which are lossy codecs. For those seeking the highest fidelity possible, the W830NB supports a wired connection via USB-C, which is also used for charging.

What I liked about the Edifier W830NB

Price to performance ratio is excellent

The Edifier W830NB are as versatile as they are affordable. I tested these headphones while gaming, flying, listening to music, and watching TV, and each time, they performed better than many other niche-specific headsets at the same price point. That’s to say, $80 never worked so well or sounded so good.

On my flight from Chicago to Dallas, the active noise cancellation performed admirably, cutting out a significant chunk of the plane’s droning background noise. With the ANC set to the highest setting in the EDIFIER ConneX app, I was able to thoroughly enjoy a movie without the plane noise interfering.

While listening to music, I was impressed with the overall sound quality of these headphones. The bass wasn’t too overwhelming, as the W830NB actually produced a fairly balanced soundstage, though some may prefer higher bass.

Since I was listening on my iPhone, I was limited to AAC, which means I wasn’t getting the finest detail this model is capable of producing. To test the higher end of the audio quality spectrum, I listened to Tidal on my PC with a wired connection and was thoroughly impressed with how the W830NB’s handled highs and mids.

What I didn’t like about the Edifier W830NB

A better fit would have gone a long way

For a budget pair of headphones, I have no complaints when it comes to function, performance, or features. Where I did find shortcomings was in the fit — the top band of the W830NB has a fairly thin layer of cushion covering the thin, hard plastic band. A light press on this cushion with your fingers, and you’ll readily feel the hard band within.

The same, unfortunately, goes for when they’re resting on your head. I could feel the hard plastic band on my scalp, which didn’t bother me too much in short spurts, but got to the point of distractingly uncomfortable when I was wearing them for over a two-hour flight. I found myself adjusting them a lot, trying to shift the band around my head in hopes I would notice it less.

The fit of the earcups could also be improved, though it was considerably less noticeable under quieter conditions. However, on that same flight, I quickly noticed that if I simply shifted my head left or right, the “seal” of the earcup cushioning would be broken, and all the ambient noise of the plane would come rushing in until I faced straight forward again. It was a little annoying and definitely not something I struggle with on higher-end noise cancelling over ear headphones.

Should you buy the Edifier W830NB?

The Edifier W830NB are a remarkably well-rounded set of headphones, bringing utility and quality to the table at a modest price. In my experience, Edifier excels at squeezing every drop of juice from the lemon when designing and pricing their audio products, and the W830NB are no exception.

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly set of noise-cancelling wireless headphones, and you value audio quality, ease of use, and versatility over thumping bass or status-symbol headsets, then you’d do well to give the W830NB a close look.