Amorno Bluetooth Earbuds
Opening
I got a message the other day from some folks who market the Amorno brand of wireless earbuds asking if I’d like to review a set. Of course I did and a few days later they showed up at my door.
Noise Cancelling
The Amorno earbuds have what is called cVc noise cancelling. You’ll find this feature on a number of earbud sets in this price range. Now I was familiar with noise cancelling as I have set of wired noise cancelling earbuds that I’ve used for several years. What I didn’t totally have straight was the various types of noise canceling that exist.
Passive noise canceling is basically putting a barrier between your ear drum and the noise. In this case, think about the big, cup style earmuffs you find in the garden section of a home improvement store. They’re just big plastic cups filled with foam that absorbs or deadens the sound headed toward your ears.
Active noise cancelling inserts some electronic input to deaden the sound. One type of active noise cancelling, like that in my wired earbuds, listens for the sound outside the earbud and produces a mirror image of the sound that’s 180 degrees out of phase with the original sound and sends it to the earbud or earphone speaker. The physics of sound results in the 180 degree off phase sound canceling the original sound. This is sometimes described as destructive sound cancellation as the ambient sound is destroyed by the opposite phase sound.
Noise cancellation using this technique is focused on the person wearing the device. For example, I find my wired noise cancelling earbuds quite effective at cancelling out the noise in an airplane during flight.
The other type of active noise cancelling is called cVc or Clear Voice Capture. This is an active noise cancelling technique developed by Qual Com and uses software algorithms to separate the sound of the person speaking from the sounds around them. Background noise is electronically reduced so the ratio of ambient sound to the speaker’s voice is greatly reduced. Obviously, this type of noise cancellation is focused on the person on the other end of the call.
So, if you spend time on the phone talking with clients or participating in conference calls while on the go, cVc noise cancellation is an important benefit.
Features and Benefits
Wireless devices allow you to use the earbuds without getting caught up in the wires. With my wired earbuds I often end up sitting in my seat in an airplane with a tangle of wires on my chest. Wires go from my mp3 player to the earbud’s battery case and then out to the earbuds themselves. If I need to leave my seat, I have to shove the wires into my shirt or take off the earbuds. If you’re using them at the gym or other activity, you’ll need to make sure the wires stay clear of snags that can pull them out of your ear or even break the wires.
Wireless earbuds allow you to listen to a variety of audio inputs such as streaming music, podcasts and personal playlists in places where such audio is not allowed such as commuter quiet cars, at work and in libraries.
Wireless earbuds do provide some noise cancelling for you, the wearer. You can expect some reduction in ambient noise with proper earbud fitting which then provide a bit of a barrier from ambient noise getting to your ear.
If you want active noise cancellation within the earbud itself, as I described earlier, expect to pay 2 to 3 times more for your earbuds.
Assessment
What I found was the Amorno earbuds had good sound quality was good and the noise cancellation at my end was OK. It wasn’t nearly as good as my wired earbuds with destructive sound suppression. I found the volume from my Galaxy S8 had to be set fairly high to get my preferred sound level but there was plenty of volume available from my smartphone.
The cVc sound cancelling worked well I called my wife’s phone and recorded the audio straight from the phone’s microphone and using the mics on the earbuds with the cVc noise cancellation.
In my opinion, Bluetooth gives my voice a bit of a digital sound and that was true of both the earbuds and the Bluetooth speaker I used for testing.
I really liked the small carrying and charging case. As described in the product literature, with fully charged earbuds and a fully charged case battery for recharging on the go, you’ll have plenty of hours to enjoy your music or be available for your sales or conference calls.
I mentioned earlier that getting a proper fit helps with noise cancellation on the wearer’s end. Take some time to try out the several sizes of earbud ends that come with the Amorno earbuds. Getting the right size not only helps as a sound barrier but also helps keep the earbuds secure in your ear. You can more easily dislodge ill-fitting earbuds.
Lastly, be sure to follow the pairing instructions that come in the user’s guide. It’s easy to do but if you mess it up, you’ll end up with audio in just one of the earbuds.
All in all, I’m impressed with the Amorno earbuds. I don’t have a bunch of other low to medium priced earbuds to compare these to, but am happy with their functionality, build quality and ease of use with my Galaxy smartphone. It’s not my intent to compare them with $100 to $200 earbuds. For this price point, these seem pretty solid contenders.
