Review on COWON CK20 ANC: Metal White True Wireless Earbuds with Active Noise Cancelling, Premium Sound Quality, and Wireless Charging Support by Kim Conner

COWON CK20 ANC has very good sound quality. There is a good selection. The audio is not cut off at both ends. It's a very clean, detailed sound, if a bit cold. Like the CK11, it tends towards the high end, but not so much that I wouldn't classify it as neutral/flat. Noise-cancellation is okay, better than average but falls short of the competition and there are plenty of competitors at this price point. In fact at this price point they compete head-to-head with Jabra's ht45s which are very very good hence the 4 stars. That's good, but they're no better than the Jabra in terms of sound or noise-cancelling. Sony ANC is much better. I could have a conversation with that. I cannot continue with Sony or Jabras. If noise-cancelling is your biggest concern, I'd prefer the Sony or the Jabra Bose. Their headphones aren't wearable, they're bowling balls, and they don't work with high-definition players like Cowon. However, the charging case is the best I've seen. It has a 2300MHz battery that can also be used to charge your phone. It brought a notification of the charge level for each earbud and for the case itself. It's also small enough to fit in your pocket, no bigger than any others I've had. The headphones have buttons, no touchpad. I personally prefer the button because it's easier to tell how many times you've pressed it. There are fewer accidents than with the touchpad. However, Cowon has really pushed the boundaries by programming 14 functions onto the touch buttons. Given that human memory consists of 7 +/- 2 bits of information, few people will be able to remember how many times and how long to press which ear, and many calls will be abandoned, muted and the volume turned up page turned. up or Bluetooth is off. 7 functions per ear is too much. When it comes to audio hardware, I usually say sound quality makes up 99% of my rating. Cowons have very good sound and decent noise cancellation. At this price they compete with both Jabra and Sony. Sony headphones are all extra bass, so I don't wear them. When I tried them a few years ago, the Jabra OTOH headphones were definitely the best in their category and I believe they remain so to this day. Since the price is a bit higher than Jabras, I would go for Jabras. IF a very, very functional case means more to you, choose Cowons. Noise-cancellation is also used by Jabra and Sony, but some may still need it due to their slightly different sound profile. It's a very good sound, but for the price it's probably the most competitive category at the moment.