TECKNET TK-HS049 ANC Headphones Review: budget workhorse with long battery and decent ANC

I’ve been using these TECKNET Active Noise Cancelling headphones for a couple of weeks now, mainly for working from home and a few train trips. I bought them because I didn’t feel like dropping a few hundred quid on Sony or Bose, but I still wanted something wireless with ANC that wasn’t total rubbish. So this is coming from someone who’s used mid-range JBL and Anker before, not a hardcore audiophile with £400 gear.

First impression: for the price, they’re pretty solid. The sound is more than OK for casual listening, the ANC actually blocks a fair chunk of low background noise, and the battery life feels almost endless. I’ve charged them once, used them several hours a day, and they just keep going. They’re not premium, you can tell from the plastic and the look, but they don’t feel like a toy either.

In daily use, I’ve mainly used them connected to a laptop and phone, jumping between Teams/Zoom calls and Spotify. The dual Bluetooth connection works, but it’s not magic — sometimes it gets a bit confused when both devices try to grab audio at the same time. Still, it’s handy not to have to re-pair every time. The ANC is especially useful for blocking fan noise and street noise when I’m trying to focus.

If you’re expecting the comfort and sound of £250 headphones, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re realistic and just want something wireless, over-ear, with ANC and long battery for around £30–40, then these hold up pretty well. In this review I’ll go through what’s good, what’s just decent, and what annoyed me a bit, so you know what you’re actually getting into.

Price-wise, these TECKNET headphones sit in that budget zone where you’re not expecting miracles, but you still want something usable. And in that context, I’d say they offer good value for money. You get proper ANC, long battery life, wireless + wired options, and a decent level of comfort and sound for roughly the cost of a cheap night out. Compared to big brands that charge five to eight times more, the gap in real-world use isn’t as brutal as the price difference suggests, at least for casual listeners.

If I compare them to other budget options I’ve tried, like basic Anker or some random Amazon brands, TECKNET sits on the better side. The ANC is more effective than the fake "noise cancelling" some cheap models claim, and the battery life clearly beats a lot of low-cost competitors. Sound-wise, they’re in the same ballpark as other budget over-ears: a bit bassy, not super detailed, but perfectly fine for Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, and calls.

Where you feel the low price is in the materials, lack of app, and maybe long-term durability. No carrying case, no fancy features like auto-pause when you take them off, no detailed ANC controls. If those things matter to you, you’re in the wrong price range anyway. For someone who just wants: "over-ear, wireless, with ANC, that doesn’t die after two hours" for a small budget, this is exactly that. You’re not paying for brand status, you’re paying for basic functionality that mostly works well.

So, in simple terms: if you’re picky about sound and build, save up and go for Sony/Bose/Apple. If you just need a cheap workhorse for home, office, or travel, these TECKNET headphones are a pretty sensible buy. Not perfect, but you get a lot of features for not much money.

Design-wise, these are pretty standard over-ear headphones. The pair I tried is black, so very classic. No flashy logos, no crazy shapes, just a basic plastic headband and earcups. Up close, you can tell it’s not premium gear — the plastic is light and a bit "budget" to the touch — but they don’t squeak like crazy and there’s no obvious rough edges or weird gaps. For the price bracket, it’s acceptable.

The buttons are all on one earcup: power/Bluetooth, volume up/down, ANC/Transparency, and the EQ switch. The layout is okay once you get used to it, but at the beginning I did press the wrong button a few times when trying to turn ANC on and ended up pausing the music instead. After a couple of days, muscle memory kicks in. The buttons have a clear click, which I like more than those flat touch surfaces that never register properly.

The earcups swivel and fold flat, which is practical when you wear them around your neck or toss them in a bag. They don’t fold inwards like some travel headphones, so they’re still a bit bulky, but at least they don’t take up as much space as a totally rigid pair. The headband adjustment clicks into place and doesn’t slide around by itself. I have a medium-sized head and I’m around the middle of the adjustment; someone with a bigger head will probably be near the end but should still be able to get a fit.

In short, the design is functional, not stylish. If you want something that looks like a fashion accessory, this isn’t it. If you don’t care and just want black over-ear cans that don’t scream "cheap" from far away, they’re fine. I’d call the design "generic but acceptable" — which, for what they cost, is honestly all I was expecting.

Battery is probably the biggest strength of these TECKNET headphones. The brand claims up to 70 hours in normal mode and about 40 hours with ANC on. I obviously didn’t sit there with a stopwatch, but in real life it’s clear they last a long time. I used them roughly 3–4 hours a day for a full work week, mostly with ANC on, and the battery icon barely moved. I only needed to charge them once after more than a week of use.

Charging is done via USB‑C, which is good — no ancient micro‑USB nonsense. From empty to full takes a couple of hours on a standard charger. There’s no wireless charging or fancy fast-charge feature advertised, but honestly, with this kind of battery life, I don’t care. You plug them in now and then, and that’s it. They’re the kind of headphones you forget to charge because they just keep going, and then one day you suddenly remember and top them up.

One thing I liked is that you can also use them wired with the 3.5 mm cable if the battery is dead. That means they won’t become useless on a long trip if you forgot to charge them. Sound quality in wired mode is roughly the same as wireless, maybe slightly cleaner, and of course there’s no Bluetooth latency. I used wired mode once on a laptop with a slightly dodgy Bluetooth connection, and it worked fine with no fuss.

So on battery, I’d say they’re well above average for the price. If you’re the type who hates having to charge headphones every other day, you’ll appreciate these. For commuting, long flights, or just leaving them at the office for calls and music, the battery side is pretty much a non-issue, which is exactly what you want.

On the comfort side, I was pleasantly surprised, but there are limits. The ear pads are memory foam with that typical "protein leather" coating everyone uses now. They’re soft enough and have a bit of give, so they seal reasonably well without crushing your head. The clamping force is moderate: not super loose, not vice-level tight. I wore them for 3–4 hour stretches while working, and only towards the end did I start to feel some pressure around the ears and on the top of the head.

The headband has padding, but it’s not super thick. If you have very short hair or a shaved head, you might feel the band more over time. For me, with normal hair, it was fine most of the day. One thing I noticed: after about 2 hours, my ears got a bit warm. That’s pretty much the case with all closed-back over-ear headphones, but the fake leather doesn’t breathe much, so you do end up a bit sweaty around the ears if the room is warm.

In terms of weight, they’re relatively light, which helps. They don’t give that heavy "helmet" feeling like some older ANC models. On the flipside, that lightness also comes from the plastic build, which doesn’t feel super premium, but for comfort it’s a plus. I didn’t feel neck strain or anything, even after a long work session. If you wear glasses, you’ll feel the arms of your glasses slightly pressed into your head, but for me it was manageable. It’s not worse than other budget over-ear headphones I’ve tried.

Overall, I’d say comfort is good for the price, but not all-day luxury. If you need something to wear 8–10 hours straight every single day, you might want to invest in a more padded, higher-end model. For a few hours of work, commuting, or casual listening, these hold up fine. Just don’t expect to forget you’re wearing them.

In terms of build quality, these sit right in the middle: not flimsy junk, but not tank-like either. The plastic on the headband and earcups is light and a bit "hollow" feeling, but the hinges for the swivel and fold seem reasonably solid. I’ve tossed them into a backpack a few times without any case, and so far there are no cracks, no loose parts, and no weird noises when adjusting them. The headband extension clicks firmly into place and doesn’t slide by itself.

The part I’m a bit more cautious about is the ear pad material. Like most budget headphones, it’s that synthetic leather that tends to peel after a year or two, especially if you sweat a lot or live somewhere warm. After a couple of weeks they still look like new, obviously, but based on experience with similar products, I wouldn’t be shocked if the pads start to show wear after heavy use. I haven’t seen any easy way to replace the pads listed in the box or manual, so if they peel, you might have to get creative or just accept the cosmetic damage.

The buttons and ports feel fine. The USB‑C port is snug, and the 3.5 mm jack doesn’t wobble when you plug in the cable. I didn’t notice any play or looseness in the earcups after adjusting them many times. I also accidentally dropped them from desk height once (about 70–80 cm) onto a hard floor, and they survived without any visible mark or functional issue. So at least they’re not ultra fragile.

The 3-year warranty (with registration) gives a bit of peace of mind. It suggests the brand expects them to last a while, even if the materials don’t scream "premium". I wouldn’t treat them like an indestructible work tool, but for normal home/office/travel use, I think they’ll hold up okay. Just don’t expect them to look pristine after years of daily abuse.

Let’s talk about how they actually sound and how the ANC behaves, because that’s the main point. Sound quality is decent, leaning towards bassy, like most consumer headphones. Out of the box, the low end has a bit of punch, the mids are okay, and the highs are present without being painfully sharp. If you’re listening to Spotify, YouTube, podcasts, that kind of stuff, it does the job without making you wince. It’s not super detailed or "hi-fi", but I never felt like tracks were completely muffled either.

The 6 EQ modes are a nice idea on paper, but in reality I ended up using 2 of them: the more bassy one for music, and a more neutral one for podcasts and calls. The voice prompt tells you which mode you’re in, but you’ll probably forget the names and just pick whatever sounds best to you. The differences are noticeable, but not night and day. Think of it more as mild tuning rather than a full sound redesign. For the price, I’m fine with that.

On ANC performance, it’s actually better than I expected at this price. It cuts down low, continuous noises quite well: fan noise, air conditioning, train rumble, and city hum. Voices and high-pitched sounds are less affected, which is normal for ANC in general, especially in the budget range. On a train, it made the trip more bearable, and with some music on top, the background was mostly gone. In a noisy café, it toned things down but didn’t create full silence, so don’t expect miracles.

I didn’t run into the loud popping issues one Amazon reviewer mentioned, but I did notice that with ANC on, there’s a faint background hiss in very quiet rooms, especially if no music is playing. It’s not extreme, but if you’re sensitive you’ll hear it. There’s also a Transparency mode that lets outside noise in; it works, but it’s a bit artificial and amplified, so I only used it briefly when I needed to hear someone speaking without taking the headphones off. Overall, for normal users these perform well enough, but if you’ve already tried top-tier ANC from Bose or Sony, you’ll feel the difference.

Out of the box, it’s pretty straightforward: you get the headphones, a USB‑C charging cable, a 3.5 mm audio cable, and a basic user manual. No carrying case, no pouch, nothing fancy. For the price, that doesn’t shock me, but if you travel a lot you’ll probably want to buy a cheap case so they don’t get wrecked in your bag. The manual is short but clear enough: how to turn ANC on/off, pair devices, and switch EQ modes.

On paper, the specs look almost too generous: 70 hours of battery (40h with ANC on), Bluetooth 6.0, hybrid ANC up to 35 dB, 6 EQ modes, and support for wired use through the 3.5 mm jack. The 3‑year warranty (with registration) is also there, which is rare in this price range. That doesn’t mean they’ll last three years for sure, but at least the brand is not hiding behind a 6‑month warranty and running away.

During setup, pairing was quick with both my phone and laptop. They show up as a normal Bluetooth device, no app needed. That’s both good and bad: good because it’s plug-and-play, bad because you can’t fine-tune the sound or ANC in an app like you can with pricier brands. The EQ modes are built into the headphones, and you cycle them with a button, but there’s no visual feedback besides a voice telling you which mode you’re in. After a while you kind of guess by ear and just stick to one or two modes.

Overall, as a package, it’s bare-bones but practical. You’re clearly paying for the core features — ANC, wireless, long battery — and not for accessories or a fancy app. If you want something that just works out of the box with minimal faff, this approach is fine. If you like to tweak every setting and have everything perfectly customised, you might find it a bit too simple.