Gadget Review: Tozo NC9 Pro Bluetooth Headphones

The most interesting thing about these headphones isn't the headphones; it's their case.

The good folks at Tozo have sent me a pair of their new ear-blasters. They're a fairly standard pair of in-ear headphones. Sound quality is good, noise cancelling is excellent, battery life is fine. You know, all pretty standard. But what's actually a little bit special is the charging case.

As well providing charging to the cans, it has this cute little full-colour display!

Which is also a touchscreen!

Everyone knows that hardware manufacturers can't write decent apps - and Tozo are no different. But here you don't have to rely on the app, or anything on your phone. Tap the screen to wake, slide to unlock, fiddle about with the settings:

Or change what song is playing:

Or interact with a dozen different helpful functions:

Specs

You can read about the headphones on the official site but the headline features for me are:

• 14 hours playback with about 60 hours from the case.
• LDAC if you crave bit-perfect audio.
• Active Noise Cancelling with various different modes.
• Multi-function touch buttons on each side.

The App

*sigh* OK, it isn't the worst headphone app I've used, but it isn't great. In its defence, you do not need to create an account in order to use most of the features.

The app isn't brilliantly translated, but you'll probably be able to figure it out.

You can play about with some basic settings in the app.

Both headphones support multi-tap, so you can change them to your preference. There are four different types of tap each ear can support.

It's also possible to change the noise cancellation. The functions are perhaps a little indistinguishable - but they do work.

There is, sadly, a bunch of bullshit in the app. As well as a shop, there's also this weird "Community" tab given pride of place in the middle of the shortcut bar.

Apparently you can earn points the more you post? Why? Who cares! You also get the now-ubiquitous AI tools, which you have to sign in to use, and some white noise to drown out the sounds of the world.

Ultimately, the app is usable. You can adjust the EQ to your preferences, check for firmware updates, and similar. But you'll play with it once or twice then forget it exists.

Audio Quality

I'm not an audiophile. I'm not going to pretend that you need virgin-rolled cables adorned with mystic crystals in order to hear the true sonic soundstage of The Spice Girls.

Everything sounds fine. The default profile was good enough for me. I pumped up the bass and it was nice and boomy. There was no noticeable sound leakage at moderate volumes. The "spatial mode" didn't sound particularly nice to me and introduced a fair bit of distortion.

The noise cancellation was pretty decent as well. It won't drown out a crying baby next to you on public transport.

It will do LDAC on both Android:

And Linux:

Sound quality on both was excellent.

Usability

Pretty good! The taps are quick to respond and, of course, you can whip out the case if you want to change the settings. The touchscreen is small but responds well.

Price

They're between £50 - £60 on Amazon right now, or about £40 direct from the manufacturer. That's bang on what I'd expect for normal headphones, but I think is decent value considering the little touch-screen it includes.

It's a pity that the app is so woeful. But once you've set up your favourite EQ settings, you'll never need to touch it again.

But if you want noise cancelling, snug fitting, easy to use headphones, these are hard to beat.

Many thanks to Tozo for supplying me with the review unit.