Review: Aukey EP-N5 Active Noise Canceling Bluetooth Earbuds

(Last Updated On: August 26, 2020)

Bluetooth is the future, and this is true for when you want to use earbuds with your smartphone, as most smartphones don’t have headphone jacks anymore. The brand that we can mainly thank for that would be Apple, as they took a leap with no longer using a headphone jack starting with the iPhone 7. Then they released the Apple Airpods which pushed for the future of Bluetooth and other smartphone brands followed suit.

Now we have a plethora of brands that have their Bluetooth earbuds, but there is only a handful that is worth spending money on. In this review, we’ll be taking a look at these Aukey EP-N5 Bluetooth earbuds. Aukey is a well-established consumer electronics brands and we think pose good competition with even top brands such as Apple, by offering great quality without the high brand price.

Sound Quality

Considering the lower price for these earbuds, the sound quality of these Aukey EP-N5 Bluetooth earbuds is phenomenal. The first thing we want to say is that these earbuds do feature noise-canceling and it’s good, not great, but it meets a good enough standard that when you have both of the buds in then you’ll be blocking a good amount of noise around you.

Taking a walk down the street with cars passing, people walking, talking, these earbuds are were able to muffle most of it out of existence. That said, if you’re expecting exceptional noise canceling to the exact standard of higher-end, higher-priced earbuds or headphones then you’ll be a bit disappointed. That said, we always found that average noise canceling to be better because blocking all the noise around you may not be the safest thing.

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The noise-canceling from these earbuds is only half of what can deliver the great sound quality, these earbuds deliver a great volume, and each earbud features a 10mm dynamic driver.

In our test, we listened to “Set a Fire in your Heart” from the official Halo Infinite soundtrack. The track features quite a few instruments such as somber violins, hard-hitting drums, and uprising to soothing violins. The earbuds did a fantastic job of capturing each of the instruments, and we felt the full effect of the track. The most important part is the drums that are the focal point of the song and the drivers from these Aukey earbuds do a fantastic job at delivering the deep base.

The volume strength is also great as the earbuds have an impedance of 32 ohms, which is the standard for earbuds to feature. Combining the standard impedance, above-average active noise canceling, and dual drivers, the volume quality from these Aukey earbuds is extraordinary.

While results are going to vary for everyone, in our test, having the volume at Level 1 when using a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was great when listening to “Set a Fire in your Heart”. The music was loud and overall, we had a great time listening to the track. That said, increasing the volume did make for a better listening experience, but it wasn’t exactly necessary, and you’re able to hear things more clearly when turning up the volume when it comes to being in more noisy areas.

Overall, these Aukey EP-N5 earbuds have great sound quality that can rival high-end brand earbuds, and you should not feel like you’re settling for less.

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Connectivity Controls

The standard for Bluetooth earbuds is that they almost always have some sort of touch controls built into the earbuds themselves. In this case, these Aukey earbuds have a touchpad that you tap at the top of their stems. The touch controls are responsive, but it does take some time to getting use to them and making sure that you know where to tap and what taps control certain things.

For example, a single tap on either earbud will stop and play music, but when you’re receiving a call, a tap will accept the call. To reject a call you would hold either of the earbuds down for about 2 seconds.

Going to your next song or video, you would double-tap the right earbud, if you want to go to a previous sound or video, then it’s a double-tap on the left earbud. You can even activate a voice assistant such as Siri or Google with a triple tap on either earbud, but we have to say that three-tap controls are a little bit difficult to control.

You also hold down either earbud for about two seconds when not receiving a call to active or deactivate active noise canceling.

When it comes to pairing the Aukey earbuds to your phone, we had a really easy time doing so. When you take the earbuds out of the case, they automatically turn on, connect, and search for devices to connect to.

In our case, we used a Samsung Galaxy Note 9, turned on Bluetooth, search for devices and the Note 9 found the Aukey earbuds. Connecting was easy as ever.

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Design and Fit

Alright, so right off the start, you probably noticed that these Aukey earbuds look exactly like Airpods, and we love the design. Of course, it’s likely for marketing purposes for more sales, but even so, you’re going to look awesome rocking some dark Airpods.

The earbuds themselves feel comfortable to wear and they come with medium-sized earbud tips and in our case, they worked out the best. The stem part of the earbuds doesn’t cause any discomfort and doesn’t get in the way.

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Charging Case and Accessories

In the box, you’ll be getting the Aukey EP-N5 earbuds, a charging case, a very small USB-C to USB-A cable, large tip buds, and small tip buds.

The charging case for these Aukey earbuds looks very similar to an Airpod charging case, but once again, the matte black for the case just as the earbuds have looked great. Also, the case has four Green LED power lights to show how much power capacity it has remaining and at the bottom is where you’ll find the USB-C input port that you use to recharge the case.

The case has a 500mAh power capacity, and for an earbud case, that’s higher than the normal 300mAh that most tend to have.

The earbuds are held in magnetically and snap right into place when placed into the charging case. The lid for the case is also magnetic. Overall, the size for the case is perfect and you can easily just slide it into a pocket if you want.

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Conclusion

Going for large brand name earbuds is an option, but always remember that they’re not the only option. These Aukey EP-N5 are proof that you don’t have to spend an insane amount of money to get top quality, as the brand pricing is cut out and what you’re left with are Bluetooth earbuds that sound great with noise cancelation, useful features and a charging case that performs well.

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