Edifier ES850NB Review (After Months of Use): My Daily Headphones
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POST UPDATED: 7th of February.
Lately it feels like I’ve been reviewing a lot of earbuds from Edifier, so when they offered to send me the ES850NB, I was genuinely curious. Over-ear headphones are a different relationship. You don’t just listen to them — you live with them: long sessions at a desk, quick phone calls, walks, the daily rhythm of putting them on and taking them off.
The pair I received came in brown, and it’s the first thing you notice. Warm, elegant, slightly vintage — the kind of colour choice you rarely see in this category, and one that makes the ES850NB look more expensive than you expect. It sounds superficial, but it isn’t. If something is going to sit on your head for hours, day after day, it has to feel like part of your life, not just a gadget.
I’ve been using these headphones for months now, and that’s the real reason this review matters. The novelty wore off, the routine settled, and the ES850NB stayed. They’ve become my daily pair because they do the essentials extremely well: comfort, sound, and design. They’re easy to wear, enjoyable to listen to, and stylish enough that you don’t feel like you’re wearing a generic slab of plastic.
They’re not perfect, though. There’s one detail that still annoys me — the physical buttons — and it’s exactly the kind of flaw you only notice properly once you’ve lived with a product for long enough. The frustrating part is that the headphones are so good everywhere else, I’ve kept using them anyway.
What kind of listener I am
Before I get into the details, it’s worth saying what kind of listener I am, because it shapes how I judge headphones. I care about real-life use: comfort over long sessions, sound that stays enjoyable for hours, noise cancelling that makes a difference in day-to-day situations, and controls that don’t become irritating over time. If a pair sounds great but I stop reaching for it after a week, it doesn’t matter how good it looks on paper.
Design
Design was the first thing that impressed me. The ES850NB are mostly plastic, like most modern headphones, but they don’t feel cheap in the hand. The finish is clean, the build feels tight, and the faux-leather accents add just enough texture to push them into that “more premium than expected” category.
The brown colour helps a lot. It’s warm and understated, with a slightly vintage feel ( timeless rather than trendy ) and it fits Edifier’s minimalist style perfectly. Even the branding is restrained: the logo is there, but it’s subtle, the kind of quiet confidence you tend to see on more expensive pairs.
Comfort is the other reason these headphones stayed in my routine. The ear cups are soft and well padded, and they sit around the ear without that clamp-force pressure that slowly becomes annoying after an hour. I’ve worn them through long stretches of work — writing blog drafts, editing videos, and just having music on in the background — and I rarely get that familiar heaviness or ear fatigue that tells you it’s time to take a break.
Controls are where the ES850NB feel slightly less refined. The buttons aren’t bad — they’re clicky and they work — but they’re smaller than I’d like, and it can be fiddly to locate the exact one you want without looking. In day-to-day use that becomes a minor irritation, and it’s why I’d say the controls are a mixed bag. There’s definitely room for improvement here.
A final touch I really appreciate: the carrying case. It’s sturdy, properly protective, and feels built to last — the kind of case you actually use, rather than leaving in the box forever.
Overall, the ES850NB look and feel like something that should cost more than they do — and it’s one of the reasons I keep coming back to Edifier as a brand. They tend to prioritise design and comfort without inflating the price, and these headphones are a good example of that.
Sound, ANC, and the part that makes you keep listening
The first thing that properly grabbed me wasn’t the bass or the EQ presets: it was the Active Noise Cancelling. Edifier claims up to 45 dB of noise reduction, and in real life it’s genuinely impressive. No, it doesn’t quite reach the very top tier (the kind of silence you get from the premium flagship models most people think of first: Apple-Sony-Bose) but it isn’t miles behind either. Where it shines most is in the places most of us actually use headphones: low-frequency hums, background chatter, that constant café buzz that makes it hard to concentrate. It’s exactly the sort of ANC that helps me focus when I’m writing, and it’s just as satisfying when I want to switch off and disappear into a playlist for a while.
The Edifier Connex app helps too. You can choose different ANC modes depending on where you are, and that flexibility makes a real difference over time. Working from home, commuting, sitting in an airport lounge — the experience changes slightly, but there’s always a setting that feels appropriate rather than overdone.
Then there’s the sound and this is where the ES850NB start behaving like a pair you can genuinely live with. Edifier has a house style, and you can hear it here: warm, rich, and inviting, without turning muddy or dull. Vocals come through cleanly, the bass has depth but stays controlled, and nothing ever feels harsh. It’s not the kind of tuning that tries to impress you in the first thirty seconds; it’s the kind that stays enjoyable two hours later. That matters far more in daily use than “wow” detail that becomes fatiguing by the end of the afternoon.
You can tweak the EQ in the app, but honestly I didn’t feel the need to fuss much. I left it on Music and Classic most of the time because both already sound excellent — and that says a lot. If you’re on Android, you also get the bonus of a higher-resolution Bluetooth codec option, which can bring a little more detail and depth compared with the standard codec used on iPhones. On iPhone, though, the ES850NB still sound genuinely great. I watched YouTube and Netflix with them too, and there was no noticeable lag — just an easy, enjoyable, “put them on and forget about it” experience.
Battery life is the other quiet strength. Edifier claims up to 53 hours with ANC on, and while I’m not wearing headphones every waking hour, it certainly feels believable in day-to-day use. I went several days before charging even crossed my mind — which is exactly how battery life should feel: not like a feature, but like something you stop thinking about.
The best way I can describe the ES850NB at their best is simple: when the ANC settles in and the music starts, it genuinely feels like it’s just you and the sound — the rest of the world pushed slightly further away. Immersive, smooth, and more refined than you’d expect at this price.
The one thing that lets them down
The only part of the ES850NB that feels slightly below the rest of the experience is the controls. The buttons aren’t cheap — they’re clicky enough — but they’re small, and it’s easy to hit the wrong one when you’re walking or adjusting volume quickly. Over time, I found myself controlling playback from my phone simply because it was faster.
That said, one touch feature works beautifully: hold the right ear cup and the music pauses while ambient sound comes through, so you can have a quick conversation without taking the headphones off. If Edifier improves the main controls in the next generation, they’ll remove the only real irritation I’ve had with these.
Pros
- Warm, enjoyable sound that stays comfortable for long listening sessions
- Impressive ANC for the price — great for café noise, hums and everyday distractions
- Extremely comfortable fit (easy to wear for hours without fatigue)
- Gorgeous brown finish with a premium, slightly vintage look
- Strong battery life in real use (you stop thinking about charging)
- Useful app with multiple ANC modes and EQ presets
- Solid carrying case that feels genuinely protective
Cons
- Buttons are a mixed bag: small, not always easy to find by touch, and a bit fiddly on the move
- ANC is excellent for the price, but not quite “flagship level” if you’re coming from top-tier models
Final thoughts
After months with the Edifier ES850NB, the most honest thing I can say is this: they stopped feeling like a review unit and quietly became part of my routine. That matters more than first impressions, because plenty of headphones sound good for a week. Far fewer are the pair you keep reaching for when the novelty has worn off.
Edifier has managed to blend three things that rarely come together at this price: design, comfort, and genuinely enjoyable sound. The brown finish gives them a distinctive, slightly vintage elegance — the sort of look that feels intentional rather than generic — and the overall build has a “more expensive than it should be” quality in the hand. Comfort is one of their strongest points too: they’re easy to wear for long stretches, whether I’m writing, editing, or just having music on while I get through the day.
Sound-wise, they hit that warm, inviting balance I’ve come to associate with Edifier. Add in noise cancelling that performs brilliantly in real-life situations — cafés, background hum, day-to-day distractions — and battery life that’s so good you stop thinking about charging, and you can see why they’ve earned daily-driver status for me.
They’re not flawless. The controls are the one area that doesn’t feel as refined as the rest: the buttons work, but they’re small and a bit fiddly, and over time I found myself using my phone more often than I wanted to. It’s not a dealbreaker — clearly, because I’m still using them — but it’s the one part I’d love Edifier to improve in the next generation.
If you want over-ear headphones that look stylish, feel comfortable for hours, and deliver a smooth, immersive listening experience without creeping into “premium flagship” pricing, the ES850NB are absolutely worth considering.
Jerome