Decoka DK100 Active Noise Cancelling Earphone Review

The Decoka DK100 are active noise cancelling wired earphones that won’t cost you a fortune, with a price tag of £29.99, which will bring you a brilliant set of noise cancelling earphones that will transform your commute, work, or anywhere where you find yourself needed a little peace and quiet. They are well built, sound great and are a good option to go for if you are looking for a new or better pair of earphones.

Packaging and accessories

The Decoka DK100’s come in a dark grey box, with an image of the earphones on the front, and specs on the back. Inside, the earphones are well presented on top of soft, black foam. When you remove the foam, you’ll find accessories such as 3 pairs of different sized silicone eartips and ear hooks, to fit any size ear so the earphones are comfortable to wear, a USB cable to charge the earphones with, a fabric carry pouch to carry them around in and keep them well protected, and a user guide that comes in multiple languages.

The presentation of the earphones is done really well – it’s easy to take everything out of the box, and it’s really nice that the earphones come with everything you need, such as a travel pouch and a charging cable. The eartips and wings are made out of silicone, and are very comfortable to wear and pretty grippy so that they don’t slip out of your ear.

Look, feel and build

The DK100’s don’t look any different from any other sort of earphone up top, apart from the slightly different wingtips. The majority of the earphone is made up of rubberised plastic, giving it a nice feel and also making it look premium, and it has a metal plate on it with the Decoka name written discreetly on it. The right earphone has a three button controller that allows you to control music volume, play and pause, skip tracks, answer calls and a lot more, and it’s really handy being able to skip music so easily, and change volume. The three buttons feel really good and have a nice tactile feel, and the middle button also has a raise so you know which button is which without having to to try and look. The control has strengthening on top and on the bottom, so it won’t break. The cable is made out of a rubber coated wire, and it’s pretty thick and supple so it’s not stiff anywhere, and it feels very good. It looks set to last a very long time.

These three buttons allow you to easily control volume, music playback and calls.

One of the standout features of these earphones is the active noise cancelling, and this is all controlled from the disc shaped object at the bottom of the earbuds. The disc features three things – a micro-USB port, used to charge the active noise cancelling feature (note that you can still listen to music when it is out of charge, just without noise cancelling), and two buttons – a power switch, to switch on and off noise cancelling, and another button called the ‘Monitor;’ button, that serves an intresting role. The disc has a green light that goes on whilst you have noise cancelling enabled, and it also acts as a charging status indicator.

As mentioned above, the Monitor buttons plays an intresting role. Sometimes you may want to hear an announcement on the train, bus or aircraft you are on, so when you have noise cancelling enabled you can click the monitor button and it lowers your music level, and amplifies the sound outside of you so it is easier to hear. This is really great, as it means you don’t have to keep switching noise cancelling on and off, and you don’t need to keep pulling the earphones out. I was really surprised to find this feature on the earphones, especially considering the price. A very nice small feature addition.

The earphones are very comfortable, and I really like the unusual wingtip design, as it conforms to your ear and it isn’t sharp like you usually find on earphones.

Active noise cancelling

The noise cancelling on the DK100s is great for the price. I’ve found that it works extremely well on low noises such as cars, and an aircraft engine, and the difference of having it on and off when walking down a street is remarkable. If you use them in the coach, it completely eradicates the engine sound, and they are really nice to wear. Decoka says that they reduce environmental sounds by 97% up to 28dB, and I’ve found that walking down a street next to a busy road, the noise of car engines is severely reduced. I’ve also found that if you use it near people, it will quite the voice a little but not by much, which leads me to believe that the earphones work a lot better on low noises. The sound cancelling is really good, and what makes it even better is the price.

Boasting a battery life of 20 hours, the DK 100s can certainly last you more than a few days. I’ve been using them for around a month now, with around an hour of noise cancelling use a day, and the battery is still good – I haven’t needed to recharge them yet. Plus, even if the battery runs out  you can still use the earphones as normal earphones, as they can work without noise cancelling.

Sound quality

The DK 100’s have great sounding sound – it’s not the best in the world – I can tell a difference when using more expensive earphones – however it’s very good, and for the average person they won’t even be able to tell the difference between the DK 100s and earphones that cost much more. The sound is balanced, and stays the same even with active noise cancelling turned on. I’m not much of an audiophile, but the music is well balanced and does not seem to be lacking anything. Bass is boosted on the earphones, but sounds good and doesn’t sound bloated. The Dk100’s handle voices and guitars well, and the treble also sounds great, and isn’t harsh like it is on cheaper earphones.

The sound quality is good – not the best in the world, but you’ll struggle to find something better on a pair of low prices earphones with active noise cancelling like on these ones.

Conclusion

I really love the Decoka DK 100s – they are a great budget earphones with active noise cancelling that actually works. Sound quality is nice, active noise cancelling works and they are built well, and come with nice bonuses like the monitor function. They come with all the sizes of wingtips and earbud size you’ll need, and even include a carrying pouch and a charging cable. If you are looking for a pair of active noise cancelling earphones, or any earphones really, I recommend picking up the Decoka DK100s as you won’t find much better for the price.

The Decoka DK 100s are £29.99 on Amazon (at time of writing).

Advertisement