The Cleer Audio Enduro ANC has outstanding audio and even better battery life
- Manufacturer: Cleer Audio
- Model: Enduro ANC
- Type: Bluetooth 5.2 Wireless Stereo Headphones
- Price: £149.99 MSRP ($129.99 US)
- Supported Platforms – Bluetooth: PC, Mac, Switch (Docked), Mobile
- Supported Platforms – Wired (3.5mm): PS4/5. Xbox One/Series X|S, Mobile, Switch
- Reviewed on: Windows PC, Samsung mobile/tablet
- Supplied by: Cleer Audio
Cleer Audio ENDURO ANC Review
Overview
The Cleer Audio Enduro ANC surpassed all of my expectations. The performance itself wasn’t that surprising; Cleer Audio are renowned for exceptional sound quality, and the Enduro ANC delivers on that front. What was surprising was the way the Enduro ANC brings together so many desirable features at such an affordable price point. When you can make favourable comparisons against competitors which are often in the £300+ price range, you know you’ve got something special.
I’ll admit to being spoilt when it comes to headphones, as I have the Audeze Penrose X for my gaming needs, and when I want the ultimate in fidelity, I switch to the Audeze LCD-GX. That performance comes at a substantial price, though (£300 and £850, respectively). Although £149 isn’t exactly cheap, the Cleer Enduro ANC represents amazing value considering the features on offer; tight and clean audio, effective active noise cancellation, an eye-catching aesthetic, and outstanding battery life.
I’ve been using these headphones for several weeks now, and they have swiftly become my go-to headphones for gaming, movie-watching and commuting. My favourite thing is the simplicity of use. You can pair two Bluetooth devices, and they reliably reconnect without having to dive into any settings. I also never have to worry about battery life. In three weeks of use, I’ve only needed to charge them twice. That includes when I accidentally left them powered on in my bag all day, which only dropped the battery by 12% over ten hours (they will auto power off, but I’d turned this off in the app – d’oh).
Design and build
What’s in the box?
- Enduro ANC Headphones
- USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable
- USB-A to USB-C charging cable
- Twin TRS airplane adapter
- Quick-start guide/user manual
- Soft-lined canvas carrying pouch
With a navy blue finish accentuated by copper-coloured trim and earth-toned accents, the Enduro ANC looks stunning. Although the majority of the build is plastic, the matte finish looks almost metallic, and it gives the Enduro ANC a premium vibe that I adore. There’s a little bit of creaking along the headband when twisted, but this isn’t a natural pressure that would be exerted on them, and during regular use, there’s no unwanted noise whilst wearing them.
The Enduro ANC is notably more compact than many headphones and headsets I’ve tested, which makes them ideal for taking on the go. They can also be folded via a neatly concealed hinge, making it easy to pop them into your bag when not in use.
Despite the compact size, these are extremely comfortable headphones. Supremely well-judged clamping force holds the earcups close without unwanted pressure. The Enduro ANC held up well with everyday use, though they may be ever so slightly loose if you plan to go jogging. They also have a discreet pivot mechanism and can be swivelled fully flat if you want to dangle them around your neck. The swivel function is great for storage, but they turn inwards slightly, which was a little uncomfortable around my throat.
The supple leatherette-coated earpads feel great, creating a solid seal around your ears, and they are filled with quietly squishy foam (there’s nothing worse than crinkly earcups). The leatherette isn’t very breathable, which can cause your ears to get warm with prolonged use, but it provides excellent passive noise cancellation which in turn improves active noise cancellation. I found the spacing inside the cups to be sufficient to cover my ears, but it’s a close fit; If you have larger ears it’s possible they could be a little snug.
Features and controls
From left to right in the image below; Volume up, power/multi-function, volume down, ANC button
Cleer Audio has done a fantastic job of simplifying the controls on the Enduro ANC. Located on the left ear cup is a simple USB-C port for charging or connecting the USB-C to 3.5mm TRRS audio cable. Slightly higher on the earcup, and exactly where your thumb lands if you reach up to them, are the control buttons.
The larger single button cycles between ANC, ambient mode and ANC off. Pressing and holding this button switches on ambient mode and mutes the sound for as long as you hold it. It’s a useful idea in theory, but in the situations where I’d need it, I found it easier to either pause my music or just move an earcup aside momentarily. Additionally, a double-press of this button will summon your device’s voice assistant.
The bank of three buttons comprises a central power/multi-function button flanked by volume up and down buttons. The top of the power button is significantly pronounced, which I found immensely handy – with my hood up in the pouring rain, I was easily able to locate and operate the Enduro ANC through a thick layer of fabric, allowing me full control without getting my phone and/or headphones wet.
It may seem limited with so few buttons, but the Enduro ANC is fully featured and a breeze to operate. Holding the power button turns the headphones on and off, a single press will play/pause audio (and video), double pressing skips to the next track and a triple press goes back a track. A double press will also answer/hang up calls (and pause your music), and if you aren’t feeling sociable, a long press will reject any incoming call. It’s simple but very effective.
In the Enduro ANC’s out-of-the-box state, you get the flat (but still excellent) audio EQ. That’s not the end of the story, though – if you have an Android or iOS mobile or tablet, you can download the Cleer+ app, which allows you to choose from a range of preset audio profiles or configure custom profiles, and there’s an ambient/ANC slider that lets you fine-tune the level of ambient noise the Enduro ANC lets through.
You can also adjust the automatic power-off timing via the app, and any changes will be stored in an onboard profile and applied to whichever device you’re using. There’s no way to store multiple profiles and switch between them without the app, but at least your current profile and setup remain persistent, so it’s not likely to be an issue for many.
The app unfortunately isn’t available for PC, but if you’re buying £149 Bluetooth headphones I’m going to go out on a limb and say the overwhelming majority at least have access to a mobile device to configure the Enduro on. You can also connect to your PC and phone simultaneously, and as long as your mobile isn’t playing audio, you can hear and customise the PC audio in real time, which I found handy when making a universal audio profile for my needs.
Connectivity
Connecting your devices is super easy. When you power on the Enduro ANC, it enables Bluetooth pairing mode and will appear as Cleer ENDURO ANC. If you have Bluetooth 5.2, it’s even easier, as it will send a notification to your phone/PC that a new device is available for connection. The Enduro ANC can store two devices in its auto-pair memory, but should you add one by mistake or need to change them, you can (very) long-press the power button and wipe the onboard memory.
(Although you can connect to two devices at once, you can’t playback audio from both simultaneously. In my testing, I found the Enduro ANC will prioritise a mobile connection over PC.)
Something I didn’t expect is the Enduro ANC’s party trick. If NFC is enabled on your phone, you can simply hold it up to the left earcup and it will automatically enable Bluetooth and connect to the headphones, and also disconnect with a tap after use.
The Bluetooth range is exceptional, and I had to walk out of the house and to my front gate (about 8 metres through walls) before it started dropping the signal from my PC. I’ve tested other Bluetooth headsets that struggle to maintain the signal while I walk to the fridge, so this coverage is hugely impressive.
In addition to Bluetooth, the Enduro ANC also supports 3.5mm jack connections, which also enables high-res audio support and reduces latency. The latency reduction is desirable if you’re playing competitive games, as the default Bluetooth latency is around 200ms, which is quite high. With a wired connection this is reduced to around 75ms, which is much better.
As for the high-res audio support, I’ll admit that I didn’t notice a huge difference between my 320 Kbps mp3 and my WAV files. With lesser headphones, there’s a big difference at maximum volume, as this is where distortion usually comes into play, but the audio is so “cleer” <ahem> that any difference is negligible.
Sound Quality
The native sound quality is outstanding, and even though some people (wrongly) believe you need at least 50mm drivers to get that rumbly and powerful bass response, Cleer’s patented 40mm ironless drivers excel, producing powerful bass and sublime audio that extends across the entire range of sound.
Although the natural audio tuning is described as flat, it’s anything but: Bass is remarkably well defined, able to produce powerful and deep tones, as well as punchy accents, without muddying the sound higher up the bands; Midrange audio is also very well portrayed. Audio has a full body, with great projection and presence. The separation between bass and mids is excellent, allowing you to clearly pick out individual instruments in songs and audio cues in games alike; Treble is relatively gentle compared to the powerful bass and mids, but it remains bright and sparkly, with ample clarity and a definite and pleasing crispness.
With all of these audio elements combined, the result is symphonic. Even at low volumes, the sound possesses warmth. You also get an unexpectedly wide soundstage, with crystal clear placement and projection. It’s difficult to describe if you haven’t experienced decent headphones, but cheap headphones can make the audio sound like it’s coming from inside your head, or right next to your ears, at best. Great headphones, like the Enduro ANC, move the audio around you, making the audio sound spacious.
Closed-back headphones can suffer from excess reverb, but thanks to the restrained yet punchy 40mm drivers, there is no unwanted reverberation. Bass from explosions in games and movies still rumbles and has an enjoyable persistence, but this doesn’t come at the expense of smothering other frequencies.
For just £149, the Enduro ANC produces sound that will please all but the most anal of audio enthusiasts. When I said these have become my go-to headphones, I meant it – PC gaming, movies, TV shows, music – pretty much everything. Yes, I have better headphones in the LCD-GX, but they have a cumbersome cable and require a separate amp. My Penrose X are arguably better all-rounders (that I still use for console gaming), but I don’t like wearing them out because they are large and don’t look as good as the Enduro, plus the battery life is “meh” in comparison. If you can find better headphones at this price point, buy ‘em!
ANC – Active Noise Cancellation
This isn’t the most effective noise cancellation I’ve tried – the Nuraphone virtually silences everything around you – but the Enduro ANC does a great job at neutralizing a lot of annoying background noise like traffic and the white noise when in a city centre. However, if you’ve got your music cranked up, then the tight seal, ANC and clear audio at high volumes removes almost all background noise and enables you to immerse yourself in your audio, blissfully removed from the bustle around you.
As with many ANC headphones, wind can be problematic. Strong winds blowing into/across the microphones create noise similar to that heard when you blow into a regular microphone, and it’s audible above your music. A decent hood over your head will fix this, but if you don’t have one, you’ll have to switch ANC off if the weather is bad.
Ambient mode, the flip side to ANC, works brilliantly. I have it cranked all the way up and it allows you to hear everything around you. The stereo effect isn’t as precise as it is for music, and with some sounds, it’s hard to pinpoint whether they are in front or behind you, but I could clearly hear traffic approaching, conversations of passers-by, my footsteps, the click of my mechanical keyboard, my fingers gently drumming on my desk – essentially everything. The pitch is a little higher than the real thing and there’s a bit of background static hiss, but overall it’s one of the best ambient audio implementations I’ve heard, and best of all, it has little impact on the sound quality.
Microphone quality
I’m not going to spend long on the mic quality, as the dual mics are perfectly serviceable for basic voice calls. For gaming, I use the 512 Audio Limelight microphone (fantastic mic, check out our review), and it pairs very well with these headphones, but I’d have trouble recommending the Enduro ANC in place of a gaming headset. This isn’t necessarily because of the quality, as the audio is clear and a reasonable representation of my voice, though it is lacking a little bass. The biggest issue is that the Enduro ANC picks up quite a bit of ambient noise and there is no physical mute button. I also had issues with Discord (PC) not picking up any sound from the microphone. Sound was definitely being picked up, as detected when troubleshooting via Windows settings, but for the life of me I couldn’t get Discord to work (although I had no issues with the Discord mobile app – go figure?)
These are headphones, though, and not a gaming headset, so I can’t in good faith mark them down for this fact, but like the Bluetooth latency, it’s something to be aware of if you’re considering buying these headphones.
Battery life
Last but most definitely not least, we come to the battery life – Battery life is rated at 60 hours with ANC and Bluetooth enabled, which sounds like a bold claim, but I’ll be damned if they don’t excel in this regard. I’ve been using these headphones for 3 weeks, and I’ve charged them three times, and not with less than 30% remaining.
For the first week, I recorded my usage as accurately as possible under natural conditions, and I got to 50 hours (over 7 hours per day) with 33% battery remaining; I didn’t always have ANC enabled, and the volume was as low as 35% when watching TV whilst working, but that works out as 75 hours of battery life.
For the second week, I went balls to the wall, and cranked them up with ANC switched on blasting SOAD on repeat (for research, of course), and achieved 50% battery remaining after 25 hours of usage.
This is exceptional, and easily the best battery life of any set of headphones or headset I’ve used (Cleer also make headphones with 100-hour battery life, too, if this isn’t enough for you!) The 800 mAh battery sounds small, but believe me, it’s more than enough to keep you powered up for days on end.
Charging is arguably quite slow, taking roughly 3 hours from 0-100%, but when you can easily get a week of use from a single charge, it’s no big deal finding a couple of hours to charge your headphones.
Summary
Even without any of the extra features, the Enduro ANC is a great set of headphones for the price. The native EQ has pleasing amounts of bass, and the sound separation and clarity are exceptional. Factor in all of the quality-of-life features such as the app and effective audio EQ, the ease of use, incredible battery life, effective noise cancellation and brilliant ambient mode, and the Enduro ANC is almost unbeatable. It also looks pretty damn good, too.
In terms of gaming, the latency is quite high and the microphones aren’t quite up to what gamers expect, but if you have a separate microphone I’d still recommend the Enduro ANC, especially considering how well it works as an all-rounder.
