CLEER Alpha ANC
SUMMARY: Comfortable headphones provide premium sound quality and exclusive features.
Alpha takes advantage of the latest technologies to bring its users an amazing listening
experience.
- Design
- Ease of use
- Price
Premium wireless headphones take advantage of latest technologies.
Since I began working from home, I have used wireless headphones on a daily basis. Most of the time, it is so I can complete important meetings over Zoom or other video conferencing software. Wireless headphones make it possible for me to be able to focus my attention on the meeting rather than anything else going on in our house. Since I wear over-ear headphones for a large percentage of my day, I want it to be a good experience. The headphones need to be comfortable to wear and provide superior sound quality. That’s why I decided to test out the Alpha Wireless Active Noise Cancelling Headphones from Cleer Audio.
DETAILS
The Alpha Wireless Active Noise Cancelling Headphones are Cleer Audio’s flagship noise-canceling headphones. It’s a culmination of the latest technology and design from Cleer. One of the Alpha’s premium features is its adaptive noise cancellation and ambient mode. With it, you can block out distractions and take advantage of Alpha’s wide-band noise cancellation. Ambient mode allows outside noise to bleed into your headphones for awareness purposes. With it, you can have a conversation without removing your headphones.
Another great feature of these wireless headphones is their enhanced call quality. The Alpha headphones have Qualcomm cVc (clear voice capture) built-in with a 2-mic beamforming design and wind noise reduction. The headphones also make use of spatial audio effects thanks to the integrated Dirac Virtuo. Alpha’s hi-res sound is made possible by its patented 40mm Ironless Drivers. The headphones have industry-leading 35-hour battery life and a quick charge option that can provide up to 4 hours of listening time with a 10-minute charge.
Alpha also has the added advantage of the Cleer+ app that allows you to create personal sound profiles through the EQ settings and adjust noise canceling and ambient sound levels. The headphones come in two different color options – midnight blue and stone.
What’s in the Box
- ALPHA Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones
- Carrying case
- Quick start guide, user manual, warranty card
- Charging cable USB-C to USB-A
- Audito cable 3.5mm to 3.5mm
- In-flight adapter
SPECS
- Weight: 330g
- Driver: 40mm IronlessTM
- Frequency Response (Bluetooth): 20Hz-20kHz
- Frequency Response (Line-in): 20Hz-40kHz
- Headphone Type: Over-Ear
- Foldable: Yes
- Microphones: Qualcomm® cVcTM 2-mic Beamforming
- Inputs: Bluetooth, Passive Line-in 3.5mm
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth Version 5.1
- Audio Formats: MP3, SBC, Qualcomm® aptXTM Adaptive
- Range: Up to 15m
- Bluetooth Multipoint: Yes, pairs seamlessly to multiple devices
- Battery: Battery Life 35hrs
- Charge Method: USB-C
- Quick Charge: 10min charge provides 4hrs
USER EXPERIENCE
The wireless headphones arrived in a Cleer Audio branded box. It has a large image of the product on the front and a few pieces of information regarding its features (35-hour battery life, reddot winner 2021, ‘premium active noise cancellation’, etc.). The box was completed wrapped in cellophane to protect the device from the elements. The back of the box has additional information on the features and icons for the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
As soon as I saw those images, I visited the App Store and downloaded the mobile app for my iPhone. I have had this app on my phone in the past, but I sometimes remove apps when they aren’t in constant use. So, I had to re-download it. The first thing the app requests is your model of headphones. The app asks permission to access your phone’s Bluetooth functions so that it can pair with the headphones. When I went to pair the headphones with the app, I had to make sure they were first paired to the phone otherwise, the app wouldn’t recognize them.
Since I work from home, noise-canceling wireless headphones are really important to me. They help me be able to concentrate and let the ambient noise around me fade into the background rather than be a distraction. The Alpha headphones do a great job of this. I used the Smart Noise Cancellation option most of the time I was testing them. It was quite impressive. Since the headphones are over-ear style and the ear cups completely engulf your ears, there is a fair amount of noise isolation from that. But, the noise cancellation feature really brings the richness out in the music.
The headphones are very lightweight and even though the way the ear cups fold out is a little bit at an angle, the headphones are comfortable to wear. I didn’t notice my ears getting hot or sweaty at all. When I first put them on, I thought they were a little tight, but overall, they feel great.
The sound quality with the Alpha headphones is exceptional. I listened to several different tracks of music while I was testing the headphones and thought that everything sounded wonderful. I could hear individual sounds distinctly and all bass was rich and full. The controls were…interesting. The power button is situated on the right ear cup and the ANC button is on the left.
Since there were tactile buttons for those functions, I wondered about standard controls like play/pause, forward/back, and volume up/down. As it turned out, the right ear cup is touch-sensitive. There is a panel on the right ear cup where you touch different areas or make different gestures to get the action you desire. It was easy enough to understand and use, but it did take me a while to get used to that type of controls. I was really happy to discover that the headphones automatically pause tracks when you remove them from your head.
CONCLUSION
Cleer Audio is a brand I trust. I’ve used many different models of their headphones in the past and really love how they have evolved today. The Alpha wireless headphones provide a comfortable, thrilling listening experience. They do boast a premium price tag ($249 at the time of publishing), but I think the investment is worth it when the product is as great as the Alpha headphones.
For more information, visit cleeraudio.com, Facebook, and Twitter.
3 Comments
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I just bought a pair myself, I consider myself to be an audiophile “green horn” I own a few pairs of headphones ranging from Sennheisers and Shures to Fiios (one of my favs) and everything Apple has ever produced like the AirPods Max (another fav) One of the first things I noticed when I got these and something since owning the AirPods Max was to see if the ear cups were interchangeable and to my surprise not only are they interchangeable they’re magnetic like the AirPods Max are!! They came with a nice case and wiring as the writer of this article has pointed out already, this was very well thought out by its maker, they’re for sale for anyone looking to try them out at Target right now online for 210 dollars down from 250!! Great buy!!