If you’re thinking you need to spend a fortune in order to get a pair of headphones that tick all the boxes – decent sound quality, effective noise cancellation, brilliant battery life – then we have news for you. As our best budget wireless headphones guide proves, it’s possible to get your hands on a set of great all-rounders without upsetting your bank manager.
In this review, we’re looking at the Lindy BNX-60, a set of wireless noise-cancelling cans – launched in 2016 – that, according to the manufacturer, offer “crystal-clear” sound, an 85% reduction in ambient noise and up to 15 hours of wireless listening from a single charge, all for the very modest current price of £85/$105. Of course, those are all attributes that will appeal to the modern listener, whether they’re travelling, working or training in the gym. But how true are the company’s claims? Let’s find out by delving a little deeper…
Lindy BNX-60 review: Design
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but we quite like how these headphones look, their eye-catching red ear pads providing a nice contrast to the cans’ matt black finish. While they probably won’t have passers-by drooling, they’re sufficiently sleek and modern looking to keep your street cred intact. Speaking of those red ear pads, they feature massive ‘R’ and ‘L’ lettering on them, to save you having to work out which way round the headphones need to go – which is a nice touch.
Putting them on, these Lindy cans initially felt quite comfy. Thanks to their adjustable headband and swivelling ear cups, it’s easy to tweak them to fit the size of your head – and they’re also fairly lightweight, meaning they barely register when placed on the bonce.
Additionally, though the protein leather ear pads are slightly smaller than on previous Lindy cans, they actually feel cooler, meaning your ears shouldn’t start sweating halfway through your favourite album. One gripe we did have, though, is that the pads aren’t particularly deep, which meant that our ears were pressed against the speakers. While this was bearable for the short time we listened to them, we reckon it could start to grate over longer periods.
As for the controls, you’ll find your music playback buttons (play/pause, skip back and skip forward) on the left ear cup, alongside a USB socket for charging the headphones and a 3.5mm socket for wired listening (a 1.5m cable comes as part of the package). If you prefer to connect the cans wirelessly, you’ll find a Bluetooth connection light on this earcup, letting you know that you’ve paired successfully. On the right ear cup, there’s a volume wheel, a button for switching the active noise cancelling on or off, and a light that indicates which of those two ANC settings you’ve chosen. A quick word about that wheel: it’ll only adjust the volume of the cans, not the volume of your device – so if your smartphone is turned right down, even turning the wheel up to the max won’t make much of a difference. On the whole, though, the controls are about as intuitive as you can get, especially at this price.
While it’s not possible to fold these headphones completely, you can lay them down flat to save space in your bag – handily, Lindy provides a hard carry case to ensure that the cans don’t get damaged while stowed away.
Lindy BNX-60 review: Features
These German-made headphones fit snugly around the ears, providing a certain amount of noise suppression, but if you need a little more, you can choose to activate the cans’ ANC function. We found this to be very decent indeed – not in the same league as, say, the Sony WH-1000XM5 or the Bose Noise Cancelling 700, but sufficient enough to reduce lower-volume racket such as the TV or washing machine.
As you might expect, listening with ANC activated reduces the battery life of the cans when used wirelessly – but the difference is only slight, with the aforementioned 15 hours dropping to 12 hours. On the downside, it takes around three hours to top up the headphones, which isn’t particularly zippy – and there’s no quick-charge function, either.
The BNX-60 come equipped with Bluetooth 4.1, which was pretty much the latest edition when the cans were launched back in 2016. The technology has obviously been updated several times since then, but this version does a solid enough job, and we never had a problem pairing our smartphone or maintaining a signal, even when venturing to the opposite end of the house to where our device was sat.
With a mic built into the cans, you can make hands-free calls using your smartphone; however, don’t bother trying to summon Alexa or Siri, as these headphones do not support voice assistance.
Lindy BNX-60 review: Sound
Decent noise cancelling and battery life are all well and good, but if your cans sound like a cat clawing a blackboard, then you’re wasting your time. Thankfully, the BNX-60 don’t. They actually sound surprisingly good considering their modest price tag – at least with the noise cancelling switched on. Basslines are delivered with warmth and precision, the middle frequencies with zest and clarity. And while voices and instruments at the upper end can occasionally lose a bit of their sharpness, only the audiophiles out there will lose sleep over it.
Switch the ANC off, though, and the results are less impressive, with the volume dropping noticeably and the overall quality sounding muddier. The moral of this story? Keep that noise cancelling activated and you’ll be happy as Larry.
Lindy BNX-60 review: The competition
For a great budget alternative, take a look at the Meters NOVU-1 Reference Headphones (£70/$88). Topping our list of the best budget headphones for music, these US-made over-ears marry superb sound quality with a lovely comfy fit. They’re not wireless, though, so it’s tethered listening all the way.
While the Lindy headphones offer decent noise cancelling, you can get much better ANC if you’re prepared to spend the money. The Bose Noise Cancelling 700, for example, do a great job of shutting out ambient sounds, enabling you to enjoy your music in immersive bliss. Expect to pay around £250/$315 for these wireless wonders, though.
