In the current trend of true wireless earbuds, over-ear Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones still have their enthusiasts. They not only cherish the immersive auditory experience brought by physical envelopment but also regard headphones as an important part of their fashion ensemble. Compared to over-ear headphones, which are relatively bulky and more suitable for static scenarios, the on-ear design, with its lightweight body and “semi-open” wearing feel, meets the needs of this group of users—who desire to isolate themselves from external noise but do not want to completely sever their connection with the surrounding environment. The launch of the Xue Mantian Anytime over-ear headphones provides them with a new option. It does not rely on exaggerated specifications to make a statement but integrates “all-weather applicability” into the product design.
Xue Mantian Anytime Product Specifications
Color: Titanium Gold, Black, Pink
Weight: Approximately 155g
Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 5.4
Audio Decoding: SBC, AAC
Battery Life 1: Listening volume (ANC off) approximately 58 hours
Battery Life 2: Listening volume (ANC on) approximately 35 hours
Battery Life 3: ANC only (music off) approximately 50 hours
Standby Time: Approximately 330 hours (connected to phone without playback and ANC off)
Charging Time: Approximately 2 hours
Reference Price: 199 Yuan
Unlike other brands that fiercely compete in noise cancellation depth and spatial audio, the Anytime, priced under 200 Yuan, has chosen a more pragmatic direction: solving users’ battery anxiety with ultra-long battery life; meeting gamers’ needs with low-latency mode; and its millennium retro style stands out in a market rife with homogenization, leaving a deep impression on consumers. What kind of experience can this affordably priced over-ear headphone bring? Let us delve deeper.
Back to the MillenniumExquisite Craftsmanship Shapes Retro Style
The design language of Xue Mantian Anytime incorporates distinct Y2K aesthetic genes, merging the technological fantasies and pop culture symbols of the millennium. The headphone shell uses precision electroplating technology, presenting a high-gloss mirror effect akin to liquid metal. Its signature “Flying Arc” curve naturally extends from the panel to the headband pivot, creating a smooth visual guide line that enhances visual layering.
In one corner of the panel, the Xue Mantian graphic logo enhances brand recognition, while the overall matte spray treatment of the panel provides a strong metallic feel and avoids fingerprint smudging. Anytime is available in three colors: black, titanium gold, and pink, each color calibrated for low saturation, easily adapting to both minimalist commuting styles and trendy, personalized outfits, showcasing versatility.
The parts of the ear cups and headband that contact the skin are wrapped in protein leather with thick padding. The surface presents a delicate skin-like texture, providing a smooth and skin-friendly touch while also offering excellent breathability. Even in the gradually warming early summer, long-term wear keeps the ears dry and comfortable.
Anytime adopts a lightweight body design, with the headband made of sturdy metal material, ensuring durability while keeping the overall weight around 155g. The carefully designed ergonomic structure provides just the right amount of clamping force, effectively avoiding the pressure issues commonly found in traditional over-ear headphones.
The headband supports multi-level telescopic adjustment, combined with the 3D adaptive pivot at the ear cup junction, allowing it to flexibly adapt to different head sizes and shapes, providing a comfortable and secure wearing experience for different users.
Rich Features for Practical Experience
Despite being priced under 200 Yuan, Anytime is packed with features that cover the core needs of mainstream users. The most important is undoubtedly the ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) function, which uses high-precision microphones combined with digital signal processing technology to monitor and cancel environmental noise in real-time, creating a relatively pure listening space for users. Meanwhile, the addition of a transparency mode further enriches the usage scenarios; with a single button switch, the built-in microphone immediately picks up environmental sounds, which are naturally integrated into the audio signal after algorithmic optimization, allowing users to stay aware of their surroundings while listening to music.
Thanks to the latest Bluetooth 5.4 version chip, Anytime has achieved a qualitative leap in wireless transmission performance. More stable connection performance and more efficient energy consumption control are just the basics; its real highlight is the game mode optimized specifically for gaming scenarios. In this mode, the end-to-end latency is controlled to below 60ms, ensuring a better experience whether in competitive games like “Honor of Kings” or “Peace Elite” for sound positioning, or for video watching with audio-visual synchronization.
The multi-point connection technology of Bluetooth 5.4 gives Anytime practical one-to-two functionality, allowing simultaneous connection to two devices. In actual use, when I connected the headphones to both my phone and laptop, the built-in smart priority logic of the headphones automatically recognized the audio source input. For example, when music is playing on the phone, the headphones will play its content; if the laptop starts playing, the headphones will pause the phone’s music and switch to the laptop’s content, and vice versa. The entire process requires no manual switching, providing a smooth and convenient user experience.
Anytime is equipped with a 500mAh large-capacity lithium battery, charged via USB-C, with a full charge taking about 2 hours. Depending on different usage scenarios, its battery life varies. The longest battery life is achieved when listening to music with the active noise cancellation function turned off, allowing for approximately 58 hours of continuous playback. With the active noise cancellation function on, the battery life can still reach 35 hours. If only the noise cancellation is turned on without audio playback (for environmental noise isolation), the battery life can extend to 50 hours. In standby mode, when connected to a device but not playing audio, the battery life significantly increases to 330 hours (about 13 days), suitable for users who need to maintain battery life during temporary interruptions.
Physical ButtonsMore Convenient Interaction Experience
In an era where touch controls have become mainstream, Anytime still opts for physical buttons as the interaction method, satisfying users’ needs for clear feedback and precise operation. All functional buttons are neatly arranged on the right ear cup side, including the power button, volume up/down buttons, and ANC button. This seemingly simple layout actually contains a rich design for functional reuse.
The power button is a “jack of all trades”; it not only turns the device on and off but also enables Bluetooth pairing, music play/pause, voice assistant wake-up, and call answering/hanging up. The volume up/down buttons adjust the volume with a short press, while a long press can switch to the previous or next track; the ANC button cycles through noise cancellation, turning off noise cancellation, and transparency modes with single and double clicks, as well as quickly switching between game mode and music mode. These buttons trigger corresponding functions through different press durations and combinations, and it is recommended that users quickly familiarize themselves with the operation logic through the product manual when first using it.
Near the ANC button, there is an indicator light that visually presents the headphone’s working status through different colors and states. The USB-C charging port and hidden microphone hole at the bottom of the same side meet daily charging needs and ensure clear and smooth calls and voice interactions. This design, which integrates functions on one side, maintains the simplicity of the headphone’s appearance while achieving efficient and convenient operation.
In actual experience, the button layout of Anytime fully considers operational convenience. The most commonly used volume adjustment and playback control buttons are located within easy reach of the right thumb, allowing for precise positioning and easy blind operation without looking at the headphones. The ANC mode button is cleverly set within the range of the right index finger, effectively distinguishing the operational areas of different function keys and significantly reducing the probability of accidental touches.
It is worth mentioning that when users switch between different modes using the ANC button, the headphones provide functional prompts through English voice. Although this prompt method is clear enough, adding an optional Chinese voice prompt would undoubtedly further enhance the user-friendliness for domestic users. Overall, this button zoning design and operational logic allow users to achieve precise control without deliberately memorizing button positions, greatly enhancing the convenience of daily use.
During actual operation, the core function buttons responsible for volume adjustment and playback control are all located within the natural reach of the right thumb, providing smooth operation and precise blind positioning. The ANC mode button is set within the range of the right index finger, effectively distinguishing the operational areas of different function keys and significantly reducing the probability of accidental touches. During the various mode switches controlled by the ANC button, the headphones provide English voice prompts for the current status; however, it is slightly regrettable that currently, only English voice is supported. If a Chinese voice prompt option could be added, it would undoubtedly further enhance the user experience for domestic users, making operational feedback more intuitive and convenient.
Trial Experience
First, let’s talk about the wearing experience. The Anytime headband has a noticeable scale when adjusted; users can easily adjust it to a comfortable position by pulling the ear cups with both hands. The 3D adaptive pivot allows the ear cups to fit snugly against the ears, ensuring good sealing. Meanwhile, the thick ear cups guarantee a soft touch while evenly distributing pressure on the ears. The clamping force of the headband is moderate, ensuring a secure fit without causing excessive pressure. The overall weight is well controlled, and long-term wear does not lead to fatigue. Even during daily walking or larger movements, the headphones remain securely fitted to the head and do not easily slip off. When not in use, they can be easily hung around the neck, and the design of the ear cups allows for easier contact with the collarbone, further enhancing carrying comfort.
Next, let’s experience the various modes of Anytime. In fact, due to the good sealing of the on-ear design, the headphones already possess excellent passive noise cancellation. Whether listening to music in a relatively quiet office or in a noisy outdoor environment, external sounds have minimal interference with the music experience. Therefore, the true value of its active noise cancellation function is more evident in non-music scenarios—when you need to focus on work in the office or seek a moment of tranquility outdoors, turning on ANC can instantly change the experience. In the office, various low-frequency noises, such as the hum of the air conditioning unit, the sound of mechanical keyboards, and conversations with colleagues, are effectively reduced. Outdoors, the noise from car tires and other low-frequency sounds is significantly diminished, with noise cancellation performance comparable to many over-ear active noise-canceling headphones. The transparency mode also performs intuitively; after a single button switch, surrounding environmental sounds are amplified and transmitted into the ears, helping users perceive external dynamics.
However, when using the transparency mode, attention must be paid to operational details. Since switching modes requires touching the ANC button, and the microphone for collecting environmental sounds is located right next to it, if the finger accidentally touches the microphone, the resulting touch sound will be amplified and transmitted into the ears, creating noticeable friction noise. Therefore, when performing blind operations on the ANC button in transparency mode, it is advisable to avoid direct contact with the microphone area to achieve a more comfortable listening experience.
In game mode, I verified its wireless transmission delay by playing news, watching TV series, and trying out “Peace Elite”. When playing news audio content, the host’s lip movements and voice are basically synchronized. While watching action-packed series, transient sound effects such as punches, kicks, and glass shattering are all reflected in real-time. In gaming, footsteps, gunfire feedback, and vehicle driving operations can all achieve real-time matching of sound and visuals, ensuring an immersive gaming experience.
Xue Mantian has applied a custom 40mm driver unit in the Anytime, and I connected the Anytime to the Xue Mantian ECHO MINI player via Bluetooth for listening tests. There is a noticeable difference in sound quality when ANC is turned on and off. With ANC on, the overall sound is tight and clear, with mid-high frequency details more pronounced, making it easier to capture the singer’s lip sounds and the harmonics of instruments. However, the noise cancellation processing, while isolating external noise, also affects the music’s low frequencies, resulting in a reduction in volume and elasticity, leading to a decrease in overall ambiance. With ANC turned off, the quality of the 40mm driver unit is more fully presented. The low-frequency extension and dynamic response are significantly enhanced, providing a more impactful listening experience, with better ambiance and a more spacious soundstage. The vocal parts are more full-bodied, and while some details may feel softened, the overall sound is more relaxed and natural, making it more suitable for long-term music appreciation.
In terms of usage recommendations, users can turn on ANC when watching dramas, listening to podcasts, or news content to achieve clearer vocal performance. When listening to music, if the environmental noise level is low, turning off the ANC function can provide a more engaging musical experience.
Conclusion
As a pair of over-ear Bluetooth headphones priced under 200 Yuan, Anytime showcases impressive competitiveness in the entry-level market through the fusion of retro aesthetics and practical features. Its core value lies in providing users with a comprehensive experience that exceeds expectations for its price range—its retro appearance becomes a fashion accessory, 58 hours of battery life alleviates battery anxiety, and the addition of practical features like ANC and game mode enhances the experience. It may not be the best in noise cancellation or sound quality, but it is a product that “understands you”—when you need to wear headphones for commuting, working, and occasionally gaming, it always provides suitable answers between comfort, battery life, and functional adaptability. If you are looking for a pair of budget-friendly over-ear noise-canceling headphones, the Xue Mantian Anytime is worth considering.
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