CONCLUSION

   Aiwa used to be a very popular brand name where i live in the mid 90's so whenever i get something from them I’m very curious to see how it will perform. Yes, today's Aiwa has nothing to do with the Aiwa of the 90's (that was purchased by SONY if recall correctly) but still my mind can't avoid looking back at the old days. With that out of the way i did use the ARC-1 ANC wireless headphones for just over 2 weeks with mostly positive results. Audio quality is very good, with crisp and very detailed mids and highs and a good (still not great) amount of bass. Yes, its audio performance is not quite on par with that of for example the Elite 85h by Jabra or even the Adapt 660 by EPOS Sennheiser but it does come very close (especially to the latter). Same with ANC so even though the two cVc microphones do a relatively good job in keeping excessive surrounding/ambient noise from reaching your ears (just like with most ANC headphones out there, bass levels drop considerably when using this feature) the ARC-1 ANC doesn't produce nearly the same results i got from both the Elite 85h and/or the Adapt 660. Still, for people who don't plan on using this model in very noisy places that shouldn't really be a problem (do keep in mind that volume also matters so i do recommend using the ARC-1 ANC at over 70% volume). As for battery life numbers seem to be slightly off here since without ANC i recorded around 34 hours whereas with ANC on i wasn't able to even hit 20 hours (these numbers were recorded after 6 recharge cycles). Of course, like all other headphones and headsets to date i was using the ARC-1 ANC at well over 80% volume so I’d be very surprised/impressed if i was to hit the advertised numbers (manufacturers usually measure this at 40-50% volume).

   As I’ve said time and again over the years price is what makes or breaks a product and i really have no complaints from Aiwa when it comes to the ARC-1 ANC Wireless Headphones, not when you can currently find them for just USD79.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 79.95Euros inside the EU (Aiwa Online Store). Now if you’re looking for the best possible ANC headphones well the ARC-1 ANC by Aiwa are clearly not that. However, if your goal is to find a very affordable model with good ANC capability there aren’t that many choices out there with the ARC-1 ANC clearly leading the way at that price range and for that it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Build Quality
- Audio Reproduction (Crisp, Detailed Mids & Highs)
- Bluetooth v5.0
- Active Noise Cancellation
- 3 Available Microphones
- External Earcup Controls
- Foldable/ Rotatable Earcups
- Battery Life (Up To 40 Hours / 25 Hours With ANC)
- Bluetooth & Wired Connectivity
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- ANC (Not Very Strong / For Some)
- No Android / iOS App
- Lack Of Support For HD Audio Codecs