With the Ember Cup, you can drink coffee without it going cold. It is a super useful gadget for home/ office work or anyone getting tired of constantly having to warm up their coffee or tea!

 

The best way to incorporate the need of a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide alarm is to have a combination device! The one pictured, the X-Sense SC07-W combination smoke carbon monoxide (CO) alarm, has wireless interlinked support.

Maximize your workout with a secure fit and good old fashioned button press! That's right, the Jabra Elite 4 Active uses physical buttons (no touch controls) - a sure win for those who absolutely dislike touch controls and prefer tactile feedback on earbuds!

 

Anyone spending "crazy" hours on a phone should definitely consider using a bluetooth headset! This one by Edifier is the CC200 - a wireless-only mono bluetooth headset with a slim retro metal design reminiscent to Sony's iconic Walkman headband!

 

The Edifier CC200 metal band is about 1cm wide and has black anodized finish with a ratchet style slider band, which allows you to adjust the headband on your head up to 3.5cm. The CC200 headband enclosure is made of plastic and engraved with the word Edifier on the side. The earcup is also made of plastic and, it is attached to the headset via a short travel pivot joint which provides the earcup with some tilt and swivel play.

Along with a slim metal headband, the CC200 mono headset has a donut style foam earpad made of springy foam. The outer of the earpad measures 6cm in diameter and the inner hole measures 2.5cm in diameter. The depth of the earpad is very shallow (about 5mm); hence the driver sits very close to the ear, which is a good thing as this helps drive the sound a lot better. 

 

The earpad is easy to detach and attach from the earcup by simply sliding the earpad over the earcup. It only takes 5 seconds to do, which is super convenient. The earpad sits securely without shifting around so, it won't detach accidentally. The dimensions of the earpad/earcup is 2cm thick. Removing the earpad exposes the 30mm driver, which is protected by thick fabric fine mesh

On the left side of the Edifier CC200 headband, there is a foam padded plastic T-piece to help clamp the headset against the left side of the head. The T-piece padding is made of thick closed cell so, it doesn't cause any discomfort. The headband has a low/medium clamping force and does not cause any hot spot on the head, thanks to the low weight (only 70 grams). The earpad weighs 1 gram.

The control buttons (are clicky and made of plastic) and the USB-C charging port are all located neatly on the right side of the headband. They include a circular power button (above the volume buttons), which is multi-functional for voice assistant, power on/off and mute (during calls). The volume buttons are designed to control volume up/down, skip track to previous/next. The call button (located on the boom arm) controls calls (answer/end/redial). The Edifier CC200 mono headset supports call handling for a second call, this means you can accept, reject or put on hold an incoming call whilst on a call. 

The Edifier CC200 boom arm mic measures 13cm long and swivels up and down via a notched slot mechanism (11 adjustment notches) which allows you to gradually and securely set the angle of the boom arm from upright position down to chin level (~90 degrees). You can swivel the boom arm up to 240 degrees, allowing you to fit the boom arm mic on the right side or left side of the face. The CC200 boom arm mic is made of plastic; hence it's rigid and non-bendable. That said, the boom arm is curved inward, making it ergonomic.

 

The CC200 bluetooth 5.0 chip does not support AAC codec, no multipoint connection and no absolute bluetooth volume so, the headset volume buttons do not control the volume of the audio source. When adjusting volume to max you will hear an audible audio beep to alert you. The bluetooth status led does not blink when using the headset, which is always nice since it can be distracting and annoying to others.

The CC200 headset charges via 5V/0.5A max input; hence it doesn't support quick charge. It takes 1.5 hours to fully charge the CC200 headset to full health. At 50% volume, the battery life is about 60 hours (music playtime only) and 27 hours when using the headset exclusively for calls. Accessories in the box include an unbranded USB-C to USB-A cable (36cm long) and a spare earpad.  

The biggest potential deal breaker is the lack of wired mode; hence you can only use the CC200 headset wirelessly with a bluetooth-enabled PC, tablet and smartphone. There is only bluetooth mode and no 2.4Ghz wireless option either, which would have made the CC200 headset a lot more versatile. The headband T-piece could have been made adjustable too, by adding a swivel hinge to the T-piece and make the fit more accommodating. The boom arm mic doesn't have flip-to-mute to automatically mute the audio when lifting the boom arm upright. 

Another potential deal breaker is the lack of audio passthrough whilst charging; hence you cannot use the Edifier CC200 headset when it's charging. There is no hardshell carry case included either, which is always ideal for transportation. The overall dimensions of the headset are 16cm side to side and 15cm wide. 

 

Despite the drawbacks, the CC200 headset superb long battery life and call quality is likely to sway anyone looking for an affordable noise cancelling mic headset for crystal clear calls. The voice pick up is natural, clear and loud and the noise cancellation removes unwanted background sounds very efficiently. As far as music quality, you can expect the same type of performance you get with most mono headsets: small bass and sound leakage due to the on-ear style of the earpad. You can buy the Edifier CC200 from amazon.

 

Raise your audio game with the new JOBY Wavo POD - a USB condenser microphone with headphone jack for sidetone monitoring, microphone stand and pop filter.