Elephone ELE Whisper In Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones – Review

Ok, I must admit that the Ele Whisper took me by surprise and while I don’t like to judge a product by the price, well… I must admit that my initial expectations of these headphones weren’t so big.

Presentation and Specs

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The design is pleasing to the eyes, they have excellent built quality for the money and they fit really nice into the ears. The little box that contains the noise cancelling module is actually made of metal.

Also these headphones pack some amazing technology inside. I am truly impressed by these headphones. I actually listened to them first, being impressed by how they actually sound. Only then I looked them up to see how these babies are built.

You can read all about the technical aspects on the product page, but I will go through some of them myself.

Let’s first talk about the noise cancelling feature.  If you’ve read some of my reviews, you should know how much I value my ears and that I ask everyone to protect their hearing. I actually wrote a post about hearing safety right here. Considering this, I really like their motto: “Protect your hearing & Enjoy pure music”.

With the noise cancelling feature, you won’t feel the need of increasing the volume of the music over louder constant noise found in airplanes, buses, trains, etc.

Eliminate all kinds of mixed noises inside and outside the ear canal efficiently, no need to increase volume. Also it can let you hear the true voice，protect you ear and delay the aging of the hearing

The noise cancelling module contains a China Aerospace independent intellectual property rights, military-grade CASC863A chipset to ensure high quality noise cancelling.

There are frequencies where the Whisper manages to reduce noise up to 35 dB.  This the graph that shows the noise reduction capabilities depending on the frequency:

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I have tested them in similar situations to those above and I am not sure if the percentage is 100% correct and it might depend on each and everyone’s ear canal, but they are very effective in noise cancellation.

The noise cancellation control module is very small, ~3.9 cm^3 and it never managed to bother me.

Now let’s get to the specs/technology that is related to sound quality in normal listening conditions.

Ele says that whisper has an unique sound chamber structure with stereo sound cavity design, that can expand the stereoscopic sensation of sound field and restore true audio details.

The chamber is made of a lithium beryllium alloy composite that acts like a horn sounding unit with tri-band equalization fidelity.

The yellow graph bellow represents the frequency response of Whisper:

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The Whisper also has an ergonomic design, as the plug is made of oval structures with ergonomic design patent. It fits to your ear canal without feeling any pain. And I actually think that the design is great as they are 100% right in what they say here. They are very comfortable compared to a lots of more expensive in ear headphones.

The noise cancelling module has battery that can lasts up to 25 hours of continuous use.

 

Listening Impressions and Tests

The tests were performed with  Aune B1 & Chord Mojo, but also directly from my old Galaxy Note 4.

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Regarding the isolation, the whisper doesn’t do much in this department. Sure, it reduces some ambient noise, but the real magic happens with the noise cancelling feature on, which isn’t the most clear I’ve heard as it inserts a little white noise, but overall it is quite effective and it helps a lot with constant noises like air conditioning, air purifies, vacuum cleaners, airplanes, etc.

Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major

I was really drawn into the song with these headphones. I didn’t expect them to sound so good. The scene is very airy and the soundstage is quite roomy. The instruments showed a natural and pleasant tonality but also good details.  The song was quite a pleasure to listen on the Whispers, and believe me, there are few other headphones at this price I can say the same about. Actually, I just loved all the classical music I tried through Whisper, and I consider them to be excellent on this type of music.

Pink Martini – Dream a little Dream

The song starts with a piano that has a sparkly and natural tonality on each note. The details like ambient noises from the room, chair crackling, people moving, etc, were quite obvious on the Whisper. When the voice enters the room, it really takes the scene, filling it nicely. The separation of voices  is excellent and their tonality and presence is naturally intimate, but also showing very good details and texture.

2Cellos – Human Nature

The cello plucks at the beginning are quite powerful and tactile and the whisper managed to reproduce the vibration of the string quite lively with good impact and detail. However, it also showed distortions on the bass area, especially in the sub bass region. Again, the soundstage is quite spacious and airy. If there wouldn’t have been distortions on the bass, the experience would have been wonderful, but overall it was nice.

Johnny Cash – All Over Again

The guitar plucks are tactile, detailed, sparkly and present in the song but also very well integrated with the voices. Johnny’s voice is clear, room filling, also showing good textures and natural tonality. The voices are actually quite addictive. The chorus is well separated in the scene, showing very good layering.

AC/DC – Thunderstruck

The guitars and chorus from the beginning show the good holography these headphones are capable of. The drums were actually quite nice, showing good punch. I could still hear some distortions on the sub bass but it wasn’t so disturbing this time. The electric guitar extended quite nice into the scene. The treble was a little hot on some portions, but overall they rocked pretty well. They can handle rock but I wouldn’t call it their strong suite.
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Summary

Bass

The bass has a good punch, but it presents distortions on the sub bass area. Overall if the song doesn’t have too much information in that region, it performs ok.

Midrange

The midrange is quite impressive on these headphones. All the instruments and vocals sound clean, detailed and well textured.

Treble

The treble overall is sparkly and lively but also showing good detail and extension.

Soundstage & Layering & Instrument Separation

The soundstage is roomy and has a very nice sense of air and space. I also felt that the scene is very nicely layered and holographical. The instrument separation is also very good. These are major pluses for classical music.

Details

This is another area where these headphones surprised me. I’ve heard them everywhere, from ambient room noise to details that show in the instruments and voices.

Vocals

The voices have a very good presence as they fill the room quite nicely, but also show good texturing and natural tonality.

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Conclusions

I ended up loving the Ele Whisper. Ok, they aren’t perfect, but they offer a whole lot for the price. They really excel at classical music, instrumental and vocals and they can be quite addictive on those genres.

Added the really nice noise cancelling feature, the ergonomic & comfortable design, the build quality, these headphones are quite a steal at this price.

If you are interested, you should check their price at gearbest.

Pros
  • Very good midrange
  • Sparkly, lively & detailed treble
  • Very good details
  • Roomy and holographic soundstage
  • Good imaging
  • Very good vocals
  • Very comfortable
  • Good build quality
  • Effective noise cancelling feature
  • Very good price/performance ratio

Cons

  • Distortions on bass area, especially on the sub bass

 

Category : Headphones, Portable
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