Audio brand 1More are well known now for its excellent range of in-ear headphones but now they try their luck with a pair of over-ears headphones in the shape of the 1More Sonoflow that also come with ANC. What 1More has done is created a pair of premium headphones but at an affordable price tag of just £89 which is crazy if you compare them to the latest from Sennheiser the Momentum 4 coming in at £299.
Let’s take a closer look to see if these are a snap at £89 or if you need to spend a bit more and go for something like the Sennheisers.
Design
The 1More Sonoflow use a mix of black and gunmetal grey with a few uses of red to indicate something important such as the USB-C charging port and the 3.5mm headphone port.
1More also use a little bit of red inside the ear cups but this is not noticeable when you are wearing them.
Apart from that, there is a subtle amount of branding on the arms of the headphones.
If you are looking for a pair of headphones that will just blend into the background these are for you, unlike the Skullcandy Hesh Budwiser edition we have at home.
In terms of the build materials used you have a metal headband and then the rest of the headphones are made from durable plastic, which is paired with leather ear cups and head cushioning. 1More has created a well-built pair of headphones we found the headphones offer plenty of adjustment in the headband and the ear cups do swivel and rotate allowing any user to get the right level of comfort paired with a good level of seal to provide a nice level of passive noise isolation and that’s before you even turn these on.
The headphones fold inwards when not in use and 1More provides a hard shell fabric-covered case for storage when not in use. (Please note the headphones need to go into the case in a specific way overwise they will simply not fit).
In addition to the carry case, 1More also provides you with a USB-C cable for charging and a 3.5mm cable for when you want to have a wired connection.
Controls
As with many over-ear headphones, we have reviewed all the controls housed on the right ear cup with the power button on one side and on the other, you have the ANC button with the volume buttons below. The Power button also handles playback, pairing mode, call management and using your phone’s smart assistant. The ANC button is quite simple it allows you to switch ANC on/off and also use transparency modes.
The dedicated volume keys also allow you to skip tracks but I did find them to be a little problematic and not very responsive we found jumping back a track a little annoying and sometimes it just restarted the same track I found I just used my phone at points as this function just did not work properly.
Below is a list of all the controls:
| Button | Controls |
| Power Button | On/Off, Play/Pause, Call Answer/Reject, Smart Assistant |
| ANC Button | ANC On/Off & Transparency Mode |
| Volume + Button | Volume Increase or Previous Track |
| Volume – Button | Volume decrease or Next Track |
1More App
The 1More SonoFlow is also compatible with the 1More app and it’s an excellent app. You can select between 12 different EQ presets such as Hip Hop, Acoustic, Electric, Sudio, Classic, Pop, Vocal Booster, Deep, Bass Booster, Lounge, and Bass Reducer. Unfortunately, there is no custom EQ and the differences are not that noticeable if am honest. There are slight differences but are they enough for me to open the app every time to adjust this am not sure.
The app also enabled you to use the LDAC codec and you will notice the colour scheme is the same as the headphones which is a nice touch.
Battery Life
1More provides you with a very large battery with 70 hours if ANC is switched off but switch ANC on and that drops to 50 hours which is still very impressive. What I found really impressive was the fast charging function if you charge them for just 5 minutes you will get 5 hours of listening time. If you wanted to fully charge them that will take 80 minutes so the charging time is very impressive.
Sound Quality
The 1More Sonoflow use a large 40mm dynamic driver that has a diamond-like carbon composite diaphragm paired with a thin polyethene terephthalate film that reduced the distortion caused by the driver when listening to low frequencies. How this helps the listener? Well, it produces some fantastic bass with warm mids and crisp highs all whilst covering a wide frequency response range of up to 40kHz.
The Sonoflow comes with the latest LDAC codec that can transmit three times more audio data compared to other codecs available. Overall the audio quality was very enjoyable we listened to a wide range of music and found the Sonoflow to be more energetic but without going too much on the bass. This has resulted in a well-rounded sound that offers a good level of balance.
An example of this is “Alice Merton – No Roots” her vocals stay as the prominent element in the song paired with a clean high end that does not get too harsh even when the volume is increased. We also noticed when you have the ANC off you do lose a little bit of the bass but it’s not drastic for you to have noticed. Personally, I would keep the ANC on all the time as I like that extra bass.
As you might expect the 1More Sonoflow also allowed you to make/receive calls and this is provided by the AI algorithm and the 5 built-in microphones that help to extract voices and amplify them to the user on the other line at the same time as suppressing the unwanted ambient noise around you when on the phone.
ANC/Transparency Mode
The 1More Sonoflow provides the user with a decent amount of ANC due to 1More QuietMax™ Intelligent Noise Cancellation with 5 ENC microphones for calls, I had these on in the office the other day and it cut out a very noisy conversation completely.
We found it also did a good job of reducing unwanted conversations on a train as well. However, if you were just walking down a busy road like the one outside Liverpool st station in London. They did let some of that unwanted noise it’s not enough to affect your music but you will notice it. You will also notice the same when its very windy some of that noise will also get in but when you consider the price point it’s hard to complain here.
The headphones also come with a transparency mode but I did not enjoy this mode at all I found it a little over the top. You will notice outside noise felt magnified instead of it simply being let in and this I felt affected the music we were listening to.
Verdict
The 1More Sonoflow are a fantastic first attempt into the world of over-ear headphones from a company that has built a reputation for its in-ear headphones. We found them an enjoyable listen offering a well-rounded sound in a very comfortable pair of headphones.
Could they be improved?
Yes, they could be improved the ANC is great and works well but there is still room for improvement, especially when in windy conditions. We also felt the transparency mode really needs a lot of work this is the one area I felt let these headphones down. It would have also been a nice feature to have had no head detection so if you took off the headphones the music paused but I guess this is a feature held by the more expensive options on the market.
Overall, if you are looking for a pair of over-ear headphones these will provide you with a very good audio quality that punches above its price point paired with a nice level of comfort and a long-life battery and fast charge feature for under £100 it feels like a steal.
Product Rating:
Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Controls: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Battery Life: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Sound Quality: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
ANC/Transparency Mode: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Value for Money: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars – 4.6 Star review
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