Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW headphones review

Last updated: Nov 18, 2020

Quick verdict: Audio-Technica's active noise cancelling true wireless buds have great sound, but they're lacking in some features commonly found in premium headphones.

Good tonal range
Variety of noise cancellation types
Actual selection buttons

Expensive
Not the best battery life
Can’t change noise cancellation type without the app
No auto power on or auto pause features

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Audio-Technica's ATH-ANC300TW headphones are direct competitors to the likes of the Sony WF-1000MX3 buds. They're designed for folks who want the convenience of true wireless headphones but also crave actual noise cancellation, not just the mediocre isolation that you get from any buds that you stick into your ears.

They're overall very pleasing headphones with great audio quality and a range of noise cancelling settings
that give them a lot of flexibility relative to the rest of the market. However, like much of Audio-Technica's output, you do pay a premium price for these features.

Design

Simple black buds
Actual buttons rather than touch sensors
Medium-sized carry case

There's only so far that any manufacturer can take true wireless headphones, because beyond the inclusion of microphone stalks, you're essentially talking about a set of buds that sit in your ears.
The Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW headphones are very similar in design to the much cheaper Audio-Technica ATH-CK3TW headphones. They're a pair of standard black buds with a small thin button on the top of each. They're not noticeably exciting to look at, but that does help them hide better in your ears.
Audio-Technica provides three silicon tips and one set of Comply foam tips in a range of sizes to ensure both a comfortable fit and optimal noise isolation. This plays a role not only in blocking out exterior noise but also in providing the most optimal playback environment. I had no issues with the default tips, but it's well worth playing around to find your best fit for comfort and audio quality purposes.
The case for the ATH-ANC300TW headphones is likewise on the plain side. It's a mix of black and dark blue metallic plastic that flips open to reveal the buds. Like just about every other set of true wireless buds, they snap magnetically into the case when you're done with them. There's a USB C charging port on the side, as well as power lights on the front, and that's it.

Performance

You have to pair to the right bud
Wide range of codec support
Noise cancelling tweaks are done through the app only
They don't power on out of the case

The Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW headphones were a little quirky when it came to powering them up. For most true wireless headphones, the accepted standard is that they'll power up and try to pair with a device as soon as you take them out of the box, or in some cases, as soon as the box lid is flipped open.
That's not the case with the ATH-ANC300TW headphones, which will power down when you put them back in the box, but must be switched on specifically when you take them out again. They also won't automatically pause when you remove them from your ears, which is also usually a feature of premium headphones. The omission of those features isn't a huge inconvenience, but it's noticeable in such a competitive market.
Actual pairing can be managed automatically through your phone or Bluetooth device's menu, but the way the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW headphones work is to prefer pairing through the right bud specifically. Audio-Technica provides an app that's well worth installing – more on this shortly – and it rather specifically notes that if you're paired with the left bud, you should unpair and seek out the right bud instead.
Once you're paired, you can then use the Audio-Technica Connect app to modify the settings of the headphones. You can rename them to something that's a little bit less like scrabble spaghetti, but beyond that, the app is the only way to modify the level of noise cancellation that the ATH-ANC300TW headphones employ.
You can switch it on and off from the button controls, but it's only within the app that you can switch between the Airplane, On The Go and Office/Study settings. You can also set the level of external noise that the inbuilt microphones feed through in Hear-Through mode via the app, as well as choose your desired audio codec.
Noise cancellation is a key feature of the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW headphones, but the current coronavirus pandemic has rather constrained my ability to fully test them out in a variety of common environments, and especially for in-flight usage. The closest ad-hoc test I've been able to perform was wearing them while running a paper shredder in my home office, where the Airplane setting performed well. That should, theoretically, be in the scope of the Office/Study setting, but you wouldn't typically sit that close to the paper shredder in most offices, unless your boss really dislikes you a lot.
Audio quality from the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW headphones was generally very good, with solid representation across most musical genres and no particular focus on high or low sound elements. That might not suit you if you do prefer the more bass-heavy tones generally favoured by the likes of Beats, but it gives the ATH-ANC300TW headphones lots of scope for general audio playback.
On The Beatles' Helter Skelter, Ringo Starr's impassioned cry regarding his blisters came through with a genuine sense of pain, as did the heavier overall tone of that track. Prince's Purple Rain gave good prominence to both the guitar and keyboard parts, giving it plenty of emotional oomph. The lighter guitar tones of Willie Nelson's On The Road Again weren't lost in low-end tones, which was appreciated. At this kind of price point, we're seeing more of a light touch when it comes to equalisation, which I do rather like, and the ATH-ANC300TW headphones are a good representation of this kind of approach.

Battery life

4.5 hours claimed charge, but you'll more likely see 3 to 4

Audio-Technica's claims around the ATH-ANC300TW headphones are that the buds themselves are capable of up to 4.5 hours of playback time, with the charging case capable of providing up to 3 additional charges for an extra 13.5 hours of battery, although you'll have to wait a while when it does so.
Audio endurance for true wireless headphones can vary a lot, depending on your volume preferences, but I never quite hit that 4.5-hour mark in my tests paired with an iPhone 11 Pro Max. Typically, I found that somewhere between 3 to 4 hours was more typical before the headphones started seriously running out of juice.

Verdict

Good sound, but there's plenty of competition

Should you buy it?

The Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW headphones present great sound across most genres, and they're flexible with support for multiple codecs, inbuilt IPX2 sweat protection and variable noise cancellation modes which generally work well. They also avoid the common problem of many true wireless buds by using actual buttons rather than touch sensors.

However, they're also just a shade more expensive than their general competitors. The app-driven approach isn't ideal if you want to quickly change up the noise cancelling profiles, and they lack the power on and pause facilities found in many competitors.

Pricing and availability

Price

RRP $399

Where to buy

Amazon eBay Audio Technica ATH-ANC300TW

Specifications

Finder score: 3.5

How we score our reviews

Where to buy

Build

Driver Diameter

5.8mm

Frequency Response

20 – 25,000 Hz

Sensitivity

106dB

Impedance

14 ohms

Connectivity

Wired/Wireless

Wireless

Bluetooth

Yes

Features

Noise Cancelling

Yes

Detachable Cable

Rechargeable Battery

Yes

Foldable

Water Resistant

Yes

Battery Life

Up to 4.5 hours

Alex Kidman

A multi-award winning journalist, Alex has written about consumer technology for over 20 years. He has written and edited for virtually every Australian tech publication including Gizmodo, CNET, PC Magazine, Kotaku and more. He has also been the Editor of Gizmodo Australia, PC Mag Australia, CNET.com.au and the Tech and Telco section at Finder. Alex has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New England and a serious passion for retro gaming.

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Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW headphones review