Teufel Real Blue NC review: noise reduction with a large battery

This updated version of the Teufel Real Blue NC headphones has a more streamlined design, more refined audio technology and a larger battery. Teufel wants to enable you to enjoy your favorite music even more at home and on the go. With the summer holidays approaching, wireless noise canceling headphones are a good investment. Because whether you travel by plane, train, car or simply like to sit in your garden without being disturbed, good headphones create a musical bubble in every environment where you can experience music. We are investigating whether the renewed Teufel Real Blue NC is a pleasant travel companion

Teufel Real Blue NC: what do we think?

Design

Teufel took care of the design of the Real Blue NC to make the whole look a bit slimmer and more elegant and they succeeded. Furthermore, Teufel keeps it very classic without too many bells and whistles so that you can completely lose yourself in the crowd when you play music. As you would expect, the headphones are available in blue, but you can also opt for the more classic colors of white and black. The pillows are soft and provide comfort, but because they completely enclose your ears, they can start to feel warm if you listen for a few hours at a time. Conveniently, you can easily fold the earcups to store the headphones in your bag.

Listen to music without the hassle

Operating the headphones is via a few physical buttons that you will find on the ear flaps. So you don’t have to turn the ear flaps and memorize the right gestures. On your left ear is the on/off button and on the right you have the ANC button. Above that you will find a third button that controls the volume and acts as a pause button. The button is very easily accessible with your thumb and the operation is also quite smooth. Teufel could possibly have built in a control to fast forward and rewind songs. So you still have to do that with your smartphone.

Listening to music is smooth and hassle-free. The headphones support Bluetooth 5.0 and the connection to your smartphone is made in an instant. Fortunately, because during the connection the headphones chase an annoying tune through your ears that you can’t turn off. There, Teufel also adds support for AAC and aptx so that the music should rage at CD quality in your ears. The connection has always held up well with us and is maintained up to a distance of 10 meters without any loss of quality. If you let bluetooth down for a while, then you have a physical alternative with an included USB-C cable and AUX cable.

Audio quality and noise reduction

To assess the audio quality, it is interesting to look at what is in the earflaps. We are not going to literally break open the headphones now, but on the website Teufel shows the anatomy of the Real Blue NC. A copper-layered aluminum coil and a ventilated back chamber should make the music sound as natural as possible without distortions. A sound conductor gives the sound produced by the 40mm driver located behind each earflap some extra spice. The tones coming through the earflaps sound flawless and warm. Lovers of a deep bass will have to switch on the ‘Bass Boost’ via the app, because by default it sounds a bit bland compared to other headphones (also in the same price range).

The name of the headphones refers to the noise-cancelling functions, so we expect these to be ready by then. The noise reduction is hybrid, which means that you have a combination of passive and active noise reduction. Passive noise reduction is in the closed design of the ear flaps that shield your ears from the outside world, as it were. That cuts out some noise, but not enough for crowded public places. For this, you rely on the active noise suppression that you turn on/off via the appropriate button. The active noise reduction works more properly, but will not filter everything either. In addition to an ANC mode, you also have a Transparency mode that should keep you alert for traffic. In which mode you are listening is shown via a color light on the headphones, but you will notice the difference much more clearly while listening.

Teufel also addressed the quality of the microphone for these headphones with the integration of Qualcomm cvc technology. A necessary improvement to the headphones, as we now use our headsets much more for calling. Whether you’re answering a phone call or plugging in the headset for a Teams/Zoom call, Real Blue NC will support you perfectly during the call.

Battery life

The battery has been upgraded to 700 mAh. According to Teufel, you can listen to music continuously for up to 55 hours. That sounds very impressive on paper and in practice the effective battery life does not deviate too far from what is promised. Without enabling the ANC functions you will get about 50 hours; with which the Teufel Real Blue NC can call itself the battery king among headphones.

Turning on the ANC does of course have a major impact on the battery life. On the website, Teufel mentions a maximum battery life of 41 hours with ANC, which in practice is rather between 35 to 40 hours. But we’re not complaining, because that’s still very good compared to the competition. After two to three hours of charging, the battery is full again.

Teufel Headphones

Every headphone nowadays comes with an app and that is the Teufel Headphones app for the Real Blue NC. In terms of functionalities, it is rather limited compared to the similar apps from Sony and Philips, for example, but you can do some nice things with it. You can adjust the equalizers to add some extra bass or treble and some music genres have a custom mode that looks for the right mix. If you have two Teufel headphones, you can connect them via the ShareMe function to listen to each other together.

Teufel Real Blue NC: and verdict

If you are looking for high-quality and affordable headphones, the Teufel Real Blue NC is the right choice for you. The headphones offer high-quality audio and, thanks to the bendable design and long battery life, they are also the ideal companion for traveling. It falls just a little short to compete with the most premium headphones on the market, genre Sony WH-1000XM5, Apple Airpods Max and Bose QuietComfort 45, but in the class below, the Teufel Real Blue NC is one of the stars.

Dealtip: the Teufel Real Blue NC is available for 189.99 euros instead of 229.99 euros (via the Teufel webshop).