TOZO NC9 Review: 45dB ANC for $28

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The Short Version

Buy it if you want cancellation and a water rating for under thirty dollars. Almost nothing else offers both — the JBL Vibe Beam has IP54 and no cancellation for twice the money.

Treat the decibel figure as a claim, not a measurement. Forty-five decibels is what TOZO states. It is not comparable to a flagship's figure, and this page will not pretend otherwise.

The Specification, and What to Trust In It

These are the honest numbers, taken from the listing rather than paraphrased:

Battery: 40 hours total with cancellation on, 60 with it off. From the buds alone, 10 hours with ANC and 14 without. That second set is the one that matters, because it is what you get before the case is involved, and ten hours of cancelling playback is a full working day.

This is unusually good. The Soundcore P30i at a similar price manages about six hours with cancellation running, and 25 with the case. The NC9 nearly doubles both.

IPX8 water resistance. That is the top of the scale — submersion rather than splashes. Treat it as generous rather than an invitation to swim in them, but it comfortably covers rain and sweat.

32 EQ presets through the TOZO app, plus adjustable cancellation modes. At this price an app that does something is unusual on its own.

Six sizes of ear tip. More than most flagships include, and the single biggest determinant of whether cheap earbuds sound good, because the seal is what produces both bass and isolation.

About That 45dB

Decibel figures from budget brands are marketing, not measurement.

Every manufacturer quotes the deepest reduction its system achieves, at the frequency where it works best, under lab conditions. Nobody publishes a curve. A 45dB claim from TOZO and a 42dB claim from Soundcore cannot be compared with each other, let alone with Sony or Bose, because none of them are measuring the same thing the same way.

What is reliably true at this price: hybrid cancellation dulls steady low-frequency noise — engine drone, train rumble, air conditioning — convincingly. That is real and it is what you are buying.

What is not true at any price: removing voices. Speech is irregular and sits where cancellation works worst. If the problem is people talking, no earbud solves it.

What the Money Does Not Buy

Brand support and longevity. TOZO is a volume brand. The app works, the firmware exists, and how long either is maintained is not something a review can promise.

Codec sophistication. Bluetooth 5.3 with standard codecs. No LDAC, no aptX, and on an iPhone none of that would matter anyway.

Multipoint is not listed, so a laptop and a phone will not stay connected together.

A neutral tuning. 10mm drivers with TOZO's OrigX processing, voiced for bass. That is deliberate and it is what most buyers at this price want, but it is not accuracy.

The Owner Base Does Real Work Here

Nearly fifty thousand reviews is the strongest single fact on this page.

At twenty-eight dollars the risks are not exotic. It is whether a tip stays in on a run, whether the case hinge lasts a year, whether the Bluetooth drops when you put your phone in a pocket. Those are the failures that make people abandon cheap earbuds, and a product bought this many times has been tested against them at a scale no reviewer can match.

That evidence is worth more than the decibel figure, and it is the reason to be comfortable here despite everything above about specification claims.

TOZO NC9 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds

The budget pair that refuses the usual trade-off.

Hybrid cancellation with a transparency mode, six microphones with ENC for calls, 10mm drivers with TOZO's OrigX tuning, 32 EQ presets and adjustable cancellation through the app, around 40 hours total with cancellation on and 10 from the buds themselves, IPX8 water resistance, Bluetooth 5.3, and six sizes of ear tip.

What you give up: multipoint, codec support, a neutral tuning, and any promise about how long the app keeps being updated.

Check Price on Amazon · $27.99 as of September 4, 2026 — check Amazon for the latest price.

How to Decide

Do you want cancellation and water resistance together? Then this, and there is very little competition under thirty dollars.

Do you run or train in earbuds? IPX8 is the reason to pick these over the P30i, whose listing states no water rating at all.

Do you need a laptop and a phone connected at once? Multipoint is not listed here. That is the clearest reason to spend more.

Do you care about accuracy? No. This is tuned for bass and the app will let you push it further, not flatten it.

Is this a first cancelling pair? A good one — headphones for beginners explains what actually matters, and best earbuds sets it beside the alternatives.

FAQ

How good is the noise cancelling on the TOZO NC9? TOZO states up to 45dB. Treat that as a claim rather than a measured figure — budget brands quote best-case lab numbers. In practice hybrid cancellation at this price handles steady drone well and does not remove voices.

How long does the battery last? About 10 hours from the earbuds with cancellation on, 14 without, and roughly 40 or 60 hours in total with the case depending on the same setting.

Are they waterproof? IPX8 is stated, which is the top of the scale. It covers rain and sweat comfortably; treat submersion claims on any earbud with caution.

Do they support multipoint? Not listed. Expect to reconnect when switching between devices.

Is the app worth using? Yes — 32 EQ presets and adjustable cancellation modes is more than most earbuds at this price offer, and the seal plus EQ is what makes cheap earbuds sound good.

How do they compare to the TOZO T10? The T10 is cheaper and has no cancellation. Our TOZO T10 review covers it; the NC9 adds ANC, a bigger battery and the app.

Are they good for the gym? Yes, and this is the main argument for them. The water rating and six tip sizes are what make them suitable.

Verdict

The NC9 is the answer to a question that used to have no good answer: what do you buy when you want cancellation, a real water rating and a battery that lasts, and you have thirty dollars. Two years ago the honest reply was to spend more. It is not any more.

The scepticism is warranted where the numbers are concerned. Forty-five decibels is a claim, not a measurement, and no budget brand publishes anything you could check it against. Judge the cancellation as "works well against steady noise" and you will not be disappointed.

What tips it is the fifty thousand people who bought them and stayed. At this price the things that go wrong are boring and physical, and that many owners is better evidence about hinges and tips than any specification is about decibels.