The Cowin SE7 are average, mixed usage, closed-back headphones. They have a new design that feels more high-end than the Cowin E7 and E7 Pro. They are also quite a bit more comfortable than these previous models. On the other hand, their audio reproduction is disappointing and feels boomy and cluttered, so they’ll be better suited for bass-heavy genres. Their ANC feature isn’t the best but will do a decent job at isolating out noise, especially if you’re playing audio. On the upside, they have a great wireless range and their latency is lower than the average pair of Bluetooth headphones.
Average for mixed usage. They have a boomy and cluttered sound profile that won’t be ideal for a wide variety of music genres during critical listening, and their ANC feature is quite lackluster, which won’t be ideal for commuting. They are fairly lightweight and stable on the head for sports, but the over-ear design will trap a decent amount of heat. Their decent battery life will last you for a whole workday, but they don’t isolate a lot of ambient chatter, which would have been useful at the office. Also, like most Bluetooth headphones, their latency may be slightly too high for watching videos, and their microphone won’t be great for online gaming.
Average for neutral listening. The Cowin SE7 have a boomy bass that lacks thump and rumble, and their mid-range is overemphasized which makes the vocals and lead instruments thick and cluttered. Also, their treble is fairly underemphasized, and high frequencies will lack detail and presence. We also noticed a significant drop in bass and overall sound quality when turning the ANC feature ON. Overall, these headphones will be better suited for bass-heavy music and will not be ideal for vocal-centric genres. On the upside, they are comfortable to wear for a while.
Okay for commuting. Their ANC feature isn’t the best, but it blocks an average amount of lower frequency noises like bus engine rumbles. You’ll also be able to mask more noise when playing audio. Thankfully, they are comfortable, so you’ll be able to wear these for a while, but they might get hot. Also, their bulky design won’t be very portable, but this shouldn’t be too much of a problem if you wear them around your neck thanks to the swiveling cups.
Decent for sports. These headphones are lightweight, and their bass-oriented sound profile can be good for staying pumped during a workout. They apply a good amount of pressure on the head to stay stable, but side movements of the head will make them wiggle off. You’ll be able to jog with these, but you might sweat more than usual since they trap heat under the ear cups.
Decent for the office. They block an okay amount of ambient chatter and reduce the noise of A/C systems well. Their battery life will also last you more than a full workday, which is good. Unfortunately, their microphone won’t be ideal to take business calls with, and they can’t connect to 2 devices simultaneously which would have been useful to switch between your phone and work computer.
Sub-par for gaming. Their sound quality is boomy and will make video games sound thick. They are decently comfortable for long gaming sessions, but their latency is too high for gaming. They also have a sub-par microphone that won’t be ideal for online gaming with friends and teammates. Even if you don’t need a microphone for single player games, these headphones won’t be a great choice for this use.
The Cowin SE7 have a more polished and high-end look than the Cowin E7 and E7 Pro. The cups have a matte coating and don’t have the same glossy finish and cheap plastic feel as the older models. They are also less bulky and don’t have the same circular design. They have a small metal circle for style on each cup, but other than that they are fairly low-profile. It seems Cowin went for a design that resembles the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II a bit. The SE7 come in different colors to suit your style: black, gold, purple, or dark green.
The new Cowin SE7 design is more comfortable than previous models like the E7. The cups and headband are well-padded and soft. These headphones are lightweight and don’t put too much pressure on your head, but still feel stable. However, the ear cups might be a bit small and uncomfortable for some people, especially if you have bigger ears. Nevertheless, most users should be able to wear these for a while before feeling ear soreness.
The control scheme of the SE7 is decent, but it has certain flaws. The physical buttons are very clicky and offer good feedback, but they aren’t the easiest to use. You get common functionalities like calling, music, and volume control, which is expected. You can also skip tracks, but the controls are inverted from what you usually see on headphones, meaning that holding volume down will skip tracks forward instead of backward. Also, you’ll have to hold their power button for several seconds to power them on. On the upside, you have a separate switch for enabling and disabling ANC. However, you’ll need to remember to switch both the ANC and the headphones off, or it will drain your battery.
Like most closed-back over-ears, the Cowin SE7 aren’t very breathable by design. They trap a decent amount of heat under the cups, which will make a noticeable difference in the ear temperature over time. Also, there is a warning in the manual that reminds you to take these off every 1-2 hrs in the summer heat. These headphones will make you sweat more than usual and won’t be ideal for working out.
Like most over-ears, the SE7 are not very portable headphones. They have a bulky design, but thankfully the cups swivel to lay flat, which makes them easier to slide in a bag. They also fold into a more compact format, and you can put these in their soft case, which doesn’t add too much bulk.
The Cowin SE7 have a better build quality than other Cowin headphones. They don’t have the same glossy finish and flimsy plastic design that of the E7. The SE7 cups feel dense and solid enough to survive a few accidental drops without too much damage. The headband is reinforced with a thin metal sheet and is still flexible enough.
These over-ears are decently stable. They fit nicely on your head and apply enough pressure to stay in place, even when shaking your head. Their lightweight design doesn’t make them slide off when tilting your head forward or backward and should be stable enough for running. They are also wireless, which means you don’t have to worry about the headphones getting yanked off because the cable got hooked on something.
The frequency response of the SE7 is decently consistent. In the bass range, the maximum deviation measured across our five human subjects is about 3dB, which is subtle but noticeable. In the treble range, up to 10kHz, the maximum deviation measured across five re-seats was about 12dB, but mostly in a narrow range around 5kHz.
The Cowin SE7 have okay bass performance. The low-frequency extension (LFE) of 48Hz and the 5dB underemphasis in low-bass indicates that these headphones will be light on the thump and rumble that is common to bass-heavy genres like EDM and hip-hop. Mid-bass, responsible for the body of bass guitars and the punch of kick drums, is within 1dB of our neutral target. However, high-bass, responsible for warmth, is over our neutral target by 7dB, which adds excess muddiness to the overall sound. We also noticed a significant drop in bass when using the ANC feature.
The mid-range of the Cowin SE7 is sub-par. Low-mid is overemphasized by more than 8dB. This is the continuation of the high-bass bump and makes vocals and lead instruments sound thick and cluttered. Mid-mid is also overemphasized by about 5dB, which brings the vocals forward in the mix. High-mid is also overemphasized, but slightly less. The 8dB tilt through the mid-range is going to favor the lower frequencies.
The treble performance of the SE7 is average. The whole range is noticeably underemphasized, especially around 6KHz. This will have a negative effect on the detail and brightness of sibilances (S and T sounds). This will be most noticeable on vocals, lead instruments, and cymbals.
The imaging is great. The weighted group delay is at 0.21, which is very low. The GD graph also shows the group delay response is almost entirely below the audibility threshold, suggesting a tight bass reproduction and a transparent treble. The jumps in group delay in low-bass won’t be very audible since they fall below the LFE of the headphones. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase response, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (voices, instruments, video game effects) in the stereo image. However, these results are only valid for our test unit, and yours may perform differently.
The soundstage of the Cowin SE7 is sub-par. The graph suggests good pinna interaction/activation, but mediocre in distance and accuracy. So the soundstage may be perceived as unnatural and located inside the listener's head. Also, due to the closed-back design and active noise cancelation, their soundstage won't feel as open and spacious as open-back headphones.
The Cowin SE7 have a sub-par isolation performance, which is disappointing for ANC headphones. In the bass range, where the rumble of airplane and bus engines sits, they isolate by about 8dB, which is average. In the mid-range, important for blocking out speech, they achieved about 11dB of isolation, which is also average. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts, they reduce outside noise by about 32dB, which is good.
The leakage performance of the Cowin SE7 is good. The significant portion of leakage sits between 1kHz and 6kHz, which is a relatively narrow range. This results in a leakage that sounds fuller and more comprehensible than the leakage of in-ears and earbuds, but not as much as open-back headphones. However, the overall level of leakage is not too loud. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away averages at 33dB SPL and peaks at 47dB SPL, which is just under the noise floor of most offices.
The integrated microphone of the SE7 has a sub-par performance. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 220Hz, indicating that speech recorded/transmitted with this mic will sound relatively thin. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 3kHz results in speech that's noticeably muffled and lacking in detail. However, the recorded/transmitted speech would still be reasonably comprehensible in quiet environments, since that is mostly dependent on the 500Hz-3kHz range.
The noise handling of the SE7's mic is sub-par. In our noise handling test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 9dB, which means they will mostly be suitable for quiet environments and will struggle to separate speech from background noise even in moderately loud environments.
We’ve measured a 15-hour battery life, which is considerably lower than the advertised 22 hours (there is also mention of a 30-hour battery life, but we couldn’t figure out which number was the ‘real’ advertised battery life). According to the specs sheet, they can last up to 720h when they enter in their standby mode. Also, you can use them with the included audio cable, even if the battery is dead. You can also use the ANC feature when wired if there’s battery left.
These headphones don’t have an app with customization options.
These headphones support Bluetooth version 5.0, so you might get better wireless range and connection stability than what we’ve measured since our test bench only supports Bluetooth 4.2 for now. We do plan to upgrade this in the future. Unfortunately, they can’t connect to multiple devices simultaneously and don’t have NFC for quick pairing. However, their pairing procedure is simple, and we didn’t experience any issues.
The latency of the SE7 is better than most Bluetooth headphones that usually average around 200-220ms of delay. This means some people may not notice the delay as much. Also, they support aptX, which gives you even lower latency if your source supports it. This should still be too high for gaming, but you might not notice the delay as much when watching video content, especially that some devices and apps offer some sort of compensation.
The SE7 don’t have a base or a dock. If you’re interested in versatile headphones with one, we suggest looking at the SteelSeries Arctis 7.
The Cowin SE7 are average, noise-canceling, over-ear headphones that set themselves apart from the previous Cowin headphones by their new, comfortable, and well-built design. However, they have a very boomy and cluttered audio reproduction, and their ANC feature doesn’t isolate much. If you’re looking for a pair of headphones to use during your commute, check our recommendations for the best noise cancelling headphones and the best headphones, or if you don’t want to break the bank to get a good product, look at the best headphones under $100.
If sound quality is the most important thing for you when choosing headphones, then the Cowin E7 Pro are a better option than the Cowin SE7 model. They won’t sound as boomy and cluttered, and won’t lack detail in the treble range. However, they might sound too sharp for some. They also have twice the SE7’s battery life. On the other hand, the SE7 are better-built and more comfortable headphones. This new design feels more high-end, doesn’t have a glossy finish that is fingerprint prone, and doesn’t feel flimsy.
The Cowin E8 Wireless are better headphones than the Cowin SE7 Wireless model. They have a more neutral sound profile and won’t sound as boomy and cluttered as the SE7. Their isolation performance is noticeably better and their ANC does a good job at isolating against low-frequency noises like bus engine rumble. They also have a better battery life. On the other hand, the SE7 leak less and can fold in a more compact format. They also have lower latency and support the aptX codec, which means you won’t notice too much of delay when watching video content with these.
The Bose QuietComfort 35 II/QC35 II Wireless 2018 are better than the Cowin SE7 Wireless in pretty much every category. The Bose are one of the most comfortable headphones we’ve reviewed so far, their ANC feature blocks an impressive amount of ambient noise, and they have a very well-balanced sound profile. They have longer battery life and will be a more versatile pair of headphones than the Cowins. The Cowin have noticeably lower latency and are quite a bit cheaper than the Bose.
The Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless are better headphones than the Cowin SE7 Wireless. The Anker ANC does a good job of isolating out background noise, making them more versatile for everyday casual use and especially for commuting. They also have an in-line microphone on their included audio cable which we expect to perform better than Bluetooth-integrated mics. On the other side, the Cowin might sound better for some, especially if you don’t use their lackluster ANC feature, which negatively affects their sound profile. The Cowin are also Bluetooth 5.0 compatible, which can give you better range and connection stability performance if your source supports it.
The Mpow H5 Wireless are better-sounding headphones than the Cowin SE7 Wireless and can also be connected simultaneously to two devices, which can be useful. Other than that, the two headphones are fairly similar in terms of controls and noise isolation. However, the Cowin seem to be a bit more comfortable, thanks to their soft padding. Their build quality seems a bit more durable, which explains their slightly more expensive price point. If sound is your biggest criteria, get the Mpow, but if durability and comfort are most important, the Cowin would still please most users, especially fans of bass-heavy music.
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