We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-21 · 8 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a featherweight wired earbud that simply works with anything that has a headphone jack, choose JVC HAF160P; if you need active noise cancellation, wireless freedom and spatial audio for travel, movies and gaming, choose T-fun NC35. These two aren't really rivals — they're answers to different questions, and once you see which question you're actually asking, the choice stops being hard.
• JVC HAF160P's biggest strength: dead-simple wired reliability — a 3.5 mm jack, a tangle-resistant 3.28 ft cord, and soft rubber oval earbuds that sit in your ear and stay there.
• JVC HAF160P's biggest trade-off: it's a basic wired earbud. No Bluetooth, no app, no active noise cancellation — just sound isolation from the fit itself.
• T-fun NC35's biggest strength: hybrid active noise cancellation rated to cut up to 95% of low-frequency noise, plus 55 hours of ANC playtime, Bluetooth 5.3 multipoint and 360° spatial audio with head tracking.
• T-fun NC35's biggest trade-off: it's a bigger, heavier over-ear headphone that depends on charging and an app to unlock its best features.
• Who JVC HAF160P is for: anyone who wants cheap, no-fuss, no-battery listening on a phone, laptop or old MP3 player.
• Who T-fun NC35 is for: commuters, travellers, gamers and movie watchers who want to disappear into their own audio bubble.
The JVC HAF160P is the definition of a "just plug it in" product. It's a wired in-ear earbud with a 3.5 mm jack, a 3.28 ft cord and an oval, rubber-bodied earpiece that JVC designed to sit snugly in the ear and stay put. At 5 grams, it's the kind of thing you forget you're wearing — and that's the point. There's no pairing, no firmware, no charging case, no app to install. You pull it out of a pocket or bag, plug it into whatever has a headphone jack, and press play.
On the audio side, this is a modest but sensible spec sheet: a dynamic driver with a frequency range of 15 Hz to 20,000 Hz and 16 ohm impedance. The low impedance matters more than people realise — it means these earbuds are easy to drive, so a phone, a laptop or a cheap dongle can push them without struggling. JVC also leans into a bass-boost tuning here, which is exactly what you want from a cheap earbud used for pop, hip-hop, podcasts and casual video. The fit itself does the noise reduction work: the rubber oval body seals against the ear for passive sound isolation, which takes the edge off bus engines and office chatter without any electronics involved.
Who should buy it? In my opinion, the JVC HAF160P is for the person who wants a spare pair of earbuds for a desk drawer, a gym bag, a bedside table or a work laptop — something you can lose without grieving. It's also the right call if you're on a device that doesn't do Bluetooth well, or if you're simply tired of remembering to charge things.
T-fun NC35: Who It's For
The T-fun NC35 is a different animal entirely — and it's a much more ambitious one. This is an over-ear, wireless Bluetooth 5.3 headphone with hybrid active noise cancellation rated at up to -35 dB, which T-fun says reduces up to 95% of external low-frequency noise. It also gives you three ANC modes so you can dial the cancellation to your environment rather than flipping a single on/off switch. There's a transparency mode too, which lets you hear announcements or a barista without pulling the headphones off your head.
The sound hardware is serious for this class: a 40 mm dynamic driver, 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency range, 32 ohm impedance and 105 dB sensitivity. T-fun describes the tuning as deep bass with rich mids and crisp highs, and the app lets you go further — you can customise the equaliser, adjust the noise cancellation level and trigger simulated 3D audio. That app control is a real differentiator, because it means the headphone can be reshaped to your taste instead of locking you into one factory sound.
Then there's the feature list that genuinely separates it from a basic earbud. 360° spatial audio with dynamic head tracking keeps you at the centre of the sound, which is the kind of thing that makes movies and games feel bigger than they should on a headphone at this level. There's a 50 ms low-latency mode aimed squarely at gaming, TV and video calls. Multipoint Bluetooth 5.3 lets you stay connected to two devices at once — laptop and phone — and switch between them without re-pairing. Battery life is quoted at 55 hours with ANC on, with a 2.5-hour charge time via USB-C, and Bluetooth range reaches up to 50 feet. Comfort is handled with memory foam ear cushions, an adjustable headband and swivelling ear cups, and T-fun specifically notes the cushions are fine for glasses wearers and long sessions.
Who should buy it? This is for the commuter, the frequent flyer, the open-plan-office worker and the gamer who wants one headphone to do everything. It's also for anyone who wants to tweak their sound rather than accept it — the app and EQ are the hook. The included 3.5 mm to 6.35 mm adaptor and cable also mean you can go wired when the battery is flat or when you're plugging into studio or AV gear.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for noise cancellation → T-fun NC35. Hybrid ANC rated up to -35 dB with three modes is in a completely different league from passive rubber-tip isolation.
• Best for battery life → T-fun NC35. 55 hours of ANC playtime versus a wired earbud that never needs charging because it never uses power of its own.
• Best for zero-hassle, zero-charge listening → JVC HAF160P. No pairing, no app, no battery, no firmware — plug in and go.
• Best for travel and flights → T-fun NC35. ANC plus over-ear memory foam cushions plus a protective case in the box is built for long journeys.
• Best for movies, TV and gaming → T-fun NC35. 360° spatial audio with head tracking and a 50 ms low-latency mode exist precisely for this.
• Best for two-device switching → T-fun NC35. Bluetooth 5.3 multipoint beats re-plugging a cable every time you switch devices.
• Best for portability and weight → JVC HAF160P. At 5 grams it disappears in a pocket; an over-ear headphone with a case does not.
• Best for devices without Bluetooth → JVC HAF160P. The 3.5 mm jack works with anything, including old laptops, handheld consoles and in-flight entertainment systems.
• Best for customisable sound → T-fun NC35. The T-fun app's EQ and ANC adjustment let you tune the headphone; the JVC has a fixed bass-forward tuning you either like or don't.
If I had to pick one for myself, I'd buy the T-fun NC35. The reason is simple: it covers more of my actual listening life — commuting, flights, films, games, calls — and the combination of hybrid ANC, spatial audio, multipoint Bluetooth and app-based EQ is a lot of capability in a single device. That said, I'd genuinely still keep a JVC HAF160P around. In my opinion it's the better choice for anyone whose priority is a cheap, featherweight, always-ready earbud for a laptop or a gym bag, with no charging and no setup. If your listening is mostly wired, simple and on a budget, the JVC is the smarter buy; if you want one headphone to handle everything else, go T-fun. Whichever you lean toward, check the current price on Amazon before deciding, since that's the part that most often tips the scale.
FAQ
No active noise cancellation. It has sound isolation from the soft rubber oval earpieces sealing against your ear, which reduces some ambient noise passively, but there's no ANC circuitry or transparency mode.
Yes. It has a 3.5 mm jack and ships with a cable plus a 3.5 mm to 6.35 mm adaptor, so you can listen wired when you don't want to use Bluetooth or when the battery is low.
T-fun quotes 55 hours of playtime with ANC on and a charge time of about 2.5 hours over USB-C. The JVC HAF160P has no battery at all because it's a fully wired earbud.
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