We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-18 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
If you want serious noise cancellation and marathon battery life for commuting, flights and long workdays, choose LORELEI QC30; if you need an open-ear headset that keeps your ears free and switches between Bluetooth and a 2.4GHz dongle for gaming, choose QILIAN Open Ear Gaming. These two are built for completely different jobs, and picking the wrong one is the fastest way to be disappointed.
• LORELEI QC30 — biggest strength: Hybrid ANC rated to block up to 95% of ambient noise, plus up to 100 hours of playback (80 hours with ANC on). That's a sealed, over-ear design built to shut the world out.
• LORELEI QC30 — biggest trade-off: It's a closed over-ear headphone, so your ears are plugged for hours, and it has no low-latency dongle mode for gaming.
• QILIAN Open Ear Gaming — biggest strength: Dual-mode wireless (Bluetooth 6.0 and a 2.4GHz USB dongle) for ultra-low latency gaming, with a detachable rotatable boom mic and open-ear comfort at roughly 31g.
• QILIAN Open Ear Gaming — biggest trade-off: No active noise cancellation — it uses sound isolation — and battery life tops out at 20 hours in Bluetooth mode, 13 hours in 2.4GHz mode.
• Choose LORELEI QC30 if you want to block out a subway, a plane cabin or a loud office and charge almost never.
• Choose QILIAN Open Ear Gaming if you game on PS5, PS4, Switch, PC or mobile and want to hear your surroundings while you play.
The QC30 is a traditional over-ear noise cancelling headphone, and it leans hard into that identity. The hybrid ANC system is rated to cut up to 95% of ambient noise, which is the whole point of this product: subway rumble, airplane drone, open-plan office chatter. On top of that, an ENC microphone filters background noise on your end of the call, so the person you're talking to isn't hearing the café behind you.
Battery is where this thing gets genuinely interesting. LORELEI rates it at up to 100 hours of playback on a full charge, or 80 hours with ANC running. Even if you take those numbers as best-case, it's a headphone you can take on a two-week trip and plausibly not think about a charger. A 1.5-hour charge time makes topping up painless when you finally do. The 40mm dynamic drivers carry a Hi-Res certification, and there are three EQ modes — Vocal Enhance, Equalizer and Sound Monster — so you can push podcast dialogue forward or lean into bass for EDM. Frequency response runs 20Hz to 40kHz, impedance is 32 ohm, and latency is listed at 40ms.
Comfort and portability are handled the conventional way: protein leather earpads over memory foam, an adjustable headband, and earcups that rotate 90° and fold flat into the included case. It ships with a 3.5mm audio cable, a Type-C charging cable and a case. Bluetooth 6.0 handles pairing, with dual-device connection so you can jump between a laptop and a phone without re-pairing. The unit weighs 250g.
QILIAN Open Ear Gaming: Who It's For
The QILIAN is the opposite philosophy. It's an open-ear, ear-hook headset that sits outside your ear canal entirely, so ambient sound comes in by design. QILIAN frames this around ear fatigue: nothing is pressing into your canal, and the build comes in at roughly 31g without the mic. If you wear glasses, sit through long study sessions, or game for hours, that's the argument for this shape.
The headline feature is dual-mode wireless. It runs Bluetooth 6.0 for everyday calls and music, and it also ships with a 2.4GHz USB-C dongle for a stable, ultra-low latency connection. That means PS5, PS4, Switch 1/2, PC and mobile are all covered — plug in the dongle to game, use Bluetooth for everything else, no re-pairing. Note the listed limitation: not available for Xbox. Bluetooth range is 12 meters.
Audio comes from 16.2mm wool composite diaphragm drivers with 16 ohm impedance. Large open-ear drivers are there to push detail and spatial awareness — footsteps in a game, bass in a workout playlist — rather than isolation. The microphone setup is unusually flexible: a detachable, rotatable boom mic you can position for Zoom calls or in-game chat and then pull off for casual listening, backed by dual-mic DNC (Dynamic Noise Cancellation) for calls. Two quirks worth knowing from the product notes: the boom's rotation angle is limited, so adjust it to sit naturally on your face rather than forcing it, and if you remove the boom you can enable the built-in mic by pressing the power button three times.
Battery is 20 hours in Bluetooth mode and 13 hours in 2.4GHz mode, with a 1.5-hour charge over Type-C. Controls are touch plus buttons. It's black plastic, one year warranty.
Buy it if you game on PlayStation, Switch, PC or mobile, want to stay aware of your surroundings, and want one headset that does calls and gaming. Skip it if you need to block out noise — there's no ANC here — or you want the multi-day battery of a closed over-ear can.
• Best for noise cancellation → LORELEI QC30. Hybrid ANC rated up to 95% ambient noise reduction, plus ENC on calls. The QILIAN has no ANC at all, only sound isolation.
• Best for battery life → LORELEI QC30. Up to 100 hours (80 with ANC) versus 20 hours Bluetooth / 13 hours 2.4GHz.
• Best for gaming → QILIAN Open Ear Gaming. The 2.4GHz dongle and ultra-low latency mode are the whole reason it exists. The QC30 is Bluetooth-only with 40ms latency.
• Best for long-wear comfort → QILIAN Open Ear Gaming. Roughly 31g on an ear hook versus 250g over-ear, and nothing enters your ear canal.
• Best for commuters and flyers → LORELEI QC30. Sealed over-ear pads plus ANC is exactly the combination a plane cabin rewards.
• Best for calls and meetings → it depends on your setup. The QILIAN's detachable boom mic is better for positioning and team chat; the QC30's built-in mic plus ENC is better when you want zero extra parts.
• Best for situational awareness → QILIAN Open Ear Gaming. Open-ear means you hear traffic, coworkers and doorbells. That's a safety feature outdoors and a dealbreaker in a loud office.
• Best for console compatibility → QILIAN Open Ear Gaming, with the caveat that Xbox isn't supported. The QC30 is aimed at iOS, Android and PC.
If I had to buy one, I'd buy the LORELEI QC30. In my opinion, the combination of real hybrid ANC, up to 100 hours of playback and a foldable over-ear design makes it the more useful object for most people's actual day — commuting, working, flying, listening. The QILIAN is the better gaming headset and the better choice if open-ear comfort is non-negotiable, but it solves a narrower problem. If gaming latency and staying aware of your surroundings are your top two priorities, flip the decision — the QILIAN earns that.
FAQ
Yes. The QC30 uses hybrid active noise cancellation rated to block up to 95% of ambient noise. The QILIAN has no ANC; it relies on sound isolation, which an open-ear design can only do so much of.
Yes. It has a detachable, rotatable boom microphone with dual-mic DNC for background noise suppression, plus Bluetooth 6.0 for pairing with a phone or laptop. Remove the boom and you can activate the built-in mic by pressing the power button three times.
The LORELEI QC30, by a wide margin — up to 100 hours, or 80 with ANC on. The QILIAN Open Ear Gaming is rated at 20 hours in Bluetooth mode and 13 hours in 2.4GHz mode.
I don't quote prices here because they change — check the current price on Amazon using the button on this page. On specs alone, the QC30 gives you more per charge and more isolation; the QILIAN gives you a low-latency dongle and open-ear comfort you can't get from the QC30.
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