This Tozo NC9 review UK is for anyone who has stared at a pair of £40 earbuds online and quietly wondered whether budget active noise cancelling can possibly be any good. I had the same doubt. Spending a tenth of what a pair of Sony or Bose buds costs and still expecting decent ANC felt optimistic at best. So I bought a set, charged them up, and lived with them on my actual commute for two weeks before writing a single line.
The short version: they are far better than the price suggests, with a couple of quirks you should know about first. Below is the full breakdown, the bits the spec sheet leaves out, and who I would genuinely recommend them to.
Tozo NC9 review UK: the quick verdict
For the money, the Tozo NC9 punch well above their price tag. You get hybrid active noise cancelling, IPX8 waterproofing, USB-C charging and a battery that genuinely lasts, all for less than a takeaway for two. That combination simply did not exist at this price a few years ago.
As someone who has reviewed audio gear and built out a fully connected smart home, I have handled a lot of cheap earbuds that overpromise. Most cut corners somewhere obvious. These cut fewer than I expected. The trade-offs are a slightly fiddly touch control and a faint background hiss when the ANC is cranked all the way up in a silent room. Neither ruined the experience for me, but honesty matters more than hype here at GadgetsBuzz, so I want you to know about them up front.
What you actually get for the price
Tozo positions the NC9 as a budget hybrid ANC earbud, and the UK price tends to sit under £40, often dipping lower during Amazon UK sales events. For that you get the earbuds, a compact charging case, a USB-C cable, and a small selection of silicone ear tips in different sizes.
Hybrid ANC means there are microphones on both the outside and the inside of each bud working together to cancel noise. Cheaper single-mic systems only listen to the outside world. The dual approach is why the noise reduction here feels more like the proper stuff and less like a marketing sticker. Tozo quotes noise attenuation of up to 45 decibels, and while real-world figures from independent testers like RTINGS are more modest than the headline number, the low-frequency cancellation is genuinely strong for the class.
That last point matters more than you might think. Low frequencies are the droning sounds: the rumble of a train carriage, the hum of an aeroplane cabin, the whir of an office air-con unit. Those are exactly the sounds that wear you down on a long journey, and they are the ones the NC9 handles best.
How the noise cancelling actually performs
I tested these for a fortnight on the London Overground and on a couple of longer National Rail trips, which is about as honest a torture test for budget ANC as you can find in the UK. On the train, the NC9 took the constant low rumble and softened it into a distant background murmur. Add music at a moderate volume and the carriage noise effectively disappeared.
Where budget ANC always struggles is the higher frequencies, and the NC9 are no exception. Sharp, sudden sounds still get through: a screeching brake, a tannoy announcement, a baby a few seats away. Pricier buds like the Sony flagships clamp down on more of that mid and high range. If you want the full picture there, our Sony WH-1000XM6 review covers what a proper premium ANC ceiling looks like, and the gap is real. The honest framing is this: the NC9 give you maybe 80 percent of the everyday benefit for roughly 10 percent of the price.
The Tozo app lets you switch between several modes, including full Noise Cancellation, Transparency for hearing your surroundings, a Reduce Wind Noise setting, a lighter Leisure mode, a Normal mode with ANC off, and a Custom option. The wind setting surprised me. Walking along the Thames on a blustery afternoon, it cut that horrible roar that usually makes outdoor calls unbearable. Small detail, genuinely useful.
Sound quality: better than it has any right to be
Budget earbuds usually arrive with a bass-heavy tuning designed to wow you in the first thirty seconds and tire you out by track three. The NC9 lean warm, yes, but not offensively so. Bass is full and present without completely drowning the vocals, and there is enough clarity up top to enjoy detail in a mix.
I ran them through my usual test playlist, which jumps from acoustic singer-songwriter material to bass-heavy electronic and a bit of podcast listening. Vocals came through clearly on spoken-word content, which is where a lot of cheap buds fall apart with muddy, boxy voices. Music with busy arrangements can get a little congested at high volume, but for commuting, gym sessions and background listening at your desk, the tuning is genuinely enjoyable.
One unexpected observation: the NC9 actually sound better with the ANC switched on. On many budget buds, turning on noise cancelling thins the sound or adds an audible pressure. Here the tuning holds together, and because the ANC removes the low rumble around you, you can listen at a lower volume and still hear everything. The NHS recommends keeping listening levels down to protect your hearing over the long term, and good ANC quietly helps with exactly that by removing the temptation to crank the volume to drown out a noisy train. You can read the NHS guidance on safe listening over on the NHS hearing loss pages.
Battery life and charging
This is where the NC9 quietly embarrass far more expensive rivals. Tozo rates the earbuds at up to 14 hours of playback with ANC off, or around 10 hours with ANC on. The case stretches the total to roughly 59 hours without ANC and around 42 hours with it active. In real use I was getting close to a working week of commutes from a single case charge with ANC running most of the time.
Charging is over USB-C, which is exactly what you want in 2026 now that the connector is standard across phones, laptops and most gadgets. No fishing around for a forgotten cable. There is no wireless charging on this model, but at this price I genuinely did not miss it. The case recharges the buds several times over before it needs topping up itself, so for most people a once-a-week charge is realistic.
If long battery life is a recurring theme in your gadget buying, it is worth thinking across categories. The same logic that makes a marathon-battery earbud satisfying applies to wearables too, which is something I noticed reading our Galaxy Ring 2 vs Oura Ring 4 comparison, where battery endurance completely changes how often a device annoys you.
Comfort, fit and waterproofing
The buds themselves are light and sit reasonably flush in the ear. I have medium ears and the default tips held a good seal through brisk walks, though I did swap to the next size up for the gym to stop them loosening during burpees. Getting a proper seal is essential with any ANC earbud, because a poor fit lets noise leak in and makes the cancellation feel weak. If your NC9 sound thin or the ANC seems poor, try a different tip size before blaming the product. Nine times out of ten that fixes it.
The IPX8 water resistance rating is unusually high for the price. In plain English, IPX8 means the buds are rated to survive being submerged in water, so sweat and rain are no concern at all. I would not go swimming with them as a habit, since Bluetooth does not travel through water well anyway, but caught in a sudden downpour at a bus stop, you can relax. For sweaty workouts they are bombproof.
The honest annoyances
No product is perfect, and a review that pretends otherwise is not worth reading. The touch controls on the NC9 can be inconsistent. A double tap occasionally registered as a single, or did not register at all, which is irritating when you are trying to skip a track with cold hands on a platform. You learn the rhythm eventually, but it is not as crisp as pricier buds.
The second issue is a faint hiss when ANC is at maximum in a very quiet room. In any real environment with ambient noise you will never hear it, and on a train it is completely masked. But sitting in a silent room at home, ANC on, music paused, you can notice it. Whether that bothers you depends entirely on how you listen.
Call quality is fine rather than brilliant. In a quiet space callers had no complaints. On a windy street, even with the wind mode on, voices got a little processed. For the occasional call it is perfectly usable. If you live on the phone for work all day, look higher up the range.
How they compare to pricier earbuds
Here is the comparison that actually matters. A pair of flagship ANC earbuds from Sony or Bose will set you back £200 to £300 in the UK. They beat the NC9 on high-frequency noise cancelling, call clarity, app features and that last layer of audio polish. Nobody sensible disputes that.
But ask yourself what you genuinely need from a pair of commuter buds. If it is solid low-rumble cancellation, enjoyable sound, all-day battery and the freedom to lose or soak them without crying, the NC9 deliver a remarkable share of the flagship experience for a fraction of the outlay. I have recommended them to two friends on tight budgets, and both came back happy.
The counterintuitive bit, and the thing I did not expect to write, is that for outdoor and gym use I sometimes reached for the NC9 over my far more expensive daily buds. Not because they sound better, but because I simply did not care if they got rained on or knocked about. There is a real freedom in cheap gear you do not have to baby.
Where to buy the Tozo NC9 in the UK
The NC9 are widely stocked on Amazon UK, which is where most readers will find the best price and the quickest delivery. Keep an eye out during Prime Day and seasonal sales, when they regularly dip well below the usual asking price.
TOZO NC9 Hybrid ANC Wireless Earbuds | Buy on Amazon | around £35.99
[TOZO NC9 Charging Case Replacement | Buy on Amazon | around £16.06
If budget tech that punches above its weight is your thing, you might also enjoy our look at the best pico projector for the bedroom, another category where spending less than £200 now gets you a genuinely good experience. And for an example of clever budget hardware in a different niche, our fingerprint USB drive review is worth a read.
Frequently asked questions
Are the Tozo NC9 good for the money?
Yes. For under £40 in the UK you get hybrid active noise cancelling, IPX8 waterproofing, USB-C charging and battery life that beats many earbuds costing several times more. The trade-offs are slightly fiddly touch controls and a faint hiss at maximum ANC in silent rooms, neither of which spoiled daily use for me.
How long does the Tozo NC9 battery last?
Tozo rates the earbuds at up to 14 hours with ANC off or around 10 hours with ANC on, and the case pushes the total to roughly 59 hours without ANC and about 42 hours with it. In real commuting use I got close to a week between case charges with noise cancelling running most of the time.
Is the noise cancelling on the Tozo NC9 actually any good?
For a budget earbud, surprisingly so. The hybrid ANC is strong on low-frequency droning sounds like trains and air-con, which are the most tiring noises on a commute. It does less for sharp high-frequency sounds than a premium pair, but for the price the everyday benefit is real.
Are the Tozo NC9 waterproof?
They carry an IPX8 rating, meaning they are protected against immersion in water, so sweat and rain are no problem. I would still avoid deliberately swimming with them, since Bluetooth struggles underwater, but for workouts and rainy commutes they are extremely robust.
Do the Tozo NC9 work with an app?
Yes. The Tozo app lets you switch between Noise Cancellation, Transparency, Reduce Wind Noise, a lighter Leisure mode, Normal with ANC off, and a Custom setting, plus equaliser adjustments. It is simple but covers the essentials.
The bottom line
If you want capable noise cancelling, long battery and rugged waterproofing without spending flagship money, the Tozo NC9 are an easy recommendation for most UK buyers. Just go in knowing the touch controls take patience and the call quality is merely fine, and you will be very happy at the till.
Daniyal Khan reviews audio and smart home tech in a real London flat for GadgetsBuzz. This article contains affiliate links. We only recommend products we genuinely rate.
