I'm not a complete audiophile but I have purchased some mid-high level audio headphones and DACs for music listening. And I have to say that for the price these headphones really punch above their weight. The sound with the high bit rate encoder enabled and when listening on my Android device with some FLAC encoded files is a really solid experience. Always cancellation is good as well as the pass through mode. The pass-through mode actually does some audio enhancing so you'll be able to hear more detail than you would normally. At least that is for myself I am 35 so maybe it's old age. Battery life is good and recharging as quick. Highly recommend these earbuds.I love it.