Canyon BTHS-3 Wireless Headset review

It’s sometimes harder to shop for budget headsets than for premium ones. You can usually bet safely that if you’re paying over a certain price, then what you’re getting is high quality (with a few exceptions, of course). But at the bottom end of that scale, it’s tough. How do you know that what5 you’re getting will be worth even a budget price? You have to navigate minefields of knock-offs and random features added to make the device look better, but which do nothing for the performance (hence a lot of low budget options adding in things like RGB apropos of nothing). But now and then you’ll come across a budget headset like the Canyon BTHS-3 Wireless Headset, that ticks as many boxes as you need for the price.

At around £24.99, these are pretty solid value. There’s an economy of design at work that eschews the bells and whistles, which arguably could put some people off. But they’re also lightweight, comfortable, and fold away for ease of transport. I’m not a huge fan of pale headsets in general, but these have a minimalist design that simply suits the lighter beige finish. You can pick them up in black, though, if you prefer.

The cup cushions feel good even if you’re wearing them for a while. Standard 40mm speakers deliver a really nice, crisp sound, which might go a little low on the bass but won’t be all that noticeable while gaming, or watching videos or shows. There’s no companion app available though, so unlike a lot of headsets you won’t be able to adjust EQ levels beyond a few presets, which I couldn’t really notice much of a difference between. What you hear is what you get, but the cushions do provide some decent isolation despite the lack of ANC.

Because there’s no app, all the controls are on the ear cups. No touch-sensitive stuff, either, just clicky buttons to stop, start, and adjust volume. They do have an inline mic, so nothing to fold away or disconnect, but as a result the quality here isn’t super. It’s not particularly tinny but you will pick up a fair amount of ambient sound in a busy environment. They have a frequency response between 20Hz and 20kHz, so they fare well for gaming, and I had zero audio lag when using them.

You can connect via a standard audio jack or Bluetooth 5.1, and the quality is fairly consistent on either. They do suffer a little in the battery department, though, offering around 15 hours at full charge. It’s more than adequate for daily use, but you’ll need to charge them often.

For the price, the Canyon BTHS-3 are just very, very good value. They may lack the features of higher-end alternatives, but they deliver where it counts, which is more than can be said for a lot of models in the same price range. You might opt to pay a little more for something like the JLAB Studio Pro ANC, but if you’re on a strict budget, these are absolutely worth it.