It was a decade ago when Onkyo unveiled the first-ever TWS (True Wireless Sound) earbuds to the world. Back then, its mere existence wasn’t even acknowledged.

A year after, Apple shook the world with their first-gen AirPods.

Much like any new experimental product, it has received a bag of mixed reactions — mostly laughs and criticisms because of how “absurd” the whole idea was.

Despite all that, other audio brands have followed suit.

Ten years in, both companies and consumers have fully realized the true value of wireless earbuds.

It’s not even limited to the major players anymore. Budding companies like QCY can go up the ladder and compete against them.

The MeloBuds N70 is here with their very first flagship-grade offering that can truly disrupt the scene — and I would be lying if I didn’t say how excited I was the moment I knew everything about the product.

Function over form

At first glance, the QCY MeloBuds N70 isn’t too different from other earbuds in the market.

QCY took the usual route with its design: sucker-type buds along its long stems where all the sound drivers, mics, and batteries are stored.

Hear me out: This isn’t a criticism. There’s nothing wrong with being conventional. It’s been proven and tested for a long time.

IMHO, this design is the most effective way to house everything without compromising anything.

After all, brands (and designers) can only do so much when making a new pair of wireless buds.

Most just change their choice of CMF (colors, material, finish) that make one pair different from another.

That said, the pair I received came in black.

Although 90 percent of my wardrobe is black, my color preference among gadgets goes the other way as black is my least fave.

Still, the QCY MeloBuds N70 isn’t limited to the generic Midnight Black colorway as prospective buyers have the freedom to choose between Starlight Purple and Titanium Gold — the latter being my preferred shade.

As someone whose ears can adapt well between open-ear and rubber-quipped, I can confidently say wearing these felt comfortable enough even after many hours of prolonged use.

If the default one won’t stick to your ear canals, the package comes with extra tips in different sizes.

QCY-peasy

After getting the new pair of buds out of the box and placing them beside any modern Android device, the latter will instantly recognize the product and reveal its key info.

That’s thanks to Google’s Fast Pair feature. Not only does it make pairing faster and easier, it even lets your phone install the proprietary app needed for that corresponding pair of earbuds.

In my case, setting up my new QCY pair along the QCY app was easy-peasy.

Once everything has been set up, you can take full advantage all of the features within the MeloBuds N70.

The main page displays battery levels for the buds and the case.

Switching to the second tab reveals all EQ (Equalization) presets as well as Noise Cancellation Modes with varying scenarios.

You can even customize your EQ based on what your ears prefer.

Last tab is where you can change touch functionality and other specific settings.

Personally, I prefer touch controls more over force-touch sensors as they don’t require too much effort to control something.

The only thing I wish the QCY MeloBuds N70 was capable of is the ability to adjust volume level through the swipe up / down gesture.

Although the workaround I did was to just assign the long press function.

Double-tapping should have been the limit — which is typically reserved for going back or forth between tracks.

The triple-tap function feels odd especially when one of the buds misreads (or misses) some taps I did.

Sound Superiority

As someone who has tried and tested several earbuds over the course of my six-year career, I can now confidently say that my ears have been extra sensitive and ever-critical when it comes to full-on audio quality.

While I still don’t consider myself a devoted audiophile, being able to differentiate better-sounding earbuds against low-performing ones is a special skill.

To be specific, I can discern those that sound straight out of a tin can or those that sounds muffled. Others felt like I’m in an aquarium or a hollow cave.

In order to justify my listening experience, the closest comparison would be comparing the MeloBuds N70 up against the Redmi Buds 6 Pro I’ve held and used since February 2025.

To recall, I wasn’t too satisfied with its overall audio quality as there’s barely any oomph in its bass.

Some songs I listened to sounded dull even after customizing my own EQ levels.

To add more fuel to the flame, the Xiaomi Buds 5 I’ve tested prior has the better quality — and it’s the best I’ve tested during that time.

Now back to the QCY MeloBuds N70. Its tagline says “Hear Every Note”, and I can attest to that claim.

I clearly hear all the less-prominent hums, subtler beats, and the undervalued adlibs of the K-Pop songs I’m listening to with the MeloBuds N70.

Default EQ, as it implies, is as plain as vanilla. You get a good amount and balance between its mids, highs, and lows.

However, switching to the Heavy Bass preset is purely immaculate — at least to my own taste. I can really hear that deeper bass kicking in my ears.

That’s something I thought was already great on my Xiaomi Buds 5. The MeloBuds N70 proved otherwise.

Never a loss with Lossless

A reason why I can never leave Apple Music (over any other streaming platform) is mainly due to the existence of Lossless Audio. Albeit, you can only take full advantage of this if your audio peripheral has THE better audio codec.

Usually, earbuds in the same price range only offer SBC (Subband Codec), or the lowest and most standard codec you can get among generic wireless earbuds.

As surprising as it seems, QCY was able to feature the top-tier LDAC codec in the MeloBuds N70.

The Xiaomi Buds I mentioned sticks to Qualcomm’s aptX. On the other hand, the Redmi pair relies on AAC.

While others are already contented with either of the two, I prefer Sony’s LDAC codec best due to its higher achievable bitrate — even if some say aptX is more stable when streaming.

All that said, its Hi-Fi wonder should work well in most (if not all) apps. I used it while watching a K-Drama on Netflix, streamed the latest K-Pop music videos, and the vocals are crystal clear. Music? Totally divine.

ANC without being too pricey

For any earbuds tagged with this price, one shouldn’t expect anything grand. However, my opinion quickly changed the moment I wore the buds for the first time.

Again, the Redmi Buds 6 Pro had an inconsistent and overall dissatisfying ANC performance.

Meanwhile, the QCY MeloBuds N70 beg to differ with how effective both buds cancel out noise almost instantly regardless of the environment or surrounding you bring it in.

Case in point: I unboxed the product in a café with loud people conversing in the background. I wasn’t able to hear the instructions of my colleague, MJ, when we were recording the unboxing.

Another was a speeding motorcycle that passed by, all while I was waiting for the stoplight to go green.

I even wore them both in various modes of transportation.

Train screeches? None.

Someone’s child throwing tantrums inside the bus? Surprisingly quiet.

Plane’s roaring engine and pilot announcements? Completely silent.

This list could go on and on. The bottom line is that I only heard pure music and/or vocals. Noise was completely non-existent.

This further proves that QCY took ANC seriously in this new model.

As one would expect, Transparency Mode exists. Albeit, I’m the typical introvert who uses undisrupted ANC 100 percent of the time. By that, I have to manually remove the buds before I decide to talk to someone else.

Good thing that these buds detect removal and automatically stops music when doing so.

Although it may just be my unit but sometimes, it automatically pauses by itself even when it’s plugged rightfully in my ear.

Promises are made to be broken

On paper, the QCY MeloBuds N70 promises up to 10 hours of battery on a single charge. A 10-minute case top-up will provide extra two hours of playback.

While I may not know QCY’s metrics when testing the MeloBuds N70 to justify those claims, it’s still able to last around 3.5 to 4 hours on a single charge with ANC turned ON along its overall volume set around 70 percent.

That’s when I used the earbuds non-stop during the course of my two-hour commute. The extra two hours passed by while I was writing this review before it ultimately died down.

Another real-life use-case is when I used it non-stop in my Manila to Hong Kong flight that lasted for around 2.5 hours.

From 5:22AM (100 percent), the batteries totally went off by 8:49AM — with 4 percent remaining on the left bud.

It even has a female persona whose voice notified me that the buds needed to be charged as it’s already below 10 percent, or if it’s already shutting down due to battery exhaustion.

Even though the QCY MeloBuds N70 doesn’t have the monumental endurance as promised, these new buds were still able to alleviate my battery anxiety among TWS earbuds with ANC.

To add more to the surprise, its case supports wireless charging —  something one shouldn’t expect in a buds priced in such range.

As expected though, it’s slower than wired charging. Regardless, it’s a good add-on in case you’re on a pinch where you don’t have a power bank and cable with you and can only rely on your phone’s reverse wireless charging.

Is this QCY MeloBuds N70 your GadgetMatch?

With a price of just US$ 59.99, most people will doubt how reliable the QCY MeloBuds N70 are.

But the buds’ price-to-performance is just unmatched. There’s honestly no reason to Swipe Left except if you don’t prefer the sucker type of wireless buds.

For me, it’s both a Swipe Right and a Super Swipe.

In contrast to the previous earbuds I have reviewed, QCY’s offering is more compelling for being able to beat them (or at least be in the same level) in terms of battery life, ANC effectivity, and overall sound quality — all for an even lower, more affordable price tag that major brands barely slap on nowadays.

Backed by a good software experience, hi-res LDAC audio alongside Lossless audio playback, plus the additional wireless charging support, what more can you ask for?

All points considered make the QCY MeloBuds N70 a worthy recipient of the GadgetMatch Seal of Approval.

---

BLACK FRIDAY SALE INCOMING!

With the annual Black Friday Sale coming up, QCY is also offering latest deals — MeloBuds N70 not an exception.

You can get between 25% to 50% off when you check out items in QCY’s Official Site from November 20 (Thursday) until December 5 (Friday).

Additionally, Prime Members of Amazon US can get up to 35% off from November 20 until December 1 (Monday).

The QCY MeloBuds N70 is now being sold at an insane value of only $47.99 (was $71.99)!

Moreover, two more products are being sold for an even cheaper value.

• H3S ANC Headphones: Now $39.99 (from $59.99)

• Crossky C50 Clip-On Earbuds: Down to just $28.99 (was $47.99)