SoundMAGIC P58BT ANC Headphone Review – All About the Sound

The $59 P58BT fires on all cylinders when it comes to sound for money but the ANC is hit-and-miss.

Introduction

SoundMAGIC is a China-based company that specializes in personal audio. Headphones and IEMs, both wired and wireless are made by them and it seems like price-wise they’re aiming squarely at the value segment. I’m usually quite skeptical toward more affordable active headphones because they’re manufacturing and R&D intensive and those savings have to be made somewhere.

Will the SoundMAGIC P58BT prove to me right that an ANC wireless headphone is just too much to cost this little? Read on to find out!

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

Build quality

To tell you the truth, build quality was where I was most worried. I’ve had experience with affordable full-size headphones that managed to sound pretty good but usually, the build would be serviceable at best. I was very glad, and surprised even when I first laid my hands on the SoundMAGIC P58BT – it actually feels good! The plastic is of decent quality and the trimmings show no imperfections.

Turning the SoundMAGIC P58BT on is done by the single button it has on the earcup. A longer press switches on the pairing mode and during playback double and triple presses access the usual playback functions. The same left earcup also houses a touch sensor that can be used for volume and playback controls. Admittedly it was quite unreliable and I used my smartphone to control music playback. The P58BT also has an NFC tag to do a wireless handshake with the phone but I couldn’t get it to work either on my Samsung Note 10+ or on a Galaxy S24 Max.

In use

After a quick charge-up up the SoundMAGIC P58BT was ready for a test run. Establishing a connection to my smartphone was quite effortless. Initially, I was pretty underwhelmed about the quality of the ANC but quickly found out that the default mode upon powering on is noise canceling disabled. After a quick button click the ANC came on and I heard the usual “whoomp” as the ambiance faded out of audibility. For office use the ANC was perfect, only loud sudden noises would cut through it and overall it shielded me well from the outside din for better focus.

Of course, the real test of noise cancellation is the outside and the daily commute and this is where the SoundMAGIC P58BT gave me trouble. The problem is that the ANC is too sensitive to major pressure changes. If you’re walking quickly and the headphones bounce a bit the driver try to compensate it and will audibly bottom out. The same goes when I was riding my tram back home – when the doors were closing the pressure spike would audibly bottom out the drivers. Going over larger potholes on the road would also cause it. It was annoying enough that I ended up switching the ANC off.

Like many other ANC wireless headphones, the P58BT can be used for picking up phone calls but the built-in mic is pretty meh. It’s not pointing to the mouth and picks up a lot of outside noise. Despite the meager codec support with only AAC and SBC, I liked that the P58BT supports two devices connected simultaneously so you can have both your laptop and smartphone available as an audio source. Do I miss that there’s no app to fiddle around with extra settings? At this price no.

Sound quality and signature

Test setup: On the go, I used the SoundMAGIC P58BT with my Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and at the desk, I hooked it up to the FiiO K11 R2R DAC amplifier.

I already touched upon using the SoundMAGIC P58BT wirelessly in the section above, so let’s try them with the included 3.5mm to 3.5mm TRS cable. Plugging the cable in immediately shuts down the on-board electronics and you can use the headphones only passively. There’s no ANC or ambient mode but I was pleasantly surprised that the sound stayed the same. This means that the P58BT doesn’t rely on DSP to correct the driver’s natural frequency response, it actually is pretty well-designed.

The sound quality was my second main worry with the SoundMAGIC P58BT, I was almost ready to write it off as just passable and okay for the money. Just like with the build quality SoundMAGIC had more in store for me! The overall tuning of the P58BT is a quite well-behaved and fun U-curve. Dare I say that even without all the active electronics engaged it’s a pretty capable closed-back for the price. It’s good news because once the battery dies I won’t have to toss it in the e-landfill.

As for technicalities… I mean what can you expect for 59$? As it turns out – the staging is pretty okay as is the resolution. Mostly limited by the tonal peculiarities of the enclosed driver, the P58BT was able to resolve differences between the DAC and amplifier chains I had on my desk. The built-in electronics aren’t bad and on the go the benefits of something better would probably be lost in the noise. With that said – you could drive the SoundMAGIC P58BT from a dongle.

Select comparisons

Sony WH1000-XM3
After the XM2, Sony was comfortably sitting by Bose in the premium ANC headphone space. The WH1000-XM3 is an improvement sound-wise and back in 2019 was the go-to choice for many tech junkies. Even now it offers superb ANC performance, a bass-heavy but generally competent sound, and a slew of customization options via the Sony app. Nowadays the WH1000-XM3 can be had for about 175$ or even less 2nd hand.

In terms of ANC, Sony has the more affordable P58BT squarely beat. After all, not long ago it was the best there was. Sound is where it gets more interesting. I regard both headphones to be equal in their capability to deliver good sound. The WH1000-XM3 is more “mega bass” while the SoundMAGIC has better mids and highs. And if your Sony runs out of juice, wired passive operation bypasses the DSP and the sound becomes much worse.

Pairing notes

I’d happily recommend the SoundMAGIC P58BT as a very decent budget-class full-size closed-back headphone for desktop use. The active Bluetooth electronics are a handy extra and the ANC is realistically usable only when you’re stationary. It really brings me joy that SoundMAGIC have put enough acoustic know-how into the P58BT that the headphones sound great even without DSP. Sony, Bose, and Apple couldn’t do it with much more expensive products.

Concluding Remarks

Either fix the finicky ANC or just sell the P58BT as a regular wireless active headphone with a noise reduction function, is my advice to SoundMAGIC. I think that the P58BT is very good but many will be disappointed by the quality of the ANC. Unless they forget to turn it on like I did at first… Either way, this is a decent option for the office or even gaming, if you have a separate mic.

My verdict – 4/5