Some travel items are just indispensable when it comes to travelling and are a true travel essential. To me a travel essential par excellence is an over ear noise cancelling headphone. Absolutely indispensable in an airplane. Especially when you have (young) children seated close to you.
For the past few years I have never travelled without my noise cancelling headphones, and it’s the first thing that comes out of my backpack as soon as I have found my seat. Definitely a must when putting my travel gear list together.
I’m quite happy with the headphones I have, however I’m always keen to try new brands or models. And that’s how I got to try Rolfstone’s first ever over-ear headphone, the Rolfstone Focus. Can the Focus beat my current headphones? Keep reading to find out all about it.
About Rolfstone
Rolfstone is a Dutch company that specializes in wireless earbuds and headphones. Rolfstone started from great passion for music and an unconditional commitment to service and quality. They kicked off their company with a successful series of wireless earbuds, with the Nova Sport earbuds, Neo and Riva. After these earbuds the Rolfstone Focus is their first pair of headphones.
At Rolfstone they like to do things differently and like to prove that you can actually make good products, equipped with the latest features and technologies, without having them to cost a fortune.
Unboxing Focus Headphones
The Rolfstone Focus comes in a fancy black box. The outside shows an image of the headphones you’re about to unpack. Once you open the box, you’ll find a black Rolfstone case, and both Dutch and English user manuals. Inside the case you’ll have the Focus Noise Cancelling headphone and a USB cable to charge your new gear. The case is protective, so perfect for travelling.
Rolfstone Focus
With the Focus, Rolfstone introduces their first ever active noise cancelling headphone. And they’re doing this properly, prepared to pull out all the stops to achieve the very best product. Focusing on battery life, noise cancelling, comfort and ambient mode, they have surely delivered a leading product. With this being their very first piece of headphones, I can’t wait to see what’s next!
Impressive battery
The most impressive thing about the Focus is the industry leading battery life. Fully charged the Rolfstone Focus lasts for 70 hours, with Active Noise Cancelling turned on. When the Active Noise Cancelling is turned off the battery will last for 100 hours! This is something I have never seen or heard of before, it is by far the longest battery life in its category. This makes it even more a perfect travel item to bring on your trips around the world. Even on long-haul flights, the Rolfstone Focus will last all the way.
And even when it does go empty, you can quickly recharge your Focus. Just 10 minutes of charging means you can use the headphones for another 2 hours. And just 3 hours of charging will see the battery fully charged again. Super quick and easy!
Active Noise Cancelling
The Active Noise Cancelling is a must have on every headphone if you ask me. It’s the number one thing I look for when going for new headphones, does it have Active Noise Cancelling?
For the Focus the answer is yes!
When turning on the headphone, Active Noise Cancelling is turned on by default, something I actually really like. I use my headphones a lot when travelling, so Noise Cancelling is something I just can’t go without. The Active Noise Cancelling filters out all unwanted noise.
There are 4 microphones on the inside and outside of the ear cups, that detect the ambient noise and then produce opposite signal to suppress the noise.
Touchpad operation
After using the Nova Sport I already got used to the touchpad operation. With swipe controls you can very easily operate your headphone. Changing the volume, selecting tracks or answering an incoming phone call all by using the touchpad on the right earcup.
The touchpad works very precisely, so going through your playlist is super simple.
Separated from the touchpad there is another button, just below, dedicated to the listening modes. Through this button you can turn the Noise Cancelling on and off or go to Ambient mode. If you press this button twice you’ll activate Siri or Google Assistant.
Rolfstone Focus Review
I was lucky enough to be given these active noise cancelling headphones by Rolfstone, to use and test extensively. I’m a big fan of over-ear noise cancelling headphones, so I was super happy and excited to start using the Focus.
After using the headphone for a few months now, I must say, I really like and enjoy them. I do have to admit, due to the worldwide pandemic, I haven’t been able to use and test them on an airplane yet, but that will hopefully happen sometime this year too. I have however been able to test the Active Noise Cancelling in several situations, and I’m not disappointed at all.
Also check out my review of the Rolfstone Nova Sport earbuds.
The most important pro’s to the Rolfstone Focus?
- To start with, that is definitely its battery life. Nothing can beat a 70-100 hour battery life. Very impressive and of course super handy when travelling.
- The balanced sound of the Focus is another big plus. The tones of the Focus are super clear, just a pleasure to listen to music now.
- Obviously the Active Noise Cancelling is just great. I just can’t go without it, and it truly filters away a lot of noises, so it does its job well.
Overall the Rolfstone Focus is ultra-comfortable, it is lightweight and has soft ear pads. Even when wearing them for a longer period, they just don’t irritate. The over-ear makes sure it doesn’t press on your ears either.
With an industry leading battery life, ultra-comfort, a beautiful clear sound and Active Noise Cancelling, the Rolfstone Focus truly is a unique headphone.
This blog was written by travel writer and Traveltomtom team member Ashley. She received the Focus headphone from Rolfstone to test extensively and to write this review. For more interesting travel gear check out Traveltomtom's packinglist for electronics and luggages.