Clam Elite, an alternative with ANC courtesy of Fresh'n Rebel

Active noise cancellation, better known as ANC for its acronym in English, it has become a claim for manufacturers of audio products that is increasingly the order of the day, that has happened with the new releases of Fresh'n Rebel, a firm that from here we have followed constantly, so we could not miss the appointment.

We show you the new Clam Elite from Fresh´n Rebel, a headset with ANC and many other technical surprises. Stay with us and discover everything you need to know about the new Fresh'n Rebel over-ear headphones.

Materials and design

Fresh´n Rebel remains true to its essence, both in terms of color and materials. These Clam Elite follow the harmony of colors, offering in black, white and blue tones. In the same way, it has a series of plastics and trims that simulate metal. However, this doesn't seem to hurt the overall build, which feels robust and quality. Despite this, thanks to the plastic it is improved at the level of lightness. These Clam Elite are not heavy with continued use in our experience.

• Includes nylon braided USB-C cable
• Includes 3,5mm Jack port and nylon braided AUX cable
• Includes transport bag

The headband is made of textile and has a memory foam layer inside to make it easy to put on. Obviously we have a common telescopic system in this type of headset to accommodate our head. For its part, the headphones that completely cover the ear have a simile-leather covering rotate with freedom of movement and are also foldable.

In this section we found the touch panel on the hearing aid, as well as an ANC activation / deactivation button, the ON / OFF button and the USB-C port through which we will charge the device. The total weight is only 260 grams.

Technical characteristics and autonomy

Obviously, as wireless headphones that they are, we have Bluetooth for the connection with the device, although we can also take advantage of the characteristics of its personalized sound application that we will talk about later. In this section the Clam Elite of Fresh´n Rebel have Digital Active Noise Cancellation, offering a theoretically superior experience. This is complemented by a series of modes that we will also talk about later.

We have a USB-C port through which we can charge the headphones and that They have 40 hours of autonomy in music playback, which will be reduced to 30 hours when we activate the noise cancellation. The full charge of these Clam Elite from Fresh'n rebelde will take us approximately four hours, so we can determine that we do not have any type of fast charge. Despite this, autonomy is so widespread that we hardly see a situation in which we can require it. Nonetheless, As we have a 3,5mm Jack port we can use them in a traditional way in case we have run out of autonomy.

Noise cancellation and modes

In this case Fresh'n Rebel has decided to improve the version of the Clam range with this "Elite" model and for this it has offered us a digital noise cancellation that promises to reach 36 dBi. In our tests it has shown itself to be sufficient, at least in full noise cancellation mode. Things change when we switch to another mode.

• Standard noise cancellation: It will cancel all noise with the maximum capacity offered by the Clam Elite up to 36 dbi
• Environment Mode: This mode will cancel the most annoying and repetitive noise but it will allow us to capture conversations or alerts from outside.

In the case of Ambient Mode we see how it can significantly affect the tones of the music we are listening to. Although it stands up well, I am not very fond of such 'transparent' modes, active noise cancellation works well, and I recommend using it in a safe environment. Nevertheless, Considering how prominent your ear muffs are, we even have a good degree of isolation when we don't activate this software feature.

Personal Sound app and sound quality

These Clam Elite are accompanied by an extraordinary functionality that is to configure the type of sound through an application that is available for free for both iOS and Android. Once we synchronize our Clam Elite, something quite simple by holding down the ON / OFF button, a calibration system will open that will last approximately three minutes and that is quite intuitive. Once the questionnaire is finished, a profile will be assigned to our Clam Elite that will not be saved on the phone but on the headphones themselves, that we can identify and modify whenever we want without losing that setting while we use them.

• Touch panel system to manage multimedia content and volume
• Placement detection to pause music automatically

For its part, the sound quality differs a lot if we have calibrated them and if not. In my case, I have noticed excessive presence of the bass after the calibration, so I preferred the standard mode, let's say that they arrive relatively well calibrated as standard. We are not aware that they have an aptX codec. They offer us a good performance in bass and mids, obviously they suffer with highs, especially if we move away from commercial music, as is the case with most headphones of this type. The fidelity of the sound is slightly impaired when we activate the active cancellation modes, something that is also within the normal parameters.

Editor's opinion

We meet these Fresh'n Rebel a fairly round product, its strengths stand out over the weak, especially because the experience of connectivity, tuning and comfort are in line with the audio quality, which although we are not in a premium range, offers a high enough standard to that users are satisfied. The launch price is 199,99 euros at the usual points of sale such as Amazon, El Corte Inglés and Fnac. 

Pros and cons