When you think of the word "lagoon," noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones probably don't come to mind, but don't let that color your judgment on the Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC.
These headphones offer a lot to like, including rich, bright, balanced audio, solid noise cancellation, and cool status LEDs on the inside of the earcups.
At $399, however, they cost $50 more than the Bose QuietComfort 35 II, our Editors' Choice.
Simply put, for $100 less, these headphones would have a better rating, but at $400 they're priced too high.
Design
There are actually two Lagoon ANC models available, one with black earpads and headband cushioning, and one with brown earpads and cushioning.
Most companies would give the products the same name, but Beyerdynamic has named the black model the Lagoon ANC Traveller and the brown version the Lagoon ANC Explorer.
They're the same price, just with different colors on the padding.
Between this decision, the peculiar stylized Y logo on the earcups, and the actual Lagoon name, it feels like Beyerdynmaic is having a little bit of a branding problem.
That said, the headphones look pretty luxurious and feel quite comfortable over long listening sessions.
The right earcup's outer panel houses the power/pairing switch, as well as the ANC switch, which has three positions: off, one, or two (more on those in the next section).
The power switch and ANC switch feel similar to the touch, and are placed near each other, so it's easy to turn the headphones off when you mean to adjust the ANC.
Next to these switches, there's a jack for the included audio cable (which has no inline remote control, unfortunately) and a USB-C port for the included charging cable.
The outer panel on the right cup is sensitive to touch, and swiping up or down controls volume, swiping forward or backward skips tracks, and holding and swiping in either direction fast forwards or rewinds.
You can tap once to play or pause, hold your finger in place for a couple of seconds to summon your phone's voice assistant, or tap twice to accept or end a call.
The various taps can be a bit much to remember at first.
It's also easy to accidentally summon Siri or press play when removing or adjusting the headphones.
Nearly every time I picked the headphones up, Siri asked me what I needed.
Frustratingly, it often took several tries to get the panel to play or pause—for these functions, the sweet spot on the panel seems too tiny and often takes several attempts.
One of the more interesting features of the Lagoon ANC is purely visual—the interior of each earcup is lined with multicolor LED bands.
These bands light up in various colors as status alerts—green means fully charged, pulsing blue means Bluetooth syncing, and red is an alert that your battery is low.
It's a clever use of LED bands, and probably the most interesting visual alert system we've seen in recent memory.
The headphones ships with the previously mentioned cables, as well as a flat, hardshell black zip-up case.
There's also a Beyerdynamic app, called MIY, which we'll discuss more in the next section.
Beyerdynamic estimates battery life to be roughly 45 hours without ANC or 25 hours with it.
Both are solid numbers, but your results will vary with your volume levels and your mix of ANC on/off modes.
Performance
The headphones deliver some solid noise cancellation.
Before you even turn the ANC on, the padded earcups already block out a decent amount of ambient noise.
Low-frequency rumble, like you hear on a train or plane, gets cut down significantly in both ANC Level 1 and ANC Level 2.
In fact, in many cases, it's hard to tell too much of a difference between the two modes, but Level 2 is definitely more powerful.
Both modes cut out a solid swath of low frequencies, and Level 2 seems to diminish the overall volume of surrounding noise to a higher degree.
Unfortunately, the ANC suffers a bit from the common problem of adding audible hiss to the equation.
It's not unpleasant—it sounds a bit like white noise at an extremely low level, but when you turn the ANC on in an already-quiet room and don't play any music, the hiss is apparent.
Compared with industry-leading models like the Bose QuietComfort 35 II, the Lagoon ANC is not as strong.
Turning the ANC on or off does have a slight impact on audio performance, but it is very subtle—we perceived a slight boost in bass depth with the ANC on, but nothing dramatic.
One welcome feature available via the Beyerdynamic MIY app (for Android and iOS), is the ability to adapt the frequency response to your hearing.
For people with notable hearing loss, particularly in scenarios where one ear has significantly more loss than the other, this feature can be quite helpful.
The app also has a stats section that tells you how long you've been listening to the headphones on a daily basis, and an area where you can adjust the sensitivity of the on-ear controls.
For our standard audio testing, we didn't activate the sound profile, so what you're reading below is based on the default audio settings.
Obviously, this can be thought of as a starting point if you plan to use the sound test and profile the app creates based on its results.
The audio test is a fairly quick and simple process—you hold a button down until you hear a beeping sound disappear, and there are several different faint beeps for each ear to measure.
After the test, you can activate your new sound profile.
Obviously, the degree to which this affects audio performance will vary from person to person.
If we have a gripe, it's that the app can do all of this, but there's no simple user-adjustable EQ.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the headphones deliver solid low-frequency response.
At top volumes, there's no distortion, and at more typical listening levels, the drivers deliver a strong thump without sounding too heavily boosted, while the highs are delivered clearly and match the lows well.
With the ANC on, the thump gets a little bit more body, but as we mentioned, it's subtle.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Lagoon ANC's general sound signature.
The drums on this track get some added bass presence, but nothing too intense or over the top—this is a pretty natural sound, with the emphasis on clarity, not big bass.
The higher register percussive hits and the acoustic strumming receive a solid high-mid presence, so they hold their own against the lows, and the mix sounds rich, bright, and balanced.
It's not quite a flat response—there's a little more bass and tweaking in the highs—but it veers more in that direction than in the mega-bass direction.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence for its attack to retain its punchiness, but it also gets some low-frequency push, giving the loop added body.
The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with laudable depth—they sound powerful, but they are not boosted to the extremes we often hear in competing models.
The focus seems to be on balance, with some solid anchoring in the lows and clarity in the highs—the vocals are delivered cleanly without any added sibilance.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound a little fuller and richer than they would on purely flat-response headphones.
But the boosting in the lows is tasteful and subdued—the higher register brass, strings, and vocals still retain their bright, crisp presence in the spotlight.
The mic offers excellent intelligibility.
Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand each word cleanly and clearly, with very little in the way of Bluetooth audio artifacts or fuzz around the edges of words.
There was even a sense of added low frequency response in the recordings, so voices don't sound brittle and weak.
It's still no match for a wired inline mic, but it's one of the better-sounding Bluetooth headphone mics we've tested.
Conclusions
The Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC headphones deliver solid, rich, clear audio.
Their noise cancellation is better than average, and offers two useful modes.
The included app can also help you tweak the sound signature to match your hearing profile.
Alas, for all that it offers, there are some downsides, like the easy-to-misfire control panel, but primarily the high price.
There are slightly more compelling options in this price range, like the aforementioned Bose QC 35 II and the excellent Sony WH-1000XM3.
For less, the Marshall Mid ANC and the AKG N60 NC Wireless deliver solid ANC for the price, combined with strong audio performance.
Don't get us wrong, we also like the Lagoon ANC, but they would be much easier to recommend for $100 less.
Pros
Rich, bright, balanced audio performance.
Solid noise cancellation.
Useful interior earcup status LEDs.
The Bottom Line
The wireless Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC headphones deliver solid audio and noise cancellation, but are priced a bit too high.
When you think of the word "lagoon," noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones probably don't come to mind, but don't let that color your judgment on the Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC.
These headphones offer a lot to like, including rich, bright, balanced audio, solid noise cancellation, and cool status LEDs on the inside of the earcups.
At $399, however, they cost $50 more than the Bose QuietComfort 35 II, our Editors' Choice.
Simply put, for $100 less, these headphones would have a better rating, but at $400 they're priced too high.
Design
There are actually two Lagoon ANC models available, one with black earpads and headband cushioning, and one with brown earpads and cushioning.
Most companies would give the products the same name, but Beyerdynamic has named the black model the Lagoon ANC Traveller and the brown version the Lagoon ANC Explorer.
They're the same price, just with different colors on the padding.
Between this decision, the peculiar stylized Y logo on the earcups, and the actual Lagoon name, it feels like Beyerdynmaic is having a little bit of a branding problem.
That said, the headphones look pretty luxurious and feel quite comfortable over long listening sessions.
The right earcup's outer panel houses the power/pairing switch, as well as the ANC switch, which has three positions: off, one, or two (more on those in the next section).
The power switch and ANC switch feel similar to the touch, and are placed near each other, so it's easy to turn the headphones off when you mean to adjust the ANC.
Next to these switches, there's a jack for the included audio cable (which has no inline remote control, unfortunately) and a USB-C port for the included charging cable.
The outer panel on the right cup is sensitive to touch, and swiping up or down controls volume, swiping forward or backward skips tracks, and holding and swiping in either direction fast forwards or rewinds.
You can tap once to play or pause, hold your finger in place for a couple of seconds to summon your phone's voice assistant, or tap twice to accept or end a call.
The various taps can be a bit much to remember at first.
It's also easy to accidentally summon Siri or press play when removing or adjusting the headphones.
Nearly every time I picked the headphones up, Siri asked me what I needed.
Frustratingly, it often took several tries to get the panel to play or pause—for these functions, the sweet spot on the panel seems too tiny and often takes several attempts.
One of the more interesting features of the Lagoon ANC is purely visual—the interior of each earcup is lined with multicolor LED bands.
These bands light up in various colors as status alerts—green means fully charged, pulsing blue means Bluetooth syncing, and red is an alert that your battery is low.
It's a clever use of LED bands, and probably the most interesting visual alert system we've seen in recent memory.
The headphones ships with the previously mentioned cables, as well as a flat, hardshell black zip-up case.
There's also a Beyerdynamic app, called MIY, which we'll discuss more in the next section.
Beyerdynamic estimates battery life to be roughly 45 hours without ANC or 25 hours with it.
Both are solid numbers, but your results will vary with your volume levels and your mix of ANC on/off modes.
Performance
The headphones deliver some solid noise cancellation.
Before you even turn the ANC on, the padded earcups already block out a decent amount of ambient noise.
Low-frequency rumble, like you hear on a train or plane, gets cut down significantly in both ANC Level 1 and ANC Level 2.
In fact, in many cases, it's hard to tell too much of a difference between the two modes, but Level 2 is definitely more powerful.
Both modes cut out a solid swath of low frequencies, and Level 2 seems to diminish the overall volume of surrounding noise to a higher degree.
Unfortunately, the ANC suffers a bit from the common problem of adding audible hiss to the equation.
It's not unpleasant—it sounds a bit like white noise at an extremely low level, but when you turn the ANC on in an already-quiet room and don't play any music, the hiss is apparent.
Compared with industry-leading models like the Bose QuietComfort 35 II, the Lagoon ANC is not as strong.
Turning the ANC on or off does have a slight impact on audio performance, but it is very subtle—we perceived a slight boost in bass depth with the ANC on, but nothing dramatic.
One welcome feature available via the Beyerdynamic MIY app (for Android and iOS), is the ability to adapt the frequency response to your hearing.
For people with notable hearing loss, particularly in scenarios where one ear has significantly more loss than the other, this feature can be quite helpful.
The app also has a stats section that tells you how long you've been listening to the headphones on a daily basis, and an area where you can adjust the sensitivity of the on-ear controls.
For our standard audio testing, we didn't activate the sound profile, so what you're reading below is based on the default audio settings.
Obviously, this can be thought of as a starting point if you plan to use the sound test and profile the app creates based on its results.
The audio test is a fairly quick and simple process—you hold a button down until you hear a beeping sound disappear, and there are several different faint beeps for each ear to measure.
After the test, you can activate your new sound profile.
Obviously, the degree to which this affects audio performance will vary from person to person.
If we have a gripe, it's that the app can do all of this, but there's no simple user-adjustable EQ.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the headphones deliver solid low-frequency response.
At top volumes, there's no distortion, and at more typical listening levels, the drivers deliver a strong thump without sounding too heavily boosted, while the highs are delivered clearly and match the lows well.
With the ANC on, the thump gets a little bit more body, but as we mentioned, it's subtle.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Lagoon ANC's general sound signature.
The drums on this track get some added bass presence, but nothing too intense or over the top—this is a pretty natural sound, with the emphasis on clarity, not big bass.
The higher register percussive hits and the acoustic strumming receive a solid high-mid presence, so they hold their own against the lows, and the mix sounds rich, bright, and balanced.
It's not quite a flat response—there's a little more bass and tweaking in the highs—but it veers more in that direction than in the mega-bass direction.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence for its attack to retain its punchiness, but it also gets some low-frequency push, giving the loop added body.
The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with laudable depth—they sound powerful, but they are not boosted to the extremes we often hear in competing models.
The focus seems to be on balance, with some solid anchoring in the lows and clarity in the highs—the vocals are delivered cleanly without any added sibilance.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound a little fuller and richer than they would on purely flat-response headphones.
But the boosting in the lows is tasteful and subdued—the higher register brass, strings, and vocals still retain their bright, crisp presence in the spotlight.
The mic offers excellent intelligibility.
Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand each word cleanly and clearly, with very little in the way of Bluetooth audio artifacts or fuzz around the edges of words.
There was even a sense of added low frequency response in the recordings, so voices don't sound brittle and weak.
It's still no match for a wired inline mic, but it's one of the better-sounding Bluetooth headphone mics we've tested.
Conclusions
The Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC headphones deliver solid, rich, clear audio.
Their noise cancellation is better than average, and offers two useful modes.
The included app can also help you tweak the sound signature to match your hearing profile.
Alas, for all that it offers, there are some downsides, like the easy-to-misfire control panel, but primarily the high price.
There are slightly more compelling options in this price range, like the aforementioned Bose QC 35 II and the excellent Sony WH-1000XM3.
For less, the Marshall Mid ANC and the AKG N60 NC Wireless deliver solid ANC for the price, combined with strong audio performance.
Don't get us wrong, we also like the Lagoon ANC, but they would be much easier to recommend for $100 less.
Pros
Rich, bright, balanced audio performance.
Solid noise cancellation.
Useful interior earcup status LEDs.
The Bottom Line
The wireless Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC headphones deliver solid audio and noise cancellation, but are priced a bit too high.
