Haylou FlowBuds N55: High-Quality Sound and Noise Cancellation Just Under $40!

High-end audio is going mainstream. Of course, there will always be audiophile products with outrageous price tags, but the bottom line for quality available in mass-market headphones is getting higher and higher. Today, we're going to take a look at a recent example: Haylou FlowBuds N55. A new model with an up-to-date set of features offered for less than $40 (life hack at the end of the text). It has all the bingo: active noise cancellation, modern Bluetooth standard, comfortable fit, and high-quality sound that doesn't take long to get used to. Let's have a listen and make up our own minds.

3 reasons to buy Haylou FlowBuds N55:

• effective noise cancellation;
• up to 12 hours of battery life outside the charging box;
• high-quality and clear sound according to the Hi-Res Audio standard.

3 reasons not to buy Haylou FlowBuds N55:

• you need a more serious sound tool;
• you are looking for a solution with full moisture protection;
• you don't like this form factor.

What's in the box

The package is standard for TWS headphones and does not raise any questions: the box contains the headphones themselves with a charging case, a USB-C cable for recharging, three pairs of replaceable ear cushions of different sizes in a bag and paper documentation. As a rule, nothing else is offered.

What Haylou FlowBuds N55 look like

If you look at the headphones separately from the box, they look absolutely typical: a long leg with a touch surface, a speaker unit and a removable ear cushion. All surfaces are glossy, and the outer part (the one with the touch button) has a slightly mirrored finish. There is a small white LED on the top of each earphone, it blinks only when connected, it will not interfere.

This form factor seems to me to be the most versatile, and almost no one has problems with a comfortable fit in their ears. Vacuum ear cushions traditionally contribute to the overall noise isolation, even with ANC turned off.

But the charging box adds a bit of a fresh design vision. It has a rounded shape and a deep cutout for the headphones themselves. The model is available in black and white, and the lid of the box has a mirror finish that rhymes with the touch part on the headphones. Everything is cool, except that the mirrored plastic surface can quickly become covered with scratches.

At the bottom is a USB-C port with circular backlighting and a connection button. The backlight around the USB connector serves as a status indicator and can light up green when the box is opened and red when charging. It's cool, but I would also like to see an indication of the charging level of the box.

How to connect and set up?

The headphones do not require any specific actions to connect, everything is standard. Switching to the connection mode occurs automatically when you open the charging box, but it can also be called up forcibly by holding down the button on the box for three seconds. Find the headphones that are in pairing mode in the list of available devices on your smartphone or other device - and you're done. FlowBuds N55 uses modern Bluetooth 6.0, but it is backwards compatible with devices that support previous standards.

The headphones are controlled by multi-functional touch buttons, one on each earbud. A long press cycles through the modes: noise cancelling on - off - transparency mode. Double-click to pause or play music, and triple-click to skip to the previous or next track (on the left and right headphones, respectively). By default, a single press does not affect anything, but you can change the settings in the app (described below). In addition to the functions already described, you can assign a particular type of touch to call a voice assistant or adjust the volume.

What can the proprietary app do?

The headphones support work with the proprietary Haylou Sound application, where you can switch noise cancellation modes, change controls and slightly adjust the sound through a simple equaliser (the set of presets is small, but there are basic options). The app's interface is not overloaded, although sometimes there are minor localisation errors, which does not affect the use of the app.

Interestingly, the settings for functions triggered by a certain number of touches are available separately for the left and right earbuds, so you can adjust the control to your liking very flexibly. You can also activate the low-latency gaming mode, multi-point connection (to connect the headphones to two audio sources at the same time), or LDAC (disabled by default). There is a wearing detection function: when you take the earphone out of your ear, the player automatically pauses and resumes playback when you put it back in. If you don't need it, you can disable this function. There's also a collection of soothing sounds, a firmware update function, instructions, and more.

How does the noise cancellation work?

It's quite effective. I have already noted that basic sound insulation is achieved constructively. But then a hybrid active noise cancellation technology with a six-microphone feedback system comes into play. There are three microphones on each earbud: an earpiece, an external microphone and an internal microphone. By comparing signals from all microphones, the electronics generate the necessary signals to minimise or, on the contrary, broadcast external sound. The result is adaptive noise reduction of up to -54 dB, which can be considered a new standard in this class.

Active noise reduction copes with low-frequency noise - traffic, ventilation, and room hum are noticeably muffled, although voices and harsh sounds remain partially audible. In actual use, this has a tangible effect, especially on the road or in the office. The test with a noisy kitchen hood passes with flying colours.

The transparency mode allows you to hear ambient sounds without having to take out the headphones, although the sound transmission has a certain artificiality that is typical of inexpensive models. The microphones provide acceptable call quality: in a quiet environment, the voice sounds clear, while outdoors, a lot depends on the level of noise and wind, which can affect intelligibility.

How do Haylou FlowBuds N55 sound?

Well, external noise has been eliminated, so we can concentrate on the sound from the headphones themselves. And there is quite a lot of it, including literally, thanks to the enlarged dynamic driver up to 12.4 mm (instead of the 10 mm popular in this class). Add to this the support of Hi-Res Audio and LDAC and we will see that in many cases the bottleneck in sound quality is the actual audio material you listen to. Let me just remind you that Hi-Res Audio provides 24-bit depth and 96 kHz sampling rate, which exceeds the capabilities of a standard Audio CD.

If we take the highest quality recordings, we can conclude that in general, the sound of Haylou FlowBuds N55 is focused on everyday use, and this is well felt in the overall balance of frequencies. The bass is amplified, the bass has a noticeable mass and adds energy, but delicately. To be honest, in typical recordings such as Dub Sessions, I expected a greater skew in the lower part of the range, but it turned out quite neatly, although without a wow effect. And rightly so: these are everyday headphones and should not be too "thumpy".

The middle frequencies are transmitted smoothly, without obvious dips, but without an emphasis on details: vocals sound clear, instruments are not lost, although the presentation remains simplified rather than analytical. High frequencies add a feeling of openness and do not cause fatigue even during long listening, although it is clear that they lack small nuances that can be heard on more serious equipment. The scene is quite compact, with conditional separation of instruments, but it is enough for music, podcasts and videos. The overall impression of the sound can be described as familiar, comfortable and understandable, without the need to adjust to it.

What about battery life?

Haylou FlowBuds N55 have 60 mAh batteries on board plus another 475 mAh in the charging box. It may not seem like a lot, but thanks to modern energy-saving technologies, it is enough for a maximum of 12 hours of use without the ATS or about 10 hours with it. That's if you don't take into account charging the headphones in the box. With it, the maximum indicators reach 40 and 35 hours, respectively. Maybe not a record, but very serious in this category of headphones.

How convenient are they to use?

I have experience with a lot of headphone sizes and this is probably the one I like the best. The headphones fit well in my ears, they don't press or rub. However, like almost any TWS, they are easy to lose when you take off your clothes over your head. The touch surface in the form of a control has become a standard, and there are no complaints about it. The good thing is that a single press does not affect anything, there are no accidental triggers. In addition, the control can be reconfigured if necessary. I don't like the fact that switching active noise cancellation modes is accompanied not by voice prompts, but simply by beeps. Yes, they are different for different modes, but it's not very intuitive.

There are no complaints about the stability and range of the signal, these parameters coincide with most standard headphones of this class. There are no serious delays in sound during games, even when the game mode is turned off.

There is basic dust and moisture protection of IPX4 level, so the headphones are not afraid of sweat and water splashes, which allows you to use them during training or in rainy weather. They are not designed for swimming or full immersion.

In dry residue

Haylou FlowBuds N55 are balanced TWS headphones with an up-to-date feature set, where the manufacturer has relied on a predictable user experience. They offer effective noise cancellation, good battery life, a comfortable fit, and high-quality sound with support for the LDAC codec and Hi-Res Audio standard. In the Haylou line, this is the flagship model, and in general, according to the realities of the market, we can consider it the modern standard of affordable TWS headphones. Quite a lot for the recommended price of 40 bucks (if you are reading this text in April 2026, you can pick up this model on good old Aliexpress even for $23.99 with the promo code SPRINGHT02).

Specifications of Haylou FlowBuds N55 headphones
Type.	TWS, vacuum (in-ear)
Active noise cancellation	hybrid system with transparency mode up to -54 dB
Driver diameter	12.4 mm
Driver type	dynamic
Bluetooth version	6
Codecs	SBC, AAC, LDAC
Battery capacity	2*60 mAh in the headphones + 475 mAh in the charging box
Playback time without ANC	up to 12 or 40 hours (without and with charging from the box, respectively)
Playback time with ANC	up to 10 or up to 35 hours (without and with charging from the box, respectively)
Box charging time	about 2 hours