We’ve looked at a pair of Mixcder headphones already this year: one was the budget-friendly HD901, the other was the hardly budget-unfriendly E9s. We now have a pair of the latter’s replacement at the top of the Mixcder range for our listening pleasure, the E10s.

Much of what we said about the E9s holds true for the E10s. They look good, they feel good, they sound good, they do a solid job of minimising (if not entirely cancelling) external ambient noise, the build quality seems solid, all the cables you need are in the box, they fold in half (the earpads swivel 90 degrees), the carry case is pretty swish, and of course – as with all things Mixcder – they’re very reasonably priced. The bang-for-buck ratio here is off the chart.

As with the E9s, the E10s perform at their best, sonically speaking, with the Automatic Noise Cancelling (ANC) feature turned on: they simply sound better this way. According to Mixcder, the E10s will reduce 96 per cent of ambient low-frequency sound. What this means is that the low rumble of room noise, trains, planes etc is dramatically reduced, but you will still be able to distantly hear higher-pitched sounds, so you’re not completely cut off.

The caveat here is that with ANC on the battery-drain ramps up, although not so dramatically that you’ll ever care too much about this. It would only become an issue on long journeys of many hours – although as the E10s offer fast-charging (three hours of fresh use from a few minutes of recharging; a one-hour charge will give 30 hours battery life, Mixcder says), you can probably work around this.

One of the more immediately noticeable aspects with the E10s is their heft. These already feel like money well spent, even before you’ve got them on your head. This would be down to the E10’s all-metal skeleton, finished in a very nice dark burnished colour on the exposed arms.

This choice of material certainly adds to the ‘premium’ feel. It also adds to the weight: up from the 255g of the predominantly plastic E9s to 304g in the E10s. The styling and ‘shape on the head’ of the E10s is also different. They create a more imposing silhouette when worn, appearing to sit more distinct from the wearer’s head than the E9s. This is largely down to the fluted metal design of the E10’s arms, rather than the solid plastic chunk of the E9s.

Perhaps it’s hard to explain in words, but having both the E9s and E10s to hand for comparison enabled us to draw this conclusion. To put it bluntly, the E10s seem to ‘stick out’ from the head a little more than the E9s. This is not necessarily a criticism: many people prefer a headphone they can feel, rather than a more innocuous ‘hairband’. It gives the E10s the visual appearance at least of a serious pair of headphones.

This, coupled with Mixcder’s trademark minimalist styling and refreshingly low-key approach to branding, means these are another pair of cans you won’t be embarrassed to pull out of your bag on a busy train. You might even feel a little smug about your stylish choice.

The generously plump, ergonomic, vegan protein leather, memory-foam earpads keep things nice and comfy and the E10s never feel ‘heavy’, unlike some industrial-design headphones we’ve tried. Hours of continuous use are perfectly feasible. It’s also noteworthy that the E10’s headband padding extends much further, offering almost the full ‘rainbow’ of comfort over the head, as opposed to the E9s, which limit their softest pleasure to just your crown.

The E10s offer fast charging (one hour versus the E9’s two-and-a-half hours), as well as support for Bluetooth 5 and AptX this time around. Other sonic improvements touted by Mixcder include the latest version of ‘Mixcder Euphonious Sound’ (v.5), a new noise-cancelling chip – the Mixcder Advanced ANC chip v.4, promising improved mic sensitivity with better ANC effect and a flatter, smoother frequency response across the full spectrum.

Looking at the frequency charts provided for the E10s, it looks like there is an enhanced bass bump (around 100Hz) and a peak rise in the upper treble region (between 10 and 20kHz, where that elusive sense of ‘air’ lives), so there has presumably been some tuning for the 40mm neodymium iron boron drivers.

Does any of this make a massive difference? Not massive, no. Swapping between the E9s and the E10s, the E10s do sound better, but it’s hardly night and day and – the caveat with all headphone reviews – could arguably be subjective and dependent on type of music and source. Both sound good. We’d go for the E10s, if push came to shove.

With only £15 or so in price difference between the E9s and E10s, if you can make that small stretch to the top of the range, all the upgrades in the E10s promise a more than generous return on your investment. Another high-performing, wallet-friendly winner from Mixcder.

Mixcder E10, £79.99