Noise cancellation is supposed to silence the chaos of the world, but right now it doesn't seem to be silencing even your own thoughts. Frustrating. Let's go through what usually causes this and how to get your ANC working again.
First, a couple of things worth knowing about ANC
The VMK20's ANC is a separate system from the Bluetooth connection. That means ANC doesn't automatically turn off when you power down the headphones. This is a feature, not a bug – you can use noise cancellation without music, like a silence enthusiast at the office.
Another thing: ANC effectively removes low, steady sounds. Airplane hum, air conditioning drone, office background noise – gone. Your colleague's nagging or kids arguing won't disappear, because those are high-frequency, irregular sounds. For those you'll need music to help. Or earplugs on top of the music. Or becoming a hermit.
Third: if you hear a slight hiss or static sound in silence with ANC on, that's normal. Four microphones are actively listening to your environment and producing a counter-wave. Once you start playing music, the hiss disappears into the background.
How to fix it
Try these in order:
- Check the ANC button – Press the ANC button on the left cup. A green LED lights up when ANC is on. If the light comes on but nothing seems to happen, move on to the next step.
- Check the fit – ANC only works properly if the cups sit snugly around your ears. Glasses arms, earrings, or thick hair can break the seal. Press the cups gently against your ears – if noise cancellation kicks in, the problem is the fit.
- Check the ear pads – Old ear pads harden and lose their seal over time. If your headphones are over a year old and the pads feel flat, new pads might solve the whole problem. You can grab them from our online store.
- Restart – Turn the headphones completely off and back on again. Also toggle ANC off separately and back on.
- Factory reset with AUX cable – This is the VMK20's reset trick: plug a 3.5mm AUX cable into the headphones and unplug it. This disconnects the Bluetooth circuit and resets the connection. Restart the headphones after that and test ANC.
- Charge them fully – Low battery can affect ANC performance. Let the headphones charge via USB-C for 2-3 hours and try again.
If nothing helps
If ANC still won't come back to life after all that, it might be a hardware fault. It's rare, but electronics will be electronics – sometimes the ADI chipset or one of the microphones decides to take early retirement.
Drop us an email at info@valco.fi. Include your order number and a short description of the problem. Our repair team in Kajaani will fix the device – we don't bin headphones at the first sign of trouble.
During the warranty period (24 months), the repair is free, obviously. Even after warranty, you can get it fixed with a repair kit that costs a fraction of new headphones. Makes a lot more sense than tossing a perfectly good device because of one component, doesn't it.
