Soundcore by Anker Life Q30 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones with Multiple Modes, Hi-Res Sound, Custom EQ via App, 40H Playtime, Comfortable Fit, Bluetooth Headphones, Multipoint Connectio
Active Noise Cancelling
Dual noise-detecting microphones pick up and filter out up to 95% of low-frequency sound.
Multi-Mode ANC: Transport
Up to 95% of engine noise is cancelled out, so you can sit back and relax during flights.
Multi-Mode ANC: Outdoor
The sound of traffic and wind noise are blocked out so you can focus on your music.
Multi-Mode ANC: Indoor
Indoor mode adjusts the noise cancelling to suit quieter locations while still blocking out noise.
Pressure-Free Comfort
Life Q30’s ultra-soft protein leather earcups with memory foam padding fit snugly over your ears, while the lightweight build ensures they sit comfortably in place for long listening sessions.
Transparency Mode
Let the sounds of the world into your personal space by pressing the right earcup for 1-2 seconds to activate Transparency mode. Ideal for when you need to speak to people or want to hear traffic.
Multi-Point Connection
Connect to two Bluetooth devices at the same time to switch between calls, video conferencing, music, and more without needing to reconnect.
Fast Pairing
Life Q30 active noise cancelling headphones are compatible with NFC Pairing, just tap your Android phone on the right earcup to connect.
Soundcore App
Select a noise cancellation mode, choose from 22 EQ presets or customize your own, and tailor your own white noise soundscape for when you need to rest.
Convenient Storage
Compare Soundcore Headphones
 Life Q30 |  Life Q20 |  Life Q20＋ |  Life Q35 | |
| Sound | Hi-Res, Customized EQ | Hi-Res, BassUp, Dual EQ modes | Hi-Res, Customized EQ | Hi-Res, Customized EQ, LDAC |
| Active Noise Cancellation | Hybrid ANC with multiple modes | Hybrid ANC | Hybrid ANC, Transparency | Hybrid ANC with multiple modes |
| Playtime | 60H (ANC off), 40H (ANC on) | 60H (ANC off), 40H (ANC on) | 60H (ANC off), 40H (ANC on) | 60H (ANC off), 40H (ANC on) |
| Fast Charging | 5 mins = 4 hrs | 5 mins = 4 hrs | 5 mins = 4 hrs | 5 mins = 4 hrs |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5, AUX, NFC | Bluetooth 5, AUX | Bluetooth 5, AUX | Bluetooth 5, AUX with mic, NFC |
| Calls | 2 mics | Single mic | Single mic | 2 mics with AI algorithm |
| Charging Port | USB-C | Micro-USB | USB-C | USB-C |
| Soundcore App | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Recommended For | Travel, flight, train, commute | Travel, flight, train, commute | Travel, home office, study | Travel, flight, train, commute |
Key Features
Hi-Res Sound: Life Q30 active noise cancelling headphones have 40mm drivers that reproduce treble up to 40kHz for full-bodied sound with excellent clarity.
Multiple Noise Cancellation Modes: Choose from Transport, Indoor, or Outdoor modes to maximize the active noise cancellation’s effect depending on where you’re listening.
Calls with Excellent Clarity: Enhanced voice pick-up and noise reduction ensure you’re heard clearly while using Life Q30 active noise cancelling headphones for calls.
Lightweight Build: Life Q30 active noise cancelling headphones weigh just over 9oz (260g) and have memory foam earcups with a protein leather cover for all-day comfort.
Ergonomic Design: Life Q30’s earcups rotate by up to 15° to adjust to the shape of your head and its headband can also be adjusted for a more comfortable, secure fit.
| Dimensions: | 19.5 x 18 x 7.8 cm; 263.08 Grams |
| Model: | A3028011 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | Anker |
| Dimensions: | 19.5 x 18 x 7.8 cm; 263.08 Grams |
| Origin: | China |
They are great over-the-ear headphones, and super comfy to wear. The ability to change between various noise cancellation modes is useful, however, I wouldn’t say these headphones are 100% noise cancellation. The headphones can connect to the soundcore app, where you can adjust the headphones’ noise cancellation to suit the environment you are in e.g. outside, transport, or indoors. Changing between each of these does show a difference in the noise cancellation.
The sound and clarity of the music are great for anyone who wishes to listen to music, take phonecalls or zoom/MS teams calls. I will state that I am not an audiophile, hence for an average person the quality of the sound is great.
The charge on the headphones is great, and on occasions where I forget to charge you can still connect a 3.5mm headphone jack to the headphones and device to listen and make calls – which is a really good feature.
The headphones come with a strong durable hard case, 3.5mm headphone jack, instructions and a charging cable.
PROS:
Bargain price.
Amazing sound engine – but a must to download the soundcore app to enhance experience.
Can connect two devices.
Pairing with Android devices using NFR a cinch.
Good size adjustment.
Comfortable to wear.
Lots of manual control on the earpieces.
USB C charging.
Nice case.
CONS:
Connectivity with Apple devices not quite as seamless as Bose or airpods (but not a major annoyance).
Overall an excellent purchase!
And yes, the sound quality and nose cancelling mode are good. Sitting here with a fairly stupid grin listening to some rather ancient Steely Dan while writing this. I’m happy with them. Any major dude will tell you.
And yes, the sound quality and nose cancelling mode are good. Sitting here with a fairly stupid grin listening to some rather ancient Steely Dan while writing this. I’m happy with them. Any major dude will tell you.
And yes, the sound quality and nose cancelling mode are good. Sitting here with a fairly stupid grin listening to some rather ancient Steely Dan while writing this. I’m happy with them. Any major dude will tell you.
The noise cancellation is pretty good – not quite as effective as the Sonys but they cost four times as much. There are 3 modes for the noise cancellation which you can choose using the companion app, but I can’t hear a lot of difference between them. The sound quality suffers a bit when you turn noise cancellation turned on, but it’s by no means bad, just a bit compressed sounding.
Speaking of the app, the other thing it lets you do is change equalisation settings. There are lots of presets with names like “Bass Booster” and “Dance” but most of them sound terrible: best to choose the default “Soundcore Signature” setting or the “Flat” setting.
There are a few downsides and the most important one to highlight is that as soon as you plug the audio input cable in, the headphones turn off and revert to being plain ordinary un-amplified, non-noise-cancelling headphones. If you are using them primarily over Bluetooth this won’t be much of a concern but you should think of the audio jack mainly as a way to use them when their battery is flat, rather than as a primary connection method.
The other downsides are just the sort of things you would expect at the price point: slightly plasticky feel, and so forth. I haven’t run the battery down so can’t say whether the claimed run-time is accurate.
So disappointed…. I have just discovered that there is a major flaw with these! If you want to connect using the wired AUX port, then you will have terrible sound as you no longer have access to the equaliser! A flat horrid sound. Worse is that the ANC function also stops working when using the AUX wired connection, so these are going back!
It’s very disappointing that I only just found this out a week later when I went to use the AUX wired jack on my PC and then on my Soundbar. The sound was awful and then I realised through some online reviews that others also had this issue – without the equaliser the sound is like listening out of a tin can. So then I checked the ANC and sure enough the buttons change function from noise cancelling to pausing the music!
I’m pretty annoyed now, as had I not noticed this before, I could easily have been past the return window! Shame on Anker, whose products I usually like for not stating this in the product description. If you are going to disable 2 key and primary functions that a lot of people buy these headphones for, then you need to state that these functions will only work in Bluetooth connected mode!
These have now been returned to Amazon – whose returns process is brilliant!
I must also add that Soundcore Customer Service is brilliant and resolved the returns very quickly. I have added a star back on for the customer service and another star back because if you are not fussed at not being able to use the ANC or Equaliser with a wired AUX cable, then the quality of the headphones and the sound is amazing. In my case I needed Bluetooth and wired, so needed both functions to work in both modes.
Original Review
I am very impressed with these Q30 cans. Had them for about a week now and am totally made up with them.
I have to agree with others by saying it is important you download the App first of all and connect them – as there are masses of sound pre-sets available to select. If you don’t, you may just get a bog-standard flat profile. It only takes seconds to send your preferred profile to the connected headset. Or you can create your own of course.
I’ve been listening to FLAC files wirelessly from my iPhone for the last week and the sound is terrific.
Really nice crisp notes with a thumping bass – totally immersive.
I like the Active Noise Cancellation feature – activated by a button on the earphone or by touching the special ear phone ‘zone’. These work a treat – especially if you are in the lounge and you want to drown out the dross of the dreaded TV soaps that the others may be listening to.
I can now use my iPad and listen to my tunes without interference or interruption from others rabbiting in the background.
Firstly though, I will say to anyone buying these; download the app!!! It will make using much easier, and will provide setting preferences you won’t otherwise be able to use. From what I’ve seen on other reviews it also helps to sort out any issues you might have.
To start, comfort: Anyone who’s had over ear Beats will tell you they press on your ears so much it’s painful to have them on for more than a few minutes. After a while you get used to that, and only really notice it when you take them off. These bad boys however, are the most comfortable over ears headphones I’ve ever had! My ears fit inside the cushioned areas so nothing is pressing on them. Bliss.
Pairing: Easy peasy! Press the on button until you get a flashing blue light, find the Q30 on your device and hit pair. If you want another device paired at the same time after you’ve got the first set up, press the on/off button twice and then pair on the other device. Simples.
That being said, I did this last night with my phone and kindle and when I started using my phone the sound from the kindle dropped off even though the app being used on my phone didn’t have any sound coming from it, which was annoying. Also wouldn’t allow sound from the kindle until the phone was off again. So while you can be paired with 2 devices at the same time, you can only have one in use at a time.
Sound quality: For my needs it is excellent. I use my headphones for calls, watching programmes or films, social media apps, audiobooks/podcasts and music when I’m cleaning. So, music isn’t the sole or most significant purpose and therefore I’m not one of those who will rave about bass, highs and mids. Not even sure how I would know what those things were. That being said, the soundcore app does let you set up your own preferences on the EQ thingie, so have at it if you need to!
Noise canceling: for the first time I can tell what NC is meant to do! It’s insane the difference it makes as well. I’ve seen other reviews saying it isn’t the best they’ve had compared to other sets, but those must have literally removed the world around them because this is pretty impressive. On the app you can also select your environment to tailor the NC to your needs. These also have transparency mode so if you do need to hear what’s happening around you you can do so by simply placing your palm on the outside of the right cup for a second. Same to turn it on again. It actually makes the environment louder though, I tried it when cooking and I heard the sizzling more clearly than if I didn’t have the headphones on!
Battery life: Pretty good, but this is the one area where the Beats win. With those, I need to charge them once a week. Usually turn them on when I get to work, use for calls during the work day and a podcast on my commute – 30 mins either way – and then at weekends use them more frequently for a few hours each day. I’ve only used these ones for my usual weekend activities so far, and they already need charging up. That being said, it’s not that much of an issue as I normally plug mine in to charge overnight anyway and a quick 5 minute charge gives another few hours of use if needed.
Portability: This is another area where the Beats are better because they fold down into a small case to carry around. These ones are still pretty big when folded and the case is large! And because the cups are much bigger they aren’t comfortable to wear round your neck when not in use, it’s like a neck brace! However, my handbag and work bag are big anyway, so it isn’t an issue for me personally.
Price: There’s no comparison is there. Beats= ~200 for the ones I was planning to buy. Q30=<50.
Overall, I would definitely recommend these headphones. Really impressed so far.
Firstly though, I will say to anyone buying these; download the app!!! It will make using much easier, and will provide setting preferences you won’t otherwise be able to use. From what I’ve seen on other reviews it also helps to sort out any issues you might have.
To start, comfort: Anyone who’s had over ear Beats will tell you they press on your ears so much it’s painful to have them on for more than a few minutes. After a while you get used to that, and only really notice it when you take them off. These bad boys however, are the most comfortable over ears headphones I’ve ever had! My ears fit inside the cushioned areas so nothing is pressing on them. Bliss.
Pairing: Easy peasy! Press the on button until you get a flashing blue light, find the Q30 on your device and hit pair. If you want another device paired at the same time after you’ve got the first set up, press the on/off button twice and then pair on the other device. Simples.
That being said, I did this last night with my phone and kindle and when I started using my phone the sound from the kindle dropped off even though the app being used on my phone didn’t have any sound coming from it, which was annoying. Also wouldn’t allow sound from the kindle until the phone was off again. So while you can be paired with 2 devices at the same time, you can only have one in use at a time.
Sound quality: For my needs it is excellent. I use my headphones for calls, watching programmes or films, social media apps, audiobooks/podcasts and music when I’m cleaning. So, music isn’t the sole or most significant purpose and therefore I’m not one of those who will rave about bass, highs and mids. Not even sure how I would know what those things were. That being said, the soundcore app does let you set up your own preferences on the EQ thingie, so have at it if you need to!
Noise canceling: for the first time I can tell what NC is meant to do! It’s insane the difference it makes as well. I’ve seen other reviews saying it isn’t the best they’ve had compared to other sets, but those must have literally removed the world around them because this is pretty impressive. On the app you can also select your environment to tailor the NC to your needs. These also have transparency mode so if you do need to hear what’s happening around you you can do so by simply placing your palm on the outside of the right cup for a second. Same to turn it on again. It actually makes the environment louder though, I tried it when cooking and I heard the sizzling more clearly than if I didn’t have the headphones on!
Battery life: Pretty good, but this is the one area where the Beats win. With those, I need to charge them once a week. Usually turn them on when I get to work, use for calls during the work day and a podcast on my commute – 30 mins either way – and then at weekends use them more frequently for a few hours each day. I’ve only used these ones for my usual weekend activities so far, and they already need charging up. That being said, it’s not that much of an issue as I normally plug mine in to charge overnight anyway and a quick 5 minute charge gives another few hours of use if needed.
Portability: This is another area where the Beats are better because they fold down into a small case to carry around. These ones are still pretty big when folded and the case is large! And because the cups are much bigger they aren’t comfortable to wear round your neck when not in use, it’s like a neck brace! However, my handbag and work bag are big anyway, so it isn’t an issue for me personally.
Price: There’s no comparison is there. Beats= ~200 for the ones I was planning to buy. Q30=<50.
Overall, I would definitely recommend these headphones. Really impressed so far.
Firstly though, I will say to anyone buying these; download the app!!! It will make using much easier, and will provide setting preferences you won’t otherwise be able to use. From what I’ve seen on other reviews it also helps to sort out any issues you might have.
To start, comfort: Anyone who’s had over ear Beats will tell you they press on your ears so much it’s painful to have them on for more than a few minutes. After a while you get used to that, and only really notice it when you take them off. These bad boys however, are the most comfortable over ears headphones I’ve ever had! My ears fit inside the cushioned areas so nothing is pressing on them. Bliss.
Pairing: Easy peasy! Press the on button until you get a flashing blue light, find the Q30 on your device and hit pair. If you want another device paired at the same time after you’ve got the first set up, press the on/off button twice and then pair on the other device. Simples.
That being said, I did this last night with my phone and kindle and when I started using my phone the sound from the kindle dropped off even though the app being used on my phone didn’t have any sound coming from it, which was annoying. Also wouldn’t allow sound from the kindle until the phone was off again. So while you can be paired with 2 devices at the same time, you can only have one in use at a time.
Sound quality: For my needs it is excellent. I use my headphones for calls, watching programmes or films, social media apps, audiobooks/podcasts and music when I’m cleaning. So, music isn’t the sole or most significant purpose and therefore I’m not one of those who will rave about bass, highs and mids. Not even sure how I would know what those things were. That being said, the soundcore app does let you set up your own preferences on the EQ thingie, so have at it if you need to!
Noise canceling: for the first time I can tell what NC is meant to do! It’s insane the difference it makes as well. I’ve seen other reviews saying it isn’t the best they’ve had compared to other sets, but those must have literally removed the world around them because this is pretty impressive. On the app you can also select your environment to tailor the NC to your needs. These also have transparency mode so if you do need to hear what’s happening around you you can do so by simply placing your palm on the outside of the right cup for a second. Same to turn it on again. It actually makes the environment louder though, I tried it when cooking and I heard the sizzling more clearly than if I didn’t have the headphones on!
Battery life: Pretty good, but this is the one area where the Beats win. With those, I need to charge them once a week. Usually turn them on when I get to work, use for calls during the work day and a podcast on my commute – 30 mins either way – and then at weekends use them more frequently for a few hours each day. I’ve only used these ones for my usual weekend activities so far, and they already need charging up. That being said, it’s not that much of an issue as I normally plug mine in to charge overnight anyway and a quick 5 minute charge gives another few hours of use if needed.
Portability: This is another area where the Beats are better because they fold down into a small case to carry around. These ones are still pretty big when folded and the case is large! And because the cups are much bigger they aren’t comfortable to wear round your neck when not in use, it’s like a neck brace! However, my handbag and work bag are big anyway, so it isn’t an issue for me personally.
Price: There’s no comparison is there. Beats= ~200 for the ones I was planning to buy. Q30=<50.
Overall, I would definitely recommend these headphones. Really impressed so far.
I bought the pink headphones to wear during the daytime while working from home for zoom calls, webinars and listening to music etc They’re perfect for zoom and team calls, really easy to connect. Zoom will remember them once you switch them on before logging on to a zoom call so you only need to connect them once.
I’ve read a few reviews that mentioned the quality of the pink case is not as good as the black one. My OH has the black ones and material of both cases is definitely different, but to be honest, I prefer the material of the pink case. I don’t think Anker/Soundcore made a cheaper case I think this was a well thought out design, I wear make up and the pink case is easy to keep clean, I would probably struggle to keep the black one as clean.
The battery life is incredible. I’ve been using them since Christmas and have only charged them a couple of times. Connecting to my android phone and my mac pc was easy. The noise cancellation is amazing, I can’t hear my OH when he is on zoom calls etc I’ve worn them for hours on ends and they don’t hurt my head/ears at all, plus they keep my ears warm on colder days! 🙂
The Anker/Soundcore headphone are perfect for me, the sound is really good, no connection issues, the mic works perfectly and my OH loves his too. The app is really good too, lots of white noise and music options. I would definitely recommend these headphones, they are excellent value.
I really like these headphones, the transparency mode is amazing – I use it when playing games with my fiancee that we can talk and game at the same time.
The noise cancellation mode is insane. It feels like all the sound is sucked out of the world outside. Just literally like suddenly having two plungers stuck to your head AND they play music.
The battery life is really good, the only thing is you can’t charge and use them at the same time BUT they charge very quickly so a half hour charging got them from low to high. That’s my personal experience so far.
I needed these because the family cat chewed through the cable of my previous headphones.
So far, so good.
I have had a few pairs of ANC headphones/earbuds in the past, including AirPods Pro and personally think that the ANC on these are at least 95% as good as the ANC on the AirPods Pro. As headphones, the sound is really balanced, but you can then tune the sound to your taste using the app. The multi-point connection (connect to two bluetooth devices simultaneously, switch between the two easily) is great, and the fit is really comfortable. I’d read reviews and watched many reviews on YouTube, all raving about these things before I bought them, now I understand why. I was lucky enough to grab these at their ‘Black Friday’ discounted price of 55, but honestly think they sound easily like a 100+ pair – and would pay that for a package this good. The battery life is astounding too! 40/60hrs between charges? Yes please! And they actually DO last that… Pretty much perfect.
I bought these when my daughter took my Sony 1000XM4 ‘phones to university and I couldn’t get a good price to replace them. I have been very impressed with Soundcore buds in the past and decided to give these a go as a cheap temporary replacement. Now, these aren’t as good as the Sonys, but they cost five times more. The sound cancelling is worth having in these. On a train or where there is classic constant hum, they cut some of it out. I would say that in terms of music and podcast sound quality these are pretty comparable with the Sony XM4. There is something very accurate about the Sonys. These sound slightly bassier and maybe a little muddier, but it is marginal for most day to day listening. These are very impressive indeed for the money and I am in no rush to trade up. Battery life is excellent and comfort good, thought not as good as Sony. Don’t look as smart either, but altogether these are five stars for the money you pay. Amazing value.
The key selling point of these headphones is that they cost 70-80$, but pack features of 300-400$ headphones like BOSE, SONY, Bowers & Wilkins. I will try to compare them with Bowers & Wilkins PX model that I own since 2018 and very satisfied with.
Pros:
1) Lightweight on the head,
2) Comfortable fit – do not squeeze your head and do not fall from your head
3) Made of sturdy plastic
4) No adaptation period – they feature buttons placed in regular places like on all other headphones of that type
5) Single button to turn on/off headphones, the same for ANC, buttons to increase/decrease loudness, bluetooth button
6) Package includes very good hard shell case, USB type-C wire for charging and AUX cable – hardly met in any cheap headphones package
7) Works with “Soundcore” Android applications that controls all Anker products – another surprise for cheap segment
8) Through the application you can
– use EQ presets for different music genres,
– several custom EQ settings to get Hi-Res sound,
– 12-15 relaxing built-in tracks of wind, sea, water, fireplace etc which is a premium feature
– update firmware
9) Impressive battery life (Bowers & Wilkins PX promises only 20 hours)
– Almost 40 hours of music play on average loudness with ANC enabled
– Almost 60 hours of music playtime without ANC
10) I have attached several custom EQ settings that will make these 80$ headphones blow you away. I took them from few famous youtube audio vloggers. These custom EQ settings are a true game changer without any doubt.
11) Sound better than its successor – Soundcore Life Q35. You can research using youtube, I am just saving your time. Custom EQ did not help Q35 make any improvement over previuos model and actually they sound worse. Q35 cost 135$+, but surface worse sound quality and this particular model still dominates the market.
12) Crystal clear phone calls
13) You can use these headphones plugged into your PC or laptop via AUX cable and get the best out of them
14) This is a product from “smart” category where price and quality clash and and produce unique product
You may doubt about user experience and sound quality, but I would suggest you to try visiting any show room and set one of the the custom EQs for a test drive. You will immediately buy several of them for family and friends 😉
Cons:
1) Sound is not impressive when not using custom equalizer settings
2) Non-premium materials – Plastic materials and PU ear pads
3) Awkward folding procedure to fit headphones into case
4) ANC is not that great and affects quality of music that you are hearing; my recommendation would be to use it “Normal” mode without ANC
5) Music do not stop playing when you are removing them form head – no proximity sensors
I listed cons not because the product is not great, but to demonstrate how it competes against features met in expensive segment with metal materials, natural leather, ballistic nylon, proximity sensors, Hi-End sound tuning out of the box etc. And the difference is not that significant – Bose and SONY are plastic these days and sound worse that I expected for 300$+ price tag.
Summary: If I met this product in 2018, when I bought Bowers & Wilkins PX, I would buy Anker Soundcore Life Q30 without any doubt. No reason to pay 300$+ to get the same level of sound quality having other comparable features.
Update #1
The quality of the sound is amazing but there is no noise cancelling unfortunately the reason I am returning the product is because my ears started to hurt after wear them for long hours and I even got red spots in the out layer of my ear plus pain unfortunately…
If it wasn’t for the pain i would keep them..
Update #2
So after buying the second version which costs literally 80 almost I can say they are worth it.
My ears don’t hurt anymore, the noise cancelling is awesome and the sound as well.
I rate this 4 star because there is always room for improvement.
These are seriously good value for 60 quid!
Noise canceling seems pretty good and music sounds huge to me through them. I’m not an audiophile but I am a musician (if that doesn’t sound too pretentious) and I’d say they sound great for your general listening. I can’t really imagine anything sounding much better unless you had some seriously high end audiophile gear costing you in the thousands.
I think there is a little coloration of the sound in a musical way (they seem quite bassy , whilst still clear – things just sound absolutely huge and detailed through them )
This is compared to some other headphones I have that would use for mixing or recording where you have a flatter eq response. And even then , you can set your own eq through the app so if you’re really picky / know what you are doing you can likely make them sound however you like.
There is a really nice sturdy carry case thrown in with them as well which I was not expecting.
Also, I can wear them comfortably with my glasses.
Ears a little sweaty after prolonged use. Otherwise sound quality, the EQ && the extra long battery life make these for the price a super buy.
I have V Modas at 250 which I use for the studio, these are not far off in sound quality, the build is not as good a the V Modas but for the price very very acceptable.
On the whole I am very satisfied, amazing cans.
These headphones are good, particularly so at the price.
I like to listen to Planet Rock in the gym where background music is often played too loud [in my opinion] and is rarely what I would choose to listen to anyway.
I’ve tried several earbuds but have been disappointed with the sound quality and noise isolation. Crawling around the floor looking for a bud that just popped out is not much fun either.
These headphones give good audio quality and, using the Soundcore app to change the settings to give reduced bass and indoor noise cancellation, the bass becomes more tuneful and defined with much less ‘bass boom’ plus the gym background music is tamed.
They’re also comfortable and even keep my specs in place when on the tread mill.
Have yet to find anything to significantly dislike
Recommended.
Researched no end. These gave fully padded headband, not too sweaty, actually fit over ears fully, smallest setting fit my small female head. Comfortable, well made. Tbh it’s so difficult getting all these elements the sound almost becomes secondary. No point having fantastic sound quality if you can’t wear them is there! These are as near perfect as you can get. I chose these over mid point Jabra, Sennheiser and Beats. You can use with the app or without. They auto connect to same device when you put off and on again. Left hand has two buttons, one for hold to start and hold a bit longer to search for Bluetooth, the other to put noise cancelling on or off, so easy. The right hand has, volume up, down and pause/forward. You can answer phone calls as well but not tried to yet.
It’s all a bit of a gamble when you read the specs of what you get at what price point on a lot of these headphones. I’ve had other Anker products, the soundbuds slim and they were great. Imho the padded headband alone is worth it, Sony had a solid plastic headband that made me feel like my head was in a vice.
I’m no techie and listen to Rock music. All I know is I like a bit of normal bass and them not to sound tinny. I use the Rock EQ Profile on the app but you can customise. I also listen to YouTube spoken word videos. In both cases I get a feeling of being in the room and full deep surround sound.
If you’re not sure, go for it. These feel like good quality, and not stupid money. Most of all comfortable. Hope this helps.
This review is for the model Soundcore by Anker Life Q30
Build Quality is Perfect, Good materials and will last a long time.
Comfort level is 8/10 easy to wear for long periods of time comfortably.
weight is perfect when wearing.
Charge lasts a long time.
Now the most important bit….how do they sound.
If you want a brain wobbling full bass night club experience then these are for you, wow they really pump, i was amazed at how good these were soundwise. and can go sooo loud to.
Highly recommended 9/10. Excellent.
If you get these(and you are not an audiophile) I don’t think you will be disappointed
RUNDOWN:
I am a uni student. Was looking for noise cancelling headphones but didn’t want to pay an odd 100-200+ on headphones. I saw the reviews on thes headphones- on both Amazon and YouTube etc and decided to give them a try.
What is inside the box:
– headphones+ box
– 2 cables (one charging, one AUX)
– manual (guide)
Noise cancelling:
– 4/5: amazing noise cancelling that you get for the price of the item. The app allows you to change the noise cancelling level and depending on your environment also. However, I found that there were a lot of leaks and they were not as noise cancelling as you would expect. With music playing it is great but as someone who sometimes likes not listening to music I needed a pair that would do it without. They did, just not to my standard.
Pairing:
– 5/5: pairing is amazingly easy even without the Apple M1 pairing chip found in the Beats headphones and Apple products. You do not need the app to pair, the app simply controls noise council UG and equaliser (more on that later). As the headphones are able to connect to multiple devices (2) at one given time, I decided to try it connected to my iPhone and MacBook. It worked amazingly well, HOWEVER, I found that there was a delay in switching audio from one device to the other. For example, if I played something on my iPhone, the headphones will not play what is playing on my MacBook until the iPhone is closed (on lock screen). This isn’t really an issue, however may or may not be the same when you receive a call while watching something on another device.
Battery life:
– 5/5: haven’t got much to say about this as I have decided to return them due to aesthetic reasons.
Build quality:
– 3/5: this is probably the only bad thing I have to say about the these headphones- and ultimately the reason I am returning. They are very sturdy and the build is amazing (hence the 3). It has a metal top bar and the rest is plastic- yet this does not downgrade them at all. HOWEVER, they are very large and make it seem as if you have a halo around your head. I am very small, this may be the reason. They also have a branded logo which seems to mimic ‘beats’ a bit too much- wish they put this logo in black so it would not stand out. These are ideal for travel, studying and I’m guessing will last a very long time!
Sound quality:
– 5/5: best sound quality I have heard on a pair of headphones in forever. Despite the price, these pair of headphones are probably the best headphones for sound quality on a budget. Although the sound changes when you change the ANC settings, it isn’t much different. As an avid listener of ASMR I gave it a once over test and the headphones honestly captured every little sound and detail! Within the app you can change the equaliser which for me was a must as the headphones are very flat without changing it (although it is down to preference). The bass is amazing also. My only problem with the sound (and it’s not necessarily bad) is that you do NOT need to even go past half way on the volume. The headphones are super loud- the loudest I have possibly ever heard in headphones. This does mean also there is a LOT of sound leakage during the higher volumes- everyone will hear your song preferences on the Tube lol.
Mic quality:
– 4/5: I did not get to hear it for myself, however I called my sister and she said they sounded fine. My only concern was the practicality of the headphones on a loud tube or street- which I did not get to test.
Weight:
-4/5: these were rather heavy, but nothing you can complain about- it doesn’t weigh your head down!
Fit/ feel:
-4/5: as someone with a small head they were rather big. If I turned my head to the side noise leaked in- another reason I am returning. Also mentioned they look rather large around your head- but again might just be me. They feel super comfortable, you do not get a headache or pressure on your head whilst wearing at all. The cups on the headphones themselves remind me of a memory foam/ feather pillow. They do get a little hot around your hears over time- but that’s something you cannot avoid with headphones.
Overal: 5/5- AMAZING quality for price- if you are looking for backup headphones, or are a first time headphone user I would 100% recommend!
For context, I bought these after my old headphones broke (OneOdio A71’s, studio-grade /audio/ quality) I wanted something with some form of noise cancelling aswell to help with audio sensitivity. I was torn between these and the Q20/Q20+’s. For the little extra, I think these are great value.
pros:
The ANC is great (I tend to have it on Indoor or Transport modes) and it blocks out so much, just missing some frequienices on the lower-end.
Battery is amazing. I use these for the majority of the day, and for several days at a time and the battery really keeps up. A 5/10 minute charge here and there and it’s practically ready for the next half-week (with ANC on) and beyond.
USB-C is really handy and the case seems sturdy. They’re also pretty comfortable to wear, with glasses too.
cons:
The from-factory tuning really isn’t great, I highly recommend downloading the app, updating firmware (if there is firmware to update) and fiddling the preset EQs or tuning your own
The audio quality drops quite a bit going from bluetooth to aux. These are best suited for wireless use. Especially if you plan on using the microphone (I have yet to get it to work on my PC (Win11) over the included aux cable).
clamping pressure is a bit soft, so they’ll slide a bit if you move about a lot.
Last thing is the volume gradient. I Find it a big jump just clicking the volume up one, but that’s likely subjective.
Overall I love these headphones, and it looks like they’re going to last. I might upgrade to the Q35’s (or beyond if newer ones come out) much later down the line.
4.5/5
I’m, no audiophile but these have really impressed me with their sound quality. The ear cups and headband are extremely comfortable. These are my first experience with noise cancelling tech, and I really liked it.
They come with a case, and a cable for charging and pluggin in via 3.5mm jack.
Highly recommended for a good quality product that won’t break the bank. Reviews on YouTube suggest these punch well above their weight, and I’d have to agree.
My only complaint would be the buttons and a little too clicky and wobbly for my liking. For a part you will regularly touch, I’d have appreciated a bit nicer feel.
Bought these to replace Bose noise cancelling headphones (which are outstanding) which I had occasional use of. As other people have commented, quality of sound is highly personal and subjective; we know when we hear good quality, but it might not be to someone else’s taste.
For the price, I hadn’t expected these to come close to Bose. In fact, for me, they’re every bit as good – and at one-fifth of the price I paid for the Bose headphones (Christmas present purchase).
I’ve only tried the “rock” equaliser setting on the Soundcore App because that’s exactly how I like the sound to be – I didn’t need to try out any of the other pre-sets or customise my own.
Battery life has been phenomenal so far. Noise cancellation (and the ease of bringing-in “transparency mode”) are also excellent.
A high quality carry case and 3.5mm jack cable to connect to non-Bluetooth equipment was a bonus.
I’m hard to impress when it comes to audio quality, but these headphones have hugely impressed me. It does make me wonder how manufacturers can charge so much more for “brand names” when there’s equipment like this available. Definitely recommend.
ok so i should point out these are my first wireless headphones and i can’t use ear type headphones
these are paired to my iphone, ipad and OLED TV, they will no pair to my PC or laptop for some reason
my main reason fir buying these was i’m having to undergo an operation and then many visits to hospital for treatment and i intend to use the headphones for music and watching films i’ve downloaded to my ipad.
firstly they feel very comfortable on my head and ears, the noise cancelling is very efficient for my purposes although i’ve never had any others to compare this to. the sound quality is very good for music and loud enough for me
the volumes for films on my ipad is also adequate, however on my TV the sound seems quieter and muffled which is confusing.
the app gives lots of different sound options for music but only spoken word for films. the app has no volume, treble or bass controls other than in the custom equaliser which i’d like to have had
so given the price for me i am very happy overall, i think the app could be improved but anyone doubting or worried about the quality of the headphones or the sound illuminating, don’t be !!!
I bought these to use in the gym. I wanted noise cancellation without paying silly money.
The noise cancellation is good for the value of these headphones. I expect a 300 pair of headphones would probably do it a bit better but if that is what you want you need to pay the money.
I find being able to turn the NC off and on by cupping one side is very useful.
The sound quality is decent. I’m not an audiophile so I’m sure an expert might pick up something they don’t like but they are fine for me.
The clamping force is quite low so if you were laying down or jumping about they probably are not going to stay on your head. Walking for gentle running seems OK but for a smaller head there may also be a problem here.
The battery life seems pretty good. I use them for about 1.5 hours a day and charge them about once a week when the battery goes to medium. When you turn the headphones on it will say “battery high”, “battery medium” etc. which is useful.
Executive summary: I’m not any kind of music expert but these sound good – bass is nice, lyrics are clear. Very good when listening to relaxation/meditation tracks.
After one of the guys at work recommended the previous model, I used some birthday money to get these and very pleased with them. For once my timing was impeccable as a newer model had just been released, so there was a discount code that got applied at checkout, which was nice.
Noise cancelling is quite effective for noise repetitive mechanical noises e.g. engines and (bizarrely) dishwashers. The first time I used the headphones, I tried them without any music to see how well they cancelled noise. I walked into the kitchen and had a momentary ‘Oh no!’ moment when I thought the dishwasher had stopped working. I automatically removed the headphones (as you do, when you need to look at something closely …) and immediately heard the dishwasher whirring away as usual.
With music playing at a moderate level and noise cancelling on, I can’t hear family members sat opposite me shouting to get my attention. I swear this is not deliberate, especially when they are asking for more money, it is just a function of the noise cancelling. Honest.
In the garden, background noise (particularly distant traffic on the dual carriageway) is greatly muted even with no music playing.
There is a handy button on the left earpiece which cycles through ‘Noise Cancelling’, ‘Transparency’ (where background noise picked up in the microphones is passed through to the earpieces’) and ‘Normal’. Covering the right earpiece switches between ‘Normal’ and ‘Noise Cancelling’.
Bluetooth connection was easy and hassle free (Oneplus 8, laptop) and the SoundCore app works fine. The bluetooth range is much better than on my KitSound headphones and it work through obstacles that cause the KitSound to lose the signal.
I have never tried Bose, B&O or any other high-end headphones but these are a definite step-up from my KitSound Manhattan headphones (which I still like and still use when I am doing DIY jobs).
Battery life – ten minutes of charger literally gives you at least two hours battery life if not more!!! when it’s fully chartered you can go abt three or four days without charging them which is perfect for forgetful people
Noise cancellation- first time I ever used them was in lidl during rush hour. I didn’t have an music playing but I was so confused as to why the shop was so quiet and then I realised it’s cos I had the headphones on!!! They are amazing for noisy place and especially if you just want to tune away from the rest of the world.
The only annoying thing I can say abt them is that sometimes when u first switch them on or go onto an app that has sound sometimes the volume automatically goes onto loud and it kills you ears!! But other than that! These are absolutely fantastic. Little kids love them especially when u put coco melons on and noise cancelling mode, omdsss they literally just zone out and are in their own little universe which is perfect for parents!
I was poised to spend several hundreds of pounds on some noise cancellation wireless headphones when I checked out a few reviews and thought I’d give these a try. After three weeks of using them I’m so glad I did. Noise cancellation and sound quality seems every bit as good as my wired Bose QCs and the battery life is superhuman. I like the facility to stop the noise cancellation by simply tapping the right ear can and the control buttons are intuitively positioned. As with other reviewers I was slightly unnerved by the charging lights not working as described but the headphones do charge despite my cynicism. Another positive is that when I contacted the customer service team by email about this I received a helpful response within a few hours. Build quality and the carry case are as good as any. Do not be put off by the low price.
I bought these to help with SPD. I’m sensitive to noise and wanted to try ANC to see if it would help. These certainly do the trick even if they make me look like Warren from There’s Something About Mary. The battery lasts ages which is great. There is a bit of a hiss when ANC is switched on but I find it soothing. Sound quality is best with ANC turned off. I’m not sure if these really are Hi-Res though. The sound is good and I’ve definitely heard better with my old wired Senheiser headphones but for the price I’m not complaining. It’s an added benefit of being able to make calls and video calls with them on too but I really do look dreadful with them on (or, as my sister described me on a video call, ‘hilarious’, to the point of laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe).
As the title says, loving the new design. This isn’t just from an aesthetics stand point but the “old” Q20 head band constantly broke where the band met the headphones. The Q20 design was so flimsy and fragile that the headband to headphone hinge thing broke in mere weeks.
Sound quality is great. Comfort is great. Active noise cancelling is great. Great battery life, quick charging.
A word about active noise cancelling. I’ve seen several reviews on here about the white noise being over-powering, static-ey and whiny/ screechy etc. I have found that all active noise cancelling, regardless of brand can end up with over the top white noise if you are near a plug with even one thing plugged in. The worse case of this being a multi USB charger with several USB cables plugged in to it. Put on active noise cancelling then touch the end of a charger cable or even the phone/tablet being charged and you’ll see what I mean.
I have not mentioned Bluetooth functionality as I never use it on over ear headphones. I Just use the cable. I only use in ear Bluetooth headphones as Bluetooth is only used while exercising and I sweat a lot and don’t want over ear headphones to get all sweaty and horrible. Sorry for the TMI but it’s true. Plus Bluetooth can be glitchy on any device you connect headphones to. It’s fine if a song cuts out for a second with in ear headphones but it’d be annoying while watching a film etc.
Over all. A great pair of noise cancelling headphones for the price. I’m a smoker so have the air con on a lot, it really dampens the air con fans even when the fans are on max.
Five stars, unless a headphone detaches from the headband. Fingers crossed.
They sound great. The bass and treble are excellent, noise cancelling is superb and the transparency mode is a thing to behold. Sound wise they are comparable to my old Bose soundlinks. These are comfortable to wear for extended periods of time with no discomfort. The 5 minutes charge to get 5 hrs playtime is wonderful, and the battery lasted around 39hrs of their stated 40, which isn’t too shabby at all.
Bad points? They don’t look particularly great, you won’t look particularly great wearing them, they feel a bit cheaply made and the case they come with isn’t great. The buttons feel a bit tacky and the hand gesture over the right headphone to change mode is very hit and miss, mostly miss. But there is a button on the lead side to manually do that particular job.
Overall, these are priced superbly for what you get from them. The sound is brilliant and the battery is great. So I can forgive the clunky looks and plastic feel of them at this price. They focused on what mattered, rather than showing themselves off to others. A very strong choice of headphones at this price poi
While these don’t produce the eerie silence you get with high-end noise cancelling headphones, they do manage to create a comfortable bubble of sound and make it possible to listen to music and podcasts easily even in a noisy environment. What sold me on them was trying my daughter’s Q20s when I was using the mower. Whereas I normally struggle to hear at anything less than full volume over the noise of the engine, I could suddenly listen to a quiet spoken word podcast at a much lower (and safer) volume.
In summary, you shouldn’t expect these to be a match for 250+ headphones, but they’re very good for the money.
There’s an app you can download to switch modes and apply EQ settings. There was also a quick firmware update when I first switched them on. Personally, I stick with the default EQ, which sounds fine to my ears.
Spent ages looking through different headphones, as my ears are prone to hurting with overhead styles. The cups on this are super soft, and sit around my ears with low resistance clamping. I can wear these for hours and not feel any discomfort. Noise cancellation is surprisingly good, and I like the transparency feature allowing me to hear / talk to others around me without taking them off. Battery life is superb.. not sure how Anker manage that given that premium brands like Sony / Bose etc.. offer no more than 30hrs. Even the Apple Pro Max is 20hrs. The app is simple to use, has a host of preset sound EQ to suit all tastes and even allows the profile to be customised. The audio itself to me is immersive with good bass, mids and treble, not surprising as the specs indicate a very decent frequency range. Having said that I’m not an audiophile. The only reason for dropping a star is that I get intermittent cut outs on random occasions which I didn’t experience with my other headsets. It’s nothing major and happens infrequently for split seconds at a time.
These over-ear headphones provide excellent sound. Comprehensive controls are via an app. The instructions enclosed are sparse. The full instructions (which it took me a Google search to find, but maybe are more easily accessible) are certainly in a tremendous number of languages but could be a bit more helpful about the more complicated choices that can be made. The sound cancellation is amazing, as is the sound quality. There are a range of features which will become more useful the longer I have to get used to these excellent phones. It seemed mean to knock a star off this product because of the instructions.
I’m glad I bought these. I did a considerable amount of research on different headphones from very expensive ones to budget generic sounding brands that I’d never heard of (with suspiciously high reviews). These have a great app, with a load of equaliser options as well as different noise cancelling options for inside/outside and transport and they work well. I had them on outside whilst walking one day and only noticed the man cutting the local village green areas in his sit on lawn mower when I saw him as the sound was completely cancelled out.
I particularly like the transparency feature which I find useful for calls or when using whilst keeping an ear out for things (it allows you to hear outside noises slightly louder than if you just have the headphones in over your ears). So I can continue a conversation without having to take them off.
There are plenty of relaxing white noises within the app which could be useful for relaxing, meditating or drifting off to sleep.
The battery holds its charge well and charging is quick. Noise cancelling uses more better, but that’s to be expected.
I’ve only had a few issues and they relate to a slight crackling occasionally in the right ear, however, following an off/on and reconnect this disappears.
All in all a great set of headphones for a decent price to keep boosting Ankers name in the market as bit just a cable/power brick maker (although their cables and bricks are great too).
TLDR; Unlikely to beat them under 100, NC/App not as good as expensive Sony’s, but sound quality is somehow better IMHO. Battery life is amazing. Bluetooth is great but wired support is poor. Microphone just OK for meetings.
Battery life: is amazing! Mine are turned on 8+ hours per day with NC turned on and around 4 days. They also charged in less than an hour using my 20/30w USB C charger, otherwise 2-3 hours from low to full on a normal USB port?
Sound quality: is probably the best I’ve owned, not saying much 🙂 However, my daughter has the top rated Sony MX1000XM4s and I was able to compare back to back, play with both apps and features side by side etc. Its subjective but the with out of box, default settings on both, the Q30 wins for podcasts, and the hard rock and electronic genres I tried. Just much punchier and more alive, I think an audiophile would say the XM4s are more neutral though, and you can change the EQ etc…Both of them thrash my old Mixcder E9s which sound really dull in comparison – real noticeable improvement.
Noise cancelling: I had my Mixcder E9, Sony XM4s and these side by side next to my ridiculously loud portable aircon in my small office. I mean NOTHING short of ear plugs is going to cancel that out, no question the Sony has the best NC and turned the roar into a whisper. Q30s cancel out most the roar but still leave some of the rushing noise of the fan. I also wandered round the house and stood outside etc, in every situation Sony wins. BUT… The Q30s are still very good, and not that far off the mark and trounce the cheaper E9s in this dept. You get three modes, I leave it in “Transport” which is good for cancelling out fan noise and rumbling etc. I think the modes basically focus on low, mid and hi frequencies.
Comfort: My cheap Mixcder E9s are still the most comfortable headphones I own. These are a quite good, I wear a LARGE motorcycle helmet so I guess I have a large head, and for the record massive ears ( Think Prince Charles ) and the Q30s are comfortable for up to 2 hours at a time. Fit is loose and easily accommodates my glasses, but had to mess around to get the head band in the a comfy, stable place. Sony’s seemed slightly better for me but can’t compare as only borrowed for a couple of hours.
App/Features: Sony is way more advanced with “Adaptive Sound Control”, its really clever. Plus both Google/Alexa built in. There’s no comparison and might be where a chunk of your extra 150+ goes – IF you use it. Soundcore App works well, connects easily and no crashes on my Mi10Lite and has a nice simple UI to let you change the Noise cancelling and EQ. FYI… The EQ/NC DSP circuit is IN the headphones. So it works across all devices whether you connect the app or not, and it remembers the settings fine. You can play/pause/volume/toggle NC using the headphone buttons.
Microphone: Used for Microsoft Teams meetings daily and its a lot better than my cheap headset, but obviously without a proper mic arm its not as good as my purpose made meeting/gaming headset. It picks up background noise more, so if you’re in a quiet room its fine, but people have struggled to hear me in noisy environments. N.B. On Windows it creates separate “voice/chat” and “music/general” devices. That means you can’t hear your PCs sound while on chat. Only an issue for gaming maybe?
Other: Transparency mode is activated by touching the right ear cup, but its a gimmick IMHO, as it sounds weird and you can’t hear your OWN voice very well.
Wireless/Wired: Bluetooth reliability is excellent (never dropped out in a month) and range is good (next room but not furthest room through 3 walls). Its been great with Android and Win10, and that’s how I use them 90% of the time. But wired… Plugging in a 3.5mm cable just turns them off! No NC, EQ, even volume controls, all turned OFF! I read this is a recent firmware revision and they USED to work wired but it was unreliable, which is why they disabled it. Sadly wired quality is now bad and is almost pointless. DO NOT BUY TO USE ON WIRED CABLE – That’s why I dropped a star, my old ones work great on wired with full NC.
I already bought one cheap no-brand NC headphones and was worried I was literally buying cheap, buying twice… maybe three times! I’ve had Anker stuff before and they are known for being the premium end of cheap but these Soundcore’s have boosted my opinion of Anker. My daughter bought the Sony’s at the same time and I was ready to send these back and do the same but the price difference was not worth it for me.
Hope that helps.
* I haven’t posted a review here for a long time as I received a warning from Amazon for commenting on problems with review authenticity.
These may be budget headphones, but the quality and ease of usage is superb. It is very hot at the moment, however I have worn them for several hours without discomfort. Setting up is a doddle, as an 80yr old relic I’m pleased to report it was ‘Childs Play’ to initiate these headphones, they are linked to my T.V, Smartphone, Apple Watch and to my sound-bar. Why spend more on other products when these are so very good. I did order a pair of rival headphones which were 3 times more expensive, and cancelled due to unreliable delivery. What a lucky break that was.
I really wasn’t sure what to think of these, I didn’t know the brand, but I really didn’t want to spend the kind of money on Bose or Sony, after reading plenty of comments and reviews, plus they were on offer, I thought I didn’t have much to lose giving them a try. Microphones – I didn’t buy these for the mic’s, I have only tried them once and the comment I got was the quality was good, but it did seem to pick up noises from everywhere. I’m really using these for playback of music.
The Bluetooth range is absolutely superb, I can walk anywhere in the house and everything is great. I have paired them with my laptop, desktop PC with a cheap USB BT dongle from Amazon plus my phone and works nicely on all.
Music sounds lively, punchy, plenty of volume, really excellent for the money I think. I haven’t heard the more expensive brands so can’t compare them to those but for this price point I really can’t argue at all. Noise cancelling, well I didn’t expect huge things but I use them a lot near by laptop while gaming and my laptop fan goes a bit into overdrive, with the noise cancelling on, I can barely hear any noise from it. For me, it’s certainly good enough.
Comfort is pretty good though not as good as some. It’s fine for wearing for a couple of hours or so, but much longer than that, I do feel relieved to take them off. Especially when it’s quite warm weather and with the soft plastic cushioning, even though they’re not too heavy etc, it feels nice to get a bit of a break.
Battery life is much better than I expected, manufacturers often inflate what their products can do, I have never felt in danger of even being close to running out of battery and it doesn’t take all that long to charge, just a simple USB-C connector and I’ll leave it hooked up to the desktop PC for a while to top it up now and then.
If I felt I could wear them for longer then it would be 5 stars, but unless you’re looking for something to wear all day I think, for the price, you really can’t go far wrong, they sound great and just work really well.
Quick summary. Great headphones. Light and comfortable. Noise cancelling is strong. Some frequencies are not cancelled as well as others. Plenty of features and long battery life. Good value for money.
Bit more details. Unpacking is a treat. Strong box with a hardshell case inside. The headphones feel nice as you get them out. NFC pairing is a nice touch that works well.
Get the app and you get to mess with the sound profile. You also get yet another music player with the associated links to music services.
Using the headphones is easy and intuitive. Three cancelling options. On, off, and passthrough. The last can also be activated by touching the right ear piece. This allows you to hear ambient sounds using the external mic to pipe noise into your ear. At first this might seem a bit pointless but it is really useful.
Sound quality is good, not up to monitor standard but very good. EQ settings should be used with care, you really can ruin sound quality very easily!
Charged up on day one, still going strong a week later after 2 hours a day use. So no worries there.
Wow – ever felt like you just got a Ferrari for Fiesta money? Well you will when you purchase these! I have read the many fantastic reviews and wholeheartedly agree – what a bargain price point for such a fab product. They sound like heaven, so versatile using the app on my iPhone is effortless, feature function rich and superb, go with the many preset options for EQ or create your own sound. Currently listening to Einaudi with Piano EQ preset selected and indoor ANC = no keyboard clicks – what can I say other than it works in perfect harmony – enjoy. Thank you so much Soundcore by Anker
Update – 90 minutes in the gym with ANC indoor setting – brilliant!
Oh. My. Gosh!
I didn’t even realise how much I needed these until I put them on!
I really didn’t expect them to be this good.
The noise cancellation is incredible. I am super sensitive to surrounding noises and multiple noises at one time, so just putting these on with no music is perfect for me. And to switch to transparency really is as simple as putting your finger up to the right earphone for 1 second.
And then I put some music on! Holy cow. The sound quality is amazing. So clear and crisp.
I’m yet to test out the battery life to its fullest. But when I received the headphones, they came with medium battery which is nice because you get to enjoy straight away.
The earphones are super comfy. Nice and soft around the ears and also over the head.
The case it comes with is a lovely bonus.
I would strongly recommend these to anyone looking to buy some headphones.
I have a sound core speaker too and the Anker brand is amazing. Very underrated at the moment!
I’ve used Anker over the years for various different products. From the very first day Anker had been excellent with customer service and product quality and this is no different.
The headphones feel well built, solid, they’re comfortable and the noise cancellation works really well. There are a fair few buttons on each ear which take some getting used to but that’s just me.
I’d also suggest if anyone uses them for Windows, to check your Bluetooth settings for better sound. Mine worked great on my phone but poorly on my PC, took a good hour to figure out why they wouldn’t just work with good quality – but now they do. Battery life has so far been excellent and comes in a handy travel case too!
For the price excellent – Purchased as a gift from my ever loving wife so thank you dear 🙂
Comfortable fit and the noise cancelling allows you to drift off into the world of whatever music/audiobook/podcast or film it is that you are listening too/watching. Renders you oblivious to the rest of the world so cant say fairer than that.
My only point of “concern” but this would happen with any well padded headphones is that they may become a bot warm and uncomfortable in warm weather. Not too much of a problem in the UK, but well, we still have our moments of nice weather. Just thought that I’d mention that, but it is a small main compared to the quality of reproduction they offer.
I got these headphones as I needed a new pair and did not want to spend a lot on a “audiophile” pair.
I value good sound but not to the level of spending lots of money. I was initially looking for wired headphones as I do not really use bluetooth audio as mainly use for my computer attached to a mixing desk.
As these had a 3.5mm jack for wired use too I saw the price i was sceptical that the sound would be up to much, but I was impressed with the quality over the 3.5mm jack, the highs are good and the bass is well balanced but not overpowering and boomy.
The noise cancelling was a good bargain as I was not looking at noise cancelling at the price range I was looking in, but you have 3 modes to choose from (selectable with app) and can easy disable noise cancelling if someone talks to you by putting hand on the ear cup. The noise cancelling is remarkably effective against noise such as fans and general background noise. Remarkable ability for the price but obviously not as good as spending hundreds, but not too far off.
When I tried on Bluetooth the audio was good and clear and the battery life is awesome, I do not tend to use as much on Bluetooth as use earbuds for that mostly when listening to music away from my computer. The headphones do not have Apt-X low latency so only really suitable for music via Bluetooth rather than watching videos as a small amount of lip sync issue is present, its not bad as other Bluetooth devices I have used, but can be noticeable. If you are going to use them as all round computer headphones, use the supplied 3.5mm cable and you can still use the noise cancelling, if just for music definitely recommend Bluetooth too.
Great that is also uses USB-C for charging as lots of cheap headphones still use Micro USB which always seems to wear out on other devices I have used, USB-C seems far more robust and great to see.
The buttons control power, noise cancelling off/on/transparency mode, play, pause and track skip. The App adds more features such as EQ (both presets and custom EQ settings) noise cancelling mode, such as indoors, outdoors or transport (train/ plane etc.) the
The only gripe I possibly have as sometimes i have brushed the ear cup and turned off the noise cancelling and put them in to transparency mode which passes audio from the built in mics through to the headphones. I then have to cycle back to noice cancel mode using the button. The buttons are are also close together but I have got used to them quite easily.
Very comfortable to wear and definitely recommend over more expensive headphones I have tried out.
I was looking at the Q35 but felt that for the extra price of that model that the LDAC capability would be lost as I don’t know if it would be capable of making the most of the hi res sound from tidal and flac files, and having used the Q30’s for the last couple of weeks my doubts remain. The Q30’s can be made to sound quite nice if you use the app, I would like more clarity/separation and a tighter bass but still can be adjusted to a decent listening experience with the eq. I will wait for improved speaker design before I buy a LDAC or similar codec pair of headphones.
I found N/C ok for my needs, speaker phone ok, transparency mode not so good, buttons a bit fiddly, too long to turn on and off, Bluetooth switching temperamental. Battery great. Comfort quite good. Build seems good. Overall a nice unit for the price.
A lot has been written about these headphones – I know because I read reviews and watched ‘You Tube’ evaluations before buying them! Put simply, these work very well, and have a number of customisable features when using the ‘Soundcore’ app.
One of the touted features of these headphones is ‘noise cancellation’. This not only works well, but is easy to control by simply placing the palm of your hand against the right hand headphone. A voice tells you what programme has been chosen “Transparency” or “Noise Cancelling”. Other options are available via the app.
A nice feature is the voice that tells you the status of the battery life when the headphones are turned on. The battery life is supposed to be around an incredible forty hours. I have no reason to doubt this as I have had these for a couple of weeks now, and have not yet needed to recharge them!
i have not used these to take calls, so I cannot comment on this feature.
I bought these on offer from Amazon. Frankly these are some of the best headphones I have owned. They are well worth the full price, and a real bargain when on offer.
These are my own thoughts on a product I have purchased.
I did a lot of research into headphones before buying these and decided that before you start spending silly money on headphones these are about the best you are going to get. The noise cancellation is probably not as good as the 250 jobs but it’s a small price to pay. It certainly blocks out the air con fan noise I have at work though. Don’t block out Karen who works in sales but I bet there isn’t a pair in the world that would block her out. The sound quality etc is fab though. They are comfortable even with glasses on which is a huge plus for me. Can’t speak for battery life as I don’t go long periods without charging it anyway but I bet it’s good too. Definitely recommend them.
As a big fan of ANC, seeing a pair of BT ANC cans from a well known company under 100 made me a little suspicious. Thankfully, I was surprised. Obviously these won’t blow you away in any sense, but the value here is unquestionable. To be clear, they don’t beat out my Sony WF-1000XM3’s, and in some ways, even the Bose QC25’s do better, but the price is the key point here
– The sound quality is okay, about what I’d expect from this product. You can get better sound quality but you’d sacrifice on other features
– The ANC works well enough, although noise is only really cancelled if you’re playing music on top. The fact it exists at this price point is already great however
– Bluetooth works well enough, range seems fine and dropouts are rare
– Build quality is okay, little bit creaky but no issue when on your head. Especially given they’re light
– Battery life is pretty decent too, don’t have precise numbers but lasts a good few days of medium usage
At 80, I doubt you can do better. Currently, they’re on offer for 60 which is incredible, makes me tempted to pick up a second pair!
I just tested it the day I collected it and can say I was astonished. Although it indeed look somehow “plastic” it doesn’t look cheap unlike others mentioned in their comment. Nothing is squeaky, all look solid. Ear pads are soft on don’t make much pressure yet isolate surrounding noises well even with ANC off. I tested ANC at home and it worked without much change of the sound. Will test it shortly on the street.
Sound is fantastic, maybe too much bass, but there is plenty of presets in the Soundcore app that allows to correct it. It’s best value for money so far.
Best headphones I have had and they don’t break the bank. I recently upgraded from a pair of old wired beats headphones which cost more at the time and these. The q30’s are by far better in every way. They are also extremely comfortable to ware and are not super tite around the head but offer a good seel to block out any sounds and along with the noise cancelling feature get the job done well. Sound quality is also amazing, especially with the amount of customisations available within the sound core app. I have not owned a pair of headphones above 100 and I don’t see why I need to with these which tick every box. There are other alternatives out there from Bose and Sony at nearly 4 times the price but but from my point of view these are a bargain for the price and may give the others a run for there money.
The headphones are amazing. Done some testing and my voice sounds really clear on calls, even outdoors. The sound is good and I find it very comfortable to wear for many consecutive hours.
The noise cancellation feature is great, easy to configure on the phone, but I use only the default settings as they work fine for me, 2 sec touch action is fixed for transparency/ANC mode could be configurable as there is an app for those, it is very convenient the way it is but I see some people might want to change the 2s action.
Bluetooth connection time is also great (my JBL reflect flow takes ages to connect).
So, no complaints at all.
I purchased these headphone for around 60. Sound quality is good, and pairing is a breeze. It also comes in a large sturdy case. Battery life is IMPRESSIVE. These easily could last all day (probably more).
Noise cancellation is definitely there but not strong enough to block out the underground tube completely. It’s adequate for home use.
The real negative is the mic during phone calls.. the other party has no idea what I’m saying despite almost shouting on the road! I don’t get many calls so I’m not too fussed about this, but it’s a bit annoying.
Overall it’s a nice set of headphones and it certainly is worth the money (just keep your expectations realistic)!!
Bought these headphones on a bit of a whim as I’ve been fedup with the battery life of in-ear buds. I tend to use headphones for extended periods of time (car detailer) so I needed a pair that are comfortable, long battery life and have decent build quality.
I mean it when I say these headphones have totally exceeded my expectations. The sound is absolutely superb, very crisp vibrant treble, clean clear midrange and very deep taught bass. If I was being ultra critical, I would say the midrange is a tad set back, but this can be tuned with the Soundcore app. Also tunable is the noise cancelling, with outdoors mode being perfect for my use!
They are amazingly comfortable, as a glasses wearer I have no issues with them squashing my glasses arms into my head, or sound leaking out ruining the sound! They feel really well made and have already survived some knocks and scrapes.
They’re so good I use them around the house to as my main pair of headphones!
Top marks for an Anker product as always!
I had pre-orderd these direct with SoundCore as part of the promotion to ensure I would be one of the first to receive when launched. The launch came & went & despite paying immediately when required, I did not receive teh Headphones for weeks after – even regular customers on Amazon who had not been on the pre-order list were receiving theirs but not me.
It took many calls to SoundCore & I was given multiple excuses & untruths as to the reasons why most of which contradicted what they said in previous calls & SoundCore would not even offer any meaningful goodwill for the atrocious service & huge delay – except for a 15% off voucher if I buy ANOTHER SoundCore product at FULL PRICE. It really put me off dealing with them again. I get delays happen sometimes but being fobbed off week after week with untruths & lame excuses & then rubbing salt into the wounds by trying to profit from the customer in future in the guise of a voucher just did not sit right with me.
As for the headphones, they feel a bit plasticky & are bland & boring in design – fit could be better as they tend to slide around when worn but the SQ is very good for the price & the battery life is excellent which was one of my main considerations.
My advice is to but from Amazon & NOT SoundCore as their Customer Service left me never wanting to deal with them again if at all possible.
Reviews give positive comments.
Where to start
Noise cancellation – easy to activate overall sound quality is very good. Bass is good.
Fit – not to loose but not tight either ideal to sit and listen to but if your active say Gardening these will fall off. The memory foam pads are very soft for me too much so. And I’ve a 55cm Head.
You have to register with the website and update firmware for the headphones which takes several minutes. The included Case is good quality.
Overall I would give them 4/5 there is room to improve them perhaps more solid ear pads. As a lounge and listen use these are great I think.
Very comfortable headphone, excellent sound quality, very clear voice when making calls even while out walking. The noise cancellation is very good, in a small room with two other people having a conversation only 2 metres from me, I can barely hear them, but it’s just muffled, I can’t make out any words. The fit is very snug, even when turned off they cut out a lot of background noise. The can get a little sweaty after an hour walking in the sun, but that’s understandable. Battery life is very good, they recharge incredibly fast. My only gripe is that I get no warning about low battery, it just dies. Overall, very happy with them and have already bought another set for a colleague.
Bose 700
1. Excellent sound quality? – 5 Sound quality is a bit lifeless, a bit flat and not exciting enough.
2. Volume with headroom? – 3 these are absolutely useless if you want headroom too quiet.
3. Enough bass? – 3 struggle to get any bass out of these last place.
4. Active noise cancelling? 8 very good and in second place, quality active noise canceling
5. Good controls? 10 best of the bunch touch controls are easy to use and find, very responsive
6. build? 10 best of the bunch, rock solid quality feel. very confortable, best case of the bunch
7. Bluetooth? 4 Multipoint yes but disconnects randomly, call quality very good
8. App? 3 not good at all at this price
9. Price? 3 worst of the bunch at this price i would expect a lot more for the money.
wh-1000xm4
1. Excellent sound quality? 9 good lively sound rounded and just right.
2. Volume with headroom? 7 decent volume could be a bit more headroom tho.
3. Enough bass? 8 yep base is right there if you need more the app is excellent
4. Active noise cancelling? 9 the daddy is still on top, these will take some beating excellent
5. Good controls? 9 excellent responsive touch controls up there with the bose
6. Build? 7 not up to bose levels but good none the less very confortable. good case.
7. Bluetooth? 9 multipoint yes and a solid connection with fast switching, call quality good
8. App? 10 best of the bunch, superb app with lots of adjustments
9. Price? 7 expensive for what you get but an excellent all round headphone
Soundcore by Anker Life Q30
1. Excellent sound quality? 8 Good lively punchy sound best for music if you like to rock.
2. Volume with headroom? 10 Just WOW! sony and bose need to up their game, these are LOUD! great for movies and music, plenty of headroom so it gives you the choice to have whatever volume you like.
3. Enough bass? 10 Again WOW bass out of these is epic or you can adjust it up or down, gives you the choice to choose love that, well done Anker.
4. Active noise cancelling? 7 very good for the money but 3rd place
5. Good controls? 5 good controls but not touch, except for passthrough
6. Build? 6 decent solid build with a good case
7. Bluetooth? 7 multipoint yes, good soilid connection, muffled call quality tho.
8. App? 8 great app with plenty of adjustments
9. Price? 10 for what your getting these are a steal
Summary The Wh-1000xm4 are awesome i use them for movies and quiet easy listening music, active noise cancelling is perfect when im on the plane, and the call quality great, but when i want to rock out and have some fun? well my go to headphones are the Anker soundcore life q30s is where the 80s rock is at, the Bose i use to pack up and send back, sounds brutal but at this price not good enough Bose! only gripe is that i carry 2 sets of headphones because i need decent call quality of the sonys and the rocking volume of the Q30s.
I bought these because I have bad hearing and was disappointed that the app didn’t do the hearing test for these headphones as it does for the ear pods.
Having said that the sound quality is great, the headset is comfortable and the phone call clarity is really good.
The noise cancellation is good but not complete I can still hear some of the high frequency noises around me but lower frequency noises, like the dishwasher, washing machine or central heating, become invisible.
I’m very happy with these but would like to see some improvements to the Soundcore app.
I had bought many different headphones in the past at varying prices, anything from 20 to 200+ and these are currently my favourite headphones, not so much for the noise cancellation but the sound.
I listen to a varied range of music from ambient to hard dance and wanted headphones that could handle the bass on the dance music as most left me wanting more bass.
I tried several pairs of beats studio and the sound range was good on the top end but was missing the bass and were never loud enough.
The Soundcore do deliver good bass without distortion and are really comfortable.
The noise cancellation is good but certainly doesn’t eliminate all noise but the transparency mode is really handy when at home.
All in all for the price, these are worth the price.
Sound quality, spot on. I have used Anker products before and was impressed and I am not disappointed with this. The noise cancelling does work but not to the degree I would have hoped. I had hoped to drown out unwanted noise from neighbours while being able to enjoy listening to what I fancied. It is 50% effective I would say. Battery life is superb. Really good at the price and blue tooth range Good too. I can listen to the news or music with my phone charging in the house while I am working in the garden or be upstairs while my phone is charging downstairs. Really well priced for what you get.
I listen to a lot of music and wanted a pair of cordless noise cancelling headphones as I find they can help me concentrate when in a busy environment whilst working, or just to relax without too much outside noise.
The sound quality of these is surprisingly good, especially given the financial outlay. Whilst it’s not going to compete with the Bose/Sennheiser/AKG/Sony offerings in this category, it is substantially cheaper than all of them and is still pleasant to listen to. The bass is fairly deep and crisp and there’s a decent app for your smartphone that can let you adjust the equalisation of the sound to get something that meets your specific taste.
I like the ability to touch the side of the headphones to enable a pass-through mode where you can have a conversation with someone and then re-enable the noise cancellation. The actual cancellation itself is reasonable and I have yet to test it on an aeroplane, but I think it does a pretty good job. Again, there are better performers in this area, made by the aforementioned suppliers, but I think for the cost, Anker have done another great job of a quality product with a good value price tag.
Finally, and for me, one of the most important features, these headphones are comfortable! I have worn them for extended periods of time and they aren’t too heavy or fatiguing to wear which for me is a big tick in the box. Even if a pair of headphones sounds amazing, it’s no good if you can’t stand wearing them.
Overall I’m really happy with them and at their price point there’s nothing much to grumble about!
I bought these headphones mostly for music, but also for using when gaming on my PS5. The sound quality for music is nothing short of stellar. You would be hard pressed to find anything similar for less than 200 really. It has great quality bass with very good mids and lows, producing an authentic, yet very “happy” sound. The app gives you access to an incredible equalizer and a host of other features. I am not going to comment on active noise cancellation, as I don’t care about it. All I will say is that it’s good.
For gaming, I connected them to the PS5 using a bluetooth dongle. The connection worked without any problems. The issue however is the fact that these headphones don’t support aptX low latency codecs, so using them wirelessly for gaming is a really bad idea because of the noticeble sound lag. I connected them to the PS5 controller with a 40 inch long 3.5 mm jack cable and as expected it works with no lag whatsoever. I am really not bothered by the cable itself, as I have purchased one that is as short as possible.
Comfort wise they are awesome. After 3 hours of wearing them straight I even forgot they were on. I would never have thought that I could buy this quality with 79.99. Truely recommend these.
SOUND QUALITY – THE PROS
– Sounds good to a layman –
As previously stated, I’ve no skin in this game. But sounds good to me! It also comes with an app (which DOESN’T require you to sign up, you can skip that step, hurrah!) that allows you to fiddle with the equalizer. Again, means absolutely nothing to me and I’ve no idea what I’m doing with it (there are fortunately various pre-made settings to choose from for that exact purpose), but nice to have.
SOUND QUALITY – THE CONS
– My AUX cord arrived broken –
The subheading sums it up. The fresh-out-of-the-box AUX cord was broken by the first time I plugged it in. The music was extremely quiet and echoey when using it, so I tried the headphones with a different AUX cord from around the house and the sound quality was fine. (To be certain it was the SoundCore cord, I tried it with a different brand of headphones that I knew worked well and they sounded bad too). Fortunately, I have spare AUX cords, so I don’t know if I’ll bother taking this up with Anker, but I thought I’d mention it.
ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION – THE PROS
– Good noise cancellation –
Works really well! My neighbour helped me test this out by being particularly noisy the other afternoon. I didn’t ask him to, he just likes to help me test my ANC headphones on the regular by blasting loud music and letting his children pummel the stairs into dust. And wonderfully, when wearing the headphones with noise cancellation on (no music playing) I couldn’t hear a thing!
– Different settings available –
I was using the ‘indoors’ setting at the time of my test, but the headphones come with two more settings: ‘outdoors’ for those walks in the park we’re all having right now, and ‘transport’. You can change them via the app. I haven’t tried the outdoors or transport settings, as I use my headphones primarily in the house (and due to current circumstances, I’m not really leaving it at the minute).
You also have a ‘transparency’ mode that uses the in-built microphone to amplify instead of dampen sound, so you can hear whatever is going on around you without having to take the headphones off. Not too useful, since you can just take them off, but nice to have!
– Battery life good –
The headphones came with ‘medium’ battery life, and I used them for four days, hours at a time with ANC, before the battery level displayed as low on my phone. Gave them a charge, took under an hour to get to full.
ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION – THE CONS
– Not total silence –
The indoor setting won’t drown out loud sounds coming from a nearby source completely, such as people talking or the washing machine on a spin cycle. It will dampen the sounds significantly, e.g. speech will be muffled, but they will still be audible. Don’t buy this expecting total silence!
– ANC is fiddly to use –
My previous ANC headphones had separate switches for the ANC and the bluetooth connection, which meant I could use them for ANC without turning them on. This is really handy for someone with an audio sensitivity, as it meant I could just put the headphones on my head, flick on ANC, and whatever sound was upsetting me would be drowned out.
These headphones DON’T have that. To use ANC, you MUST turn them on. Even if you’re using them wired, you HAVE to turn them on, while wired, to use ANC. If you unplug from that wire (maybe you’re at your computer and want to get up without taking your headphones off) they will turn themselves off. I assume that’s to save power, so you don’t forget to turn them off yourself, but it means if I get up, I have to turn them back on if I want to keep using ANC while I’m pottering about (due to my audio sensitivity). And when you plug back in, they make the power down sound, but seconds later, will remember they’re still on the clock and tell you the battery level as if they’ve just switched on.
Not only that, but–though I appreciate having the ‘normal’, ‘transparency’, and ‘ANC’ modes–it doesn’t tell you which you have on when you power up the device. It tells you the battery level religiously, but not whether you’re on ANC or normal or transparency. To find out, I just cycle through the modes until I get the one I want, since they’re all on the same button. I just wish the ANC had its own separate button, so it could be switched on/off at will, no fuss.
THE DESIGN – PROS
– Good ear cup fit –
I hadn’t realised just how poorly my last over-ear headphones went over my ears until I tried these ones. They fully encompass the ears and give a really comfortable fit around that area because of it. Also they’re not too heavy, so you can wear them for hours without discomfort.
THE DESIGN – CONS
– Slightly loose headband fit –
The headband looks a bit odd. I feel like a cyberman. However, aesthetics aside, the band not being flat against the head means it’s not a secure fit. I’m sure this is done for comfort’s sake, but it makes the headphones feel a bit loose. I have them on the tightest setting, and they slide about a bit if I tilt my head, especially if its sudden. However, I have tried being a bit active with them, A.K.A. I’ve had a dance around, and they haven’t fallen off. I think is because the ear cups fit so well.
OVERALL
A good pair of headphones with all the essentials there: battery life, ANC, and sound quality. However, there are peculiarities in the design and function that may take some time to get used to, and detract from the ease of use. But when the competitors are hundreds of pounds more expensive, it provides a really good offering for the price.
Excellent. I don’t know why anyone would need to pay more? These are comfy, sound amazing. Has everything you can need. NFC, great Bluetooth, usb c, noise cancelling, hi Res, quick charge.. ect.
The transparency mode is spectacular, (if you don’t have the music too loud) when playing a game with these on, and I can still hear my wife moan (ok. Maybe one negative). It’s nice when walking to hear what’s around, cars when crossing a road and anything else you need to hear, whilst still drowning out the world with music.
As I said, well balanced sounds, nice bass, which can be changed thru the eq on the app.
Amazing it comes with a carry case which itself if decent quality.
Over all, very chuffed. I came from JBL 650 which are twice the price RRP and the soundore blows them out of the water, I’ve also had an expensive pair of Bose and would never consider them again knowing I can get these.
Wow. I was not expecting these to sound as good as they do. The standard setting out if the box is bassy (for the target EDM crowd I presume) but they’re very responsive to the eq setting in the app and I easily got a very agreeable and musical equalisation for more traditional genres.
The low mids around 800Hz can be a problem for a lot of cheap phones giving that cheap muddy sound but these have a lot of definition there. The very top end is there too, pin sharp and not splashy at all.
I’ve tried and returned the Sony WH-1000XM3 – they sounded terrible and no amount of EQ could fix the compromise made for the admittedly great NC.
The NC in these is adequate for my purposes but certainly not up to the Sonys. But headphones would sound good first right? Turning NC on in these didn’t affect the sound either.
Other reviewers have covered these extensively, so I will just summarise my points not covered elsewhere.
Pros
-These are quite good overall for 80
-The microphone seems to work fine for videocalls and people can hear me ok and clear enough (I think I still sound better with my wired headphones that have a proper external microphone)
-Noise cancellation is quite good when music is playing. You can barely hear the outside world (just enough to make sure you can hear if something else goes on in the house / outside)
-Transparent mode is quite good but sometimes it is sensitive e.g. it can pick up my PC’s fan and then it replays it on my headphones
-Bluetooth can connect to 2 devices at the same time, and it is smart enough to know to switch to the one that plays sound accordingly. Have not tried different scenarios yet but I can easily switch from my PC to my phone and vice versa
-the app is quite good for the phone
-pretty decent music sound
-battery life feels infinite
-there is a touch sensitive area on the right ear muff to quickly switch between noise cancellations mode – i thought that was quite useful for quickly listening to someone
Cons:
-The app is not built for the PC and you have to use an android emulator on your PC. but these emulators do not detect bluetooth.
-the bass default setting is at high to give the illusion of good music sound and it is awkward to tune it down (see below)
-Not very good for online gaming. it is very hard to hear other people when you play online games as speech is obscured by the bass of other sound effects in the game. Or you cannot easily listen to music while gaming if you want to hear your friends.
-the 3.5m audio cable is too short – it is fine for phone usage but not for PC
-sometimes I get headaches from wearing them too long. I have had to buy a 2 metre audio cable to connect to my PC tower for using over long hours as I don’t like the idea of bluetooth radiation next to my head all day.
-I have a thick neck so when I put them down to rest on my shoulders they are a bit tight and choke me mildly
After a bit of trial and error I figured out I can connect both the PC and my phone via bluetooth, and tweak the equalizer on my phone while it is playing music from my PC – somehow this works but it is too many extra steps for just reducing the bass a bit.
Upon arrival they came in a surprisingly high quality case, 80% charged. Upon first impressions, they look great, the Soundcore logo looks very nice in person. But then, with a big pair of cans you probably aren’t that fussed about aesthetics so let’s move on to the fun stuff.
Plonk them on your head and they are immediately very comfortable – I’ve got quite a big head and they still don’t clamp too hard, and the padding is very soft. Power them up and on the stock settings they are bass heavy, but it’s clearly a good sound. The noise cancellation isn’t as good as the 300 mob, but it’s incredibly good regardless.
However, I would absolutely recommend finding Mr Cow’s video on youtube where he posts his EQ settings, they are night and day better than the stock settings, revealing a level of detail and clarity that isn’t present originally. With these settings they are incredible, especially given their price point.
Let’s talk features. The transparency mode works very well and the ability to turn it on and off by holding the right earcup is appreciated, the buttons are intuitive and feel okay, they’re clearly not premium but personally I’d rather that money went on the audio anyway, and they don’t rattle or anything when the bass gets heavy.
When it comes to bluetooth, the range is fantastic, I’ve not had a problem yet, and on recent mobile devices the experience is painless. Clearly the chip they’re using for this is a good one. However, this is where I come to one of my few criticisms of these – the way bluetooth switching is handled when using a PC is a bit clunky, you HAVE to stop audio on one device before you can switch to another, so if you’re in a game and you want to watch a video on your phone, you have to quit the game completely in order to switch devices. This could be remedied either by just automatically switching to a device when it starts playing audio, or simply implementing a manual switch mode by tapping the power button. I’ve spoken to Soundcore about this and they seem keen to sort it, so hopefully in an update at some point they will do so. Don’t let this put you off though, it’s a minor issue. Latency for gaming is… ehh, usual for cheaper headphones as there’s no APTX but it’s not a massive deal unless you’re flick reacting to someone’s gunshot. For my racing habits it’s fine.
Let’s finish on a high. The battery life is astounding. I’m not sure how they’ve managed to get so much longevity out of a 780mah battery but when I got these headphones they were at 80%. I listened to them at reasonable volume for an entire week, for at least 8 hours a day, and they only got to 50%. An hour later charging from a standard 5w apple charger, and they’re full again. Incredible battery life, very impressed.
In short these headphones are very good indeed. I know some have had issues with the noise cancellation hissing or poor sound, but give them a try anyway. If you’re one of a few that get a duff set, the customer service from Anker is legendary for being great, so you’ll get a refund/replacement no worries. The strong, strong likelihood though is that you’ll end up with a cracking pair of headphones for a very cheap price. Well recommended.
There are some incredible value Bluetooth ANC headphones and the Q30 has certain features that if valuable to you make them worth their price however if you don’t need those particular features you can get the same or better sound quality for much less.
Recordings of how they sound against my other headphones are on my Amazon profile and to better convey their value I am comparing them to the slightly better sounding 30 Mpow H17 that I originally purchased for my mother.
Upsides of Soundcore Q30 over Mpow H17:
1) Multipoint pairing so you can be connected to 2 devices at the same time rather than having to unpair and pair when switching from one to the other.
2) Usb C v micro usb.
3) Better ANC than the H17 – both perform at a reasonable level though somewhat below the most expensive Sony and Bose offerings.
4) Touch sensitive ambient control though with headphones you can slip them off your ears on to your neck quickly .
5) Soundcore provides an app for changing equalisation and the default equalisation is ‘Soundcore signature’ however flat sounds more natural; there are other equalisers available some of which like Samsung Adapt Sound are built into your phone.
6) Goes louder though H17 goes loud enough for me.
7) ANC does not change the sound equalisation; the H17 ANC mildly boosts mids though sounds good with ANC off or on.
8) Slightly more even microphone frequency response than the H17.
9) Slightly larger earpads (this could be seen as a pro or con)
10) Comes with a padded case but will you ever use it and the H17 folds better and into a smaller space (and comes with a simple carrying bag).
11) One button turns off both the headphones and ANC whereas the H17 there has separate controls for power and ANC (this could be seen as a pro or con on the H17)
Downsides of Q30 against Mpow H17:
1) The cups are lighter plastic and you can hear plastic resonances colouring the sound more whereas the H17 has a more solid cup construction and much cleaner and tighter bass.
2) The Q30 cups and headphone as a whole looks cheaper and less durable than the H17.
3) The Q30 cups are more obviously branded with what looks like a knock off Beats logo whereas the H17 branding is more subtle.
4) The Q30 ear pads look less premium than the H17 which have nice stitching details and a more comfortable profile.
5) The Q30 cups are plain plastic while the H17 has a nicer feeling synthetic leather over the cups reminiscent of the Sony WF-1000.
6) The Q30 buttons are much thinner, less tactile and cheaper feeling than the H17.
7) The Q30 headband adjustment could potentially trap hair like the Koss Porta Pro though I’ve not experienced this.
8) The Q30 has a less compact design.
9) The Q30 advertises 40h v H17’s 45h playing time.
10) The Q30 is twice the price.
So in a nutshell arguably where it counts in sound, comfort, compactness, build and looks the much cheaper H17 wins however if you need multipoint, usb c or an extra few dB of ANC the Q30 is still a great choice, especially now it can be had near 60.
Okay first of all I want to thank Amazon for their unflinching support over the past few weeks, whilst I bought and tested and returned various Bluetooth Headphones within a price bracket of 50 – 100.
Those I tested included amongst others, Sony, JBL and Mpow.
Anker Soundcore Q30s beat them all, particularly the higher priced range ,hands down.
The ease of use particularly when pairing up to two Bluetooth devices at one time was excellent, even better whilst using their App which I used on an I Phone, the various sound modes were extraordinary, particularly their noise cancelling abilities.
i use these Headphones mainly for watching films on TV, the reasons being, my hearing isn’t what it was and the wife moans when the tv blares.
The only small gripe was they seem to have replaced a truly excellent case with a basic cheaper version, but hey, so what!
So I also own the Sony 1000XM3’s and compared to those these do stand up pretty well. The sound quality is very impressive for the money. They also benefit from a free app which is a nice and genuinely useful addition. The noise cancelling is about 80% of what the XM3’s offer, so very respectable, and I’d say the Sony headphones beat these in all areas (sound, anc, looks, comfort etc) but not by much! and considering the price differential these are incredible!
For me the reason for buying these was for the multipoint connection, which works exceptionally well, switching between a phone and a tablet!
I should start off by saying that I have mild hearing loss in the mid to high range and so was looking for something with a good EQ or hearing test built in to compensate for that. I also only use them for TV and Movie watching. As I am in a quiet environment I do not need noise cancellation, so this review is purely based on sound and I can’t comment on how good the NC is.
First I tried 5 other more expensive pairs first, including Sony ones at 240, and none of them had enough clarity for me even with EQ and hearing profiles and the EQ’s had too few bands you could alter. So I thought I would give these ago based on some great reviews. I am glad I did, as they are perfect for my ears! The EQ has enough bands in the mid to high range and they work well and gave me lots of clarity, especially on dialogue. On top of that, they retain a good amount of bass so that music sounds good and the sound effects have impact.
On top of this, I find them conformable to wear for long viewing periods, and the battery seems to last a long while.
So, for the price, I was certainly surprised at how good they are and am very happy to have saved money over the more expensive brands I tried.
Anyway, I heard good things about these and with next day delivery for 80 I thought it was worth a punt. I do a lot of gaming and watching movies, but I love to wear headphones for both of those activities. I wanted something I could use as a headset for the xbox.
I’d like to start by saying these are incredibly comfortable. their material is super plush and the pads kind of melt over your ears. They do get a bit warm over time but it’s nothing major to complain about. The headband support isn’t massive, but again, it isn’t something that’s caused me discomfort at all.
Sound is great, they are decently loud and their very adaptable EQ helps to bend the sound to whatever taste you prefer. This is absolutely essential, and companies need to stop assuming people will enjoy the stock tuning they deem to be the “best”. Sound preference is entirely subjective and it’s an individuals opinion that matters the most when they use their own stuff.
I’d recommend heading over to Oluv’s gadgets on YouTube and looking at his content covering this product. He explains why it’s one of the best 2020 products, great channel.
Battery life is stellar, offering 40-60 hours depending on if you use noise cancelling. The NC isn’t up there with Sony & Bose but it’s pretty close and decent enough for most. Don’t forget these are in some cases 1/4 of the cost.
Built quality is decent too, nothing feels cheap, but they aren’t overly heavy either.
After trying so many high end products, I did not expect to settle on something which was 80, from a company that hasn’t been playing the game for too long. I’m extremely impressed with what Soundcore did and I can’t wait to see where they go with the Q40 or Q30 mk2.
##Updated## After speaking to Customer service, who were, as usual, extremely helpful and efficient, they replaced the headphones. The new pair have just arrived and work perfectly.
I’ve been dealing with Anker / soundcore for a few years now and they have always been A+ with customer service.
Bought these after having owned a different cheaper make / model and wanting an upgrade. The headphones are a vast improvement on my old pair, sound quality is great and they are very comfortable – the cups are larger than my old pair which is a bonus as that adds to the comfort. The ANC on the headphones works great EXCEPT when changing the settings via the Soundcore App.
Turning the ANC on or off works fine, but when changing to the Indoor or Outdoor mode the ANC reverts to Normal mode, you have to turn ANC off and on again to get it to work, very annoying but not a deal killer – I would like to see this rectified with a Firmware update but other users are stating its a hardware issue – waiting for a reply from Anker
Overall worth the money
I tend of love every thing that Anker make have tried some of their cables and chargers many year ago – really got hooked on their audio products which I love – always fancied a set of noise cancelling headphones and these are really lovely – I tend to use them at home 99% of the time and leave on ‘normal’ mode which makes them sound fantastic – found that using any of the cancellation modes in the house alters the quality of the sound a little (bit less bass and a bit washed out) which is obviously unnecessary in a quiet environment. Tried the other modes in the kitchen (kettle / oven / washing machine etc on) and it seems to work well (and you don’t notice the change in quality as much in these situations)
WOW! Had read the reviews which all sounded excellent. Had ordered different brand before but they continually lost connection every time you moved your head and sounded very muddy.
These Q30s, I can walk round the flat with no loss of signal. As for the sound quality, very crisp and clear, absolutely superb. Have gone through app presets to find the best and am well pleased.
ANC is not important for me but it seems to do as it claims.
Really cannot fault them. Well built, excellent sound.
Not had them long enough to comment on battery life, still on original charge.
Does make me wonder how some of the more expensive makes can justify the price.
Buy, you will not be disappointed.
However, if I want to listen to music and enjoy, I use either Anker Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro or q70. Anker q30 would be great, but they don’t support high res codecs like APTX or LDAC. So, if you have an Android device, you won’t get any HiRes sound due to codecs limitations 🙁
I still use these for movies and videos, they are handy and comfortable.
– comfy
– fantastic battery life
– good, rich equaliser app
– good sound quality
– good build quality
– good price
– good noise cancelation
Cons:
– can’t find
I have compared these to wife’s Bose QC35 II so 2 – 3 times more expensive set and was struggling to find a difference in sound quality. Build quality and comfort are on the same level, could not find much difference in noise cancelation either. Sound is perhaps a tiny little bit clearer and mature on the Bose but it was difficult to hear the difference to the point that it may be just a self suggestion caused by knowing the difference in price between the two sets.
If you love music but you are not a hardcore audiophile you will be pleased with these!
I’m no audiophile, but to my ears these sound great with solid balanced sound, and an intuitive accompanying app which lets you play around with the settings. The build quality is solid for the price and they’re very comfortable. I don’t own high end headphones like the Sony XM3/XM4 or the Bose CQ35ii / 700 so I can’t compare the ANC, however those sets cost 200 to 350+, so I wouldn’t be a fair comparison anyway. What I can say is the ANC impressed me, it works really well hiding low hums from my loud extractor fan and washing machine, and even cancels out my TV at low volume and general household noise. Yes when the ANC is on it muffles the base a little, but I believe that’s common for all except the most expensive headphones and really doesn’t bother me. The battery lasts forever and has fast charging through usb c. All in all I really love these and suspect they can’t be beaten for the price (which also seems to be the consensus in reviews on YouTube).
The sound quality of these is good considering the price and they are comfortable, the noise cancelling does work well too I wasn’t expecting much but it’s great at blocking low frequency noise like washing machines and neighbours TVs. This is easy to switch off by tapping the side of the headphones meaning you don’t have to even remember where the NC button is. Pause and skip buttons are also handy. The soundcore app is useful for firmware upgrades and changing the EQ – which you have to do to get decent quality sound. This seems to be remembered by the headphones as when I connected to a new phone it remembered my previous preference in the app. I often use the provided headphone jack, I don’t like using hands free for hours at a time due to unknown effects of Bluetooth long term (I feel I get earache with Bluetooth on? But this is not unique to these headphones) and the battery doesn’t drain this way. The case is big but feels sturdy enough and can store cables. The quality of these blew some Marshall units which are more expensive away, I can’t comment on Bose etc. but these should be good enough for 90% of people.
I bought these headphones rather soon after they were released and, similar to others, I had problems with the headphones. The ANC mode just did not work and when I used the app to switch between the different ANC modes (indoor, outdoor,…) my headphones suddenly had a very poor sound quality and all bass disappeared and I had the impression that the ANC was not doing anything. I contacted Anker customer support at that time and they were very helpful. A new pair of headphones was sent to me (before I had returned my old ones, which is definitely better customer support than most other companies).
Long story short… replacement headphones arrived in a couple of days and are working perfectly fine. The ANC now works and I can switch between different ANC modes without any problems.
Review of the actually working pair of headphones:
+ Great sound quality (I’m not an audiophile so please don’t quote me on this)
+ Good noise cancellation (I am sitting in an open plan house with a dishwasher and washing machine running and cannot hear anything but the music on a low volume setting)
+ Comfortable (I have been using them now for several days for work ~ 8 hours a day)
+ Great Anker customer support
– Microphone not great (Even the latest software version hasn’t improved the in-built microphone quality enough for these to be used in conference call, but this was never my intention … I’m not surprised as the microphone is not in front of the mouth)
– Soundcore App still a bit buggy (but i hope this will improve with time)
Now i like to think i am a bit of a Audiophile nerd and have owned many headphones from B&O, Sony, Bose Beats etc, so i do know good quality sound when it hits my ears.
These Soundcore phones are simply put, ‘STUNNING’ not only in sound but price. How can they make these quality ears for such a puny price? Nice one Anker.
Hey you reading this because you want a great quality pair of ears, but don’t want to part with a Kidney?
Then buy these before they go out of stock.
Firstly I love these headphones, the sound and noise cancellation is amazing although these are my first headphones of this type so my knowledge is limited. That said sound quality and cancellation is amazing, the reason for 4 out of 5 stars for sound quality is because the sound changes occasionally where I guess it readjusts to outside interference.
It’s a little odd but doesn’t really affect the overall experience for me, also at least for me the best sound quality is achieved by using full noise cancellation instead of normal or increased external sound (the latter is an option that amplifies the outside noise as though you weren’t wearing headphones, quite useful)
As has been said before the default EQ setting isn’t very good so I use either the classical or rock setting to get the most rounded sound for my taste.
Build quality and comfort are way above the price I paid and so in summary these are excellent headphones albeit very slightly flawed.
I am moving from SkullCandy Hesh 2 40 headphones as I just find them too heavy and the sound volume too low.
I took a hunch on these and was not expecting to give such a good review after reading the bad reviews. They showed up with low battery and I have been sitting here listening to music for 4 hours and not even a warning yet.
Initial impressions are that these are well worth 50 but not worth the full price just due to the build quality which is a little too much plastic. I am only using them as headphones so cannot comment on the mics but connected to a PC through Bluetooth they are miles ahead of the SkullCandy. The bass is deep and the sound is strong. The three modes normal, transparent and ANC are a very nice touch depending on what you are doing with them and changeable on the headset at the touch of a button. Same goes for track changer and volume.
I am not in agreement about them being too heavy, try skullcandy they are too heavy these are just about right.
I am stuck at 4.5 but giving them 5 stars because of the discount. I would say get the voucher and don’t look back as they are excellent. Do not expect too much and you will not be disappointed but for anyone saying they are 1 star unless faulty sorry I think you have too high hopes these are not trying to be 200 studio phones.
Anker are quickly becoming a top rate seller in my opinion.
Update: One very important point to make you must get the Soundcore App and change the settings stored on the headphones. Switch ANC to indoor and EQ to Rock or your own preference. It improves them significantly.
I have spotted these before they came out and preordered them with 30% off and I am so glad I did. Even at the full price, these are exceptional value compared to the more established brands. The headphones feel very premium, the materials are nice and look expensive. The packaging is brilliant and they come with a handy travel case which has USB C and phono cables (you can use these as regular headphones with this cable) included.
They easily connected to my phone and was instantly blown away by how they sound. The default sound might not be to everyone’s taste as it is quite bass heavy but I went on to download the app where you have 30 presets and option to adjust it manually to your liking. It is easy to control the sound presets through the app and you get update facilities. I went on to pair them with my laptop as a second device and that was seamless too. It is super easy to switch between the two devices meaning I could be doing Zoom meeting and then answer my phone calls seamlessly. The microphones (4 microphones) work really well and people were telling me they can hear crystal clear at all times. The connection is rock solid and I can use them everywhere in my three bed house without any glitches.
They have very soft memory foam padding that feels very nice even when wearing them for long periods of time and you can wear these forever because battery life is just incredible. The battery will easily last me more than a week of what I would call moderate usage and it will still be around 50%. They charge super quickly as well so you never need to be not able to use them.
The active noise cancelling technology is stunning, they eliminate 95% of any surrounding sound. The other day I had these on whilst using the leaf blower and I could hear the music with all the detail still at normal level of volume. They work excellent in a car so I can see how these would be superb on a plane if you just wat to disconnect from the outside.
The sound coming from these is very detailed and I find it well balanced. With the help of the app everyone will find the sound they like.
They have a cracking customer support department which were able to answer my questions very quickly.
All in all, I was so impressed with them I got them for my wife and few people bought them through my recommendation. I also looked into their products and got Life Dots which are also superb bit of technology. At 1/3 pf the price of comparable products these headphones are a steal. Soundcore definitely coming up as a contender in Headphone market.
The Noise-Cancelling is better by a long way than the Sennheiser 4.50’s especially on the indoor mode. They suppress a wider frequency range, while not quite as good as Bose ones I have owned, they aren’t far off.
Sound quality is very good, I found the acoustic preset in the app to be best for the kind of music I listen to. I found they gave a more pleasing listening experience than the Grado’s.
They are comfortable to wear for extended periods and the battery life is very good. Bluetooth Range is at leat 10m in my home.
I did, and after a couple of minutes arranged a return to Amazon. The sound was muddy and very quiet….. BUT:
When researching for a pair to replace them, I saw a comment on an article for a different brand that you really need the app to get the most out of them. I hadn’t shipped these back yet so thought I would install the app and try again. It was a WORLD of difference.
There was a firmware update (not sure if that helped), and I now could change the EQ etc. The volume was massively louder and the sound quality (when not using their default eq setting) was so much better. They really were like a different pair of headphones.
I cancelled the return and now can’t wait for Christmas so I can listen to these again.
So basically – when you first get these, install the app and adjust the settings to your taste, as they are a little rubbish straight out the box.
For the price these are perfect. The ANC is very good, the sound is excellent and clear and the bass is good, making calls is also clear and crisp.
These are very confortable, I’ve worn this for hours and you just forget you are wearing these once you have them on that’s how confortable they are.
Battery life is insane, these last for ages on a single charge. They also connect very quickly when they are switched on.
Lastly these come with an app which allows you to further customize the headphone’s sound, anc levels, etc. For the price these cannot be beaten.
Well worth 80. Well built, comfortable.
ANC works well enough though I haven’t tested it in all scenarios.
I don’t think they compare to Sony’s XM3s – but then they’re nowhere near the same price.
They sound great, and the app allows you to tweak the sound profile to your liking. It’s a good app.
I’ve only charged them once and after a week they’re still saying ‘battery high’ when turned on.
They come with a very nice case and they’re USB C to charge.
Recommended
I like the build quality, battery life, case. All fine. Comfort is good.
I had a problem with the first set i received, the Bass disappearing when switching modes. They were replaced and they did a software upgrade and the problem was resolved. There is a slight hiss on noise reduction but nothing that interferes with music when it’s playing.
I love these because the sound is not as ‘coloured’ as most headphones seem to be – no banging bass or piercing treble, although you can still ‘tune these in’ via the wonderful Soundcore app. The result is a very ‘true’ sound that the musician actually intended you to hear. I am hearing more subtle detail in my old favourites than ever before.
They are very comfortable to wear for long periods and the noise cancellation is excellent, with a transparency mode if you still need to hear what is going on around you. Battery life is also excellent and a short charge will last all day.
Considering their budget price (less than 70 when I bought them) you will be hard pushed to find anything better unless you spend some serious money – these are worth every penny!
Other than that, they’re great to get some focused work done if you don’t need to talk to anyone.
UPDATE: Soundcore have released a firmware update (1.8) that fixes the microphone, and wow… it’s an incredible improvement.
From the moment I opened the box to find the smart and well-made storage case, to actually getting hold of the headphones themselves, it’s all been impressive.
The ‘phones are just the right weight, hold on to my head comfortably and they adjust with a firm but satisfying movement.
The headband is soft on my bald head and after wearing for 6-8 hours a day listening to Spotify and taking/making calls, the cups are still welcoming. Controls on the headphones take a couple of days to master, but they work as they’re designed to.
Battery life is right on the money too; I got about 42hrs out of them on their first full charge, a mix of music, calls and approx 8hrs with ANC on. If I only need to charge them on a weekend, then I’m very happy.
Connecting to my personal Android phone via NFC was as simple as a tap and to add the work phone via Bluetooth took very little effort – the supplied start-up guide covered what I needed.
Zero drop-outs on either connection and very clear on calls; my colleagues have commented about the recent improvement in call quality as I’ve switched from using the Soundcore Life P2 buds to these headphones.
Music is now a treat as the accompanying Soundcore app allows for many different EQs (personal favourites are Acoustic and Rock) which give a whole new life to songs. Treble is clear and not too high, bass can either be a boom or just the deeper rumblings that you didn’t realise make a song so good. The sometimes awkward middle of the soundscape gets picked up well – The Masterplan by Oasis has many levels of an orchestra and I’ve heard new little extras for the first time in 25 years thanks to the Life Q30’s.
The Active Noise Cancellation was the primary feature I was interested in and it doesn’t disappoint.
Working from home means that at 3.30pm when the kids get home, there’s more distractions. Not anymore. I switch on ANC and the background noise of screams and shouts from downstairs disappears.
I can’t comment on travel yet but I expect these should perform admirably.
Having tried on a few (very expensive) models from Beats, I can happily say I’m glad I didn’t commit to them and took a chance on these.
Well made, great sound, excellent features, another winner from the Anker/Soundcore range!
At the time, that’s where the good news ended. I tried to use them on my next Zoom call, and found that Zoom could barely detect any sound from the headphones’ microphones. Disaster! Anker customer support were incredible – very responsive, and tried to help me solve the problem, but nothing worked. They sent a replacement pair, but the problems persisted. I thought all hope was lost. Fortunately, the pace of Anker’s technical team is such that within a matter of a few weeks a firmware fix was released which was easy to install from the Soundcore app on my phone, and now I’m a very happy user! My faith in Anker has been fully restored, and I would recommend these to anyone who wants premium quality at a very reasonable price.