******
- Verified Buyer
UPDATE I:Another Firmware release has addressed the Transparency Mode to make it sound almost as if there's no buds in your ears. Not super hearing, but very natural. I now rate the Transparency mode at 9/10..UPDATE II:I finally got an email from Soundcore after a 10 day wait. However, they said had sent me two previous emails in response to my initial email and a follow-up. Someone online mentioned they had all Soundcore's email get sent to the Spam folder. I checked mine and there they were! I let Soundcore know and they admitted they were working on a solution. That seems to work OK now, at least for me. Soundcore got me new buds within 4 business days of me getting that last email and a postage paid USPS label to return the old ones for investigation. I now rate Soundcore Warranty support at 10/10..UPDATE III:SINGLE BUD USE: 7/10While I do not typically use one earbud, if you do you'll find the functionality becomes minimal. The app limits itself to just the left or right bud control customization and that's it. No ANC or Transparency modes. It sounds like the bud does go into Mono mode. The remaining customizations are to choose for the single, double, triple and tap / hold controls either Play/pause, Next, Previous Vol +/- and Voice assistant.I would have liked for ANC to be available in the remaining bud, but I understand Soundcore's logic...UPDATE IV:I found the frequency response for the L3P online and it's clear why these are so bright at the top end and need taming. Fortunately the treble reproduction is so good that you can use the response to get the excellent clarity without being too harsh. After several weeks of listening to these and comparing to other BT buds and wired IEM's I altered my EQ setting to get the best clarity and bass for all genres. I've uploaded that in place of my original. These are still the best value with the best sound, even compared with Sennheiser MTW2 and the Sony XM3 IMHO.......ORIGINAL REVIEW:TLDR warning!I’m an ‘audiophile’, but only in the sense that I ‘love’ to listen to all genres of ‘high-quality music/sound’ files with Bluetooth earbuds in a quiet, dark room and enjoy the musical arrangements as the producer intended. I also listen to music when working hard in the garden or the house! I have earbuds in my ears for hours every day.I’ve tried many TWS earbuds over the last few months and they all have their strengths and weaknesses, but none hit all the bars, whether it be fit, comfort, sound quality, app customization, retention, ANC modes, price, value for money, warranty support, etc. You always have to choose what’s most important to you and go with the buds that meet those criteria. Trouble is, everyone is different and what suits your ears and hearing may be completely the opposite for someone else. So, this review is for my ears and may be the same for you, but maybe not.I’ve had these L3P’s for over two weeks, having bought them the day they launched and having watched the overblown YT video hype released the morning of that launch. I specifically bought Prime ‘Free Return’ buds as the reviews sounded too good to be true and it was interesting that Soundcore sent out so much free product to all the reviewers. There was a clear marketing strategy in play!As it turns out, the hype was 75% true IMHO.CASE 7/10 :The sliding lid and overall case shape is a unique design but doesn’t suit my dry hands. It’s easily dropped. I also struggle with knowing which direction to slide the lid as the Soundcore logo is not intuitive to me. There is a ledge at the front of the lid, but easily missed. The earbuds also fit in an odd orientation and it takes a while to learn how best to drop them in quickly. The magnets are strong enough and I can use my fingertip on the wing to get the buds out of the case, whereas my SoundPEATS Air 3 are almost impossible to get out of their case! To me though it’s just a case. I don’t care as long as it fits in a pocket.FIT 9/10 :I’ve not used earbuds with wings before. My ear canals point upwards into my head, so stem style buds don’t work for me, unless the stems are pointed up at 11 and 1 o’clock, as I discovered with the Edifier Neobuds Pro. My button style buds, like the SoundPEATS H1, typically fit nice and deep in my ear canals with smaller tips and only touch my ears via the tips. I struggle if the design doesn’t allow for the deep insertion to lock the buds in place.The L3P is not a deep insertion design. So, the tip must seal and lock into the outer ear for me. The largest of the L3P wings aren’t actually big enough for my ears. They don’t reach the cartilage when the bud is in the attitude that Soundcore suggests. After much experience of loosening with many combos, I finally found the right combination. Actually, my ears require different combos of wing and tip left and right, but I found a smaller wing and bigger tip worked best, with the buds angled almost horizontally in my ear. Now I have a pair that is comfortable for more than 5 hours, or when the battery runs out (see below about that!). Consequently, these are probably the most comfortable buds I’ve used.TOUCH CONTROLS 9/10 :I MUST, MUST, MUST have volume control on any ear buds, but I also look for total control as a secondary requirement. These have it all, similar to the SoundPEATS products. 1 tap, 2 taps, 3 taps, tap and hold. Each earbud can be set up with whatever function you want. Also, you can disable each individually if you wish. I found adjusting the buds a lot in the early days kept changing the single tap volume I’d set up. I disabled 1-tap functionality and solved that problem!My configuration is…1-Tap: disabled2-Tap: Left Volume down, Right Volume upTap and Hold: Left ANC/Transparency/Normal mode, Right Pause/Play3-Tap: Left Previous track/Restart track, Right Next TrackThe touch controls do need some work. Once you get used to the speed of taps for multiples, the controls work almost flawlessly. I have dry hands and sometimes, the touch doesn’t register. Only 1 in 10 times maybe though. The real problem is the feedback timing… touch, volume changes, beeps sound. I’d much rather have… touch, beeps, volume change.Also, the three ANC modes are each indicated by a different tone. While you learn which is which over time, when any music is playing, it can be difficult to hear and know which tone sounded and hence which mode you selected. A voice prompt would solve that issue in a heartbeatBATTERY LIFE 6/10 :Battery life is not really an issue for me but could be for those who use their buds at work during the whole day. I haven’t checked the ANC off, LDAC off maximum battery life. I have run to almost dead with ANC/Transparency mode on, LDAC off and I got just under 6 hours. With ANC mode on and LDAC on I got under 4 hours! Considering the size of the buds, you’d think they could fit a larger capacity battery in there.APP FUNCTIONALITY/CUSTOMIZATION 10/10 :This is one of the main attractions for the L3P. You won’t get a more featured app than Sony’s, but this pretty much beats all in this price range and above. The Sennheiser Momentum TW 2 app is pretty good but doesn’t have the HearID technology or the number of EQ sliders/presets. I had BT connection issues with the MTW2 and the app. The L3P is flawless. It connects every time I open the app. Firmware updates are pretty fast (just a handful of minutes) compared with the 50 mins for the MTW2! The EQ customization capability is what saves the L3P (see below for that).What I would like to see is an option to pause music when selecting Transparency. Very often, I only need Transparency when I need to talk with someone and I have to make two ‘Tap and Hold’ actions to get there.ANC 9/10, TRANSPARENCY 6/10 (See Update above) :To my ears, the ANC is very good. Of course, the seal in your ears is absolutely critical and that gives a lot of passive noise cancellation also. Sometimes, I have to insert the buds a couple times to get the seal to work correctly. I don’t really have an issue with cabin pressure. So, the adaptive ANC isn’t needed and I like a STRONG manual ANC setting. I would say the ANC is on par with the Edifier Neobuds Pro, which claims a > 40dB reduction. Certainly, better than the SoundPEATS T2, but not as good as the Sony XM4. The sounds you hear are in the upper frequency range with few mids left. I have used these with my garden rototiller and only needed to bump up the volume by one click. For mowing though, I add my ANC Q30 over the ear headphones over the top of the L3P with ANC, so I don’t need to bump up the volume at all. I also use ANC when eating as it reduces the conducted sounds in your head! There’s no significant ANC hiss with the L3P. MY MTW2’s hissed all the time in any mode! Normal mode has a deep bass rumble, which is from inside my head. ANC eliminates that, which is why I often use it even in quiet places.I did find I got a better ANC performance using a NY street sound at full volume on my computer speakers during the HearID ANC testing. Using airplane cabin noise, brown noise or my rototiller, the resulting ANC didn’t seem as good.Transparency mode works but is still reducing the background noise. You don’t have super hearing, or even normal hearing. I tried it in my truck and Transparency muted the noise level a lot over no earbuds . It works OK for a conversation and you can hear your own voice, but just a little, but it could be better. My MTW2 sounded like I had no buds in at all.The Vocal Mode and Wind Noise Reduction options don’t seem to do much.CALL QUALITY TBD :I have yet to use these on any calls. I will update the review when I have.SOUND QUALITY - out of the box 1/10, with EQ customization 8.5/10 :Here’s where the reviewers went wrong IMHO. To be fair, some actually mentioned the highs were a little too sibilant and very subtly mentioned that app EQ customization will counter that, but most said these buds sounded awesome as-is. NO, THEY DO NOT! Out of the box, I found the sound quality was incredibly thin, sibilant in the extreme and harsh on the ears. These reminded me of the Edifier NB2 and Neobuds Pro sound profiles, but much worse. The former had no app support to adjust the sound and immediately got returned. The Neobuds could be tamed nicely, but I couldn’t get the stem style to seal reliably.I spent several days going through my 70-plus Earbud Test Tracks playlist on Amazon Music, trying to find one EQ that would work for all. Eventually I found it. It’s funny that when I went back though the Soundcore presets, I found the DEEP preset was closest to my custom EQ, though I’d bumped up the highs just a little, reduced the lows and bumped up the mids a lot. Actually, using the HearID test (which, for me, doesn’t do anything but boost the sibilant highs even more) and then adding that on top of the DEEP preset was actually close to my liking, but still too sparkly and thin. I can see it would work if you have hearing issues at particular frequencies. I’m just topped out at 14kHz and above and fine with all the others.For my ears, my custom EQ now produces a crisp, clear full sound with punchy bass. It’s a joy to listen to music with these. Vocals are still a little thinner than I’d like, but I’ve found my ears can adapt to the sound profiles of buds over several hours and I get used them. Some tracks are also ‘thin’ by design, like with many ABBA songs, so you have to choose songs accordingly when adjusting the EQ. The 6.4 kHz slider is the one that really makes the highs sound harsh.Interestingly, my Soundcore Q30 over the ear headphones also have a similar bright and thin signature sound without any EQ adjustment. Must be a Soundcore thing.Out of the box, I really like my SoundPEATS H1 as it has deep bass and great clarity. The highs could be a little more forward, but I’m waiting on an app from SoundPEATS to address that with a custom EQ. I now actually prefer the L3P, though still use my H1 for Heavy Metal, when I desire a dose of overly thumpy sub-woofer Kick Drum beat. The L3P has good bass, but the H1 has more. Volume-wise the L3P are loud enough for anyone, but perhaps not as loud as the H1. I disable Absolute volume in Developer Options to get finer control over the volume. Some songs sound better if the volume is reduced or increased by a click or two.LDAC support was added with the first firmware update. To be honest, I don’t use it. My ears can’t hear above 14kHZ anyway and I’ve tried some online tests to compare Hi Res tracks to others and like most people, I can’t distinguish the Hi Res files, other than by pure chance. The L3P still sound great without. There’s much hype relating to Hi Res and audio quality, as well as LDAC versus aptX. Go Google it. aptX is actually more beneficial to me for some strange reason. Not using LDAC does mean though that I don’t suffer the debilitating battery consumption that others might, which is a plus.WARRANTY SUPPORT 1/10 - Caveat Emptor! : (see Update above)My left earbud has a sound when in ANC/Transparency mode only, like an electrostatic clicking. It occurs when I am walking, clicking in time with my steps, or if I touch the edges of the bud then I get multiple clicks. I’ve seen others online have had the same issue. I emailed Soundcore almost two weeks ago and since with no response. I also sent a FEEDBACK message via the app – nada! Soundcore on FB said just send us an email! I’ve had Tribit and Taotronics issues and received new buds in less than a week total! There will always be issues and if the company doesn’t support you, that is going to cost you.CONCLUSION : Initially, I thought I’d be returning these as the sound and fit were intolerable out of the box. However, working with them over many days and hours, I found they can be made to sound and fit great.Yes, there’s a lot of marketing hype associated with the L3P, but fundamentally, they are excellent value for money at $170. You will not, as of right now, find a better value for features, app support and sound quality. Warranty support is debatable as of right now for me, but Amazon will come to my rescue until Jan 31, 2022, if not Soundcore!Soundcore has indeed shaken up the $150-$300 market for earbuds with the Liberty 3 Pro.I hope this LONG review helps you with your purchase decisions.Check out my Earbud test tracks playlist on Amazon Music:https://music.amazon.com/user-playlists/6c1a03929ed947ab82cc33db24d7c001sune?ref=dm_sh_I4ZRJmh4tIHTtEUHGvvCYkvPi***UPDATE****11/25/21 I know mostly people aren't reading these, and that's fine. I probably won't update again unless a firmware upgrade totally blows my mind, but I do think I might have been a bit harsh at first. Not entirely, though. These are still 2.5-3 out of 5.These are really fantastic sounding earbuds. It's just any time you venture outside your normal home ecosystem that I start seeing big problems. (Aside from how much of a hassle the really cool charging case is.) Wander outside of your WiFi system at your own peril. They are about 90% stable, but that 10% might really make you mad. Especially if you pay full price for these. But if you can deal with the occasional instability, the fact that there are more comfortable earbuds out there, and the other minor nitpicks, these are really great sounding, especially after you fart around with the EQ and whatnot. The connectivity issues are probably a firmware release or two from being fixed.Other than that, the case is pretty cool, but sucks to use. And the dollar store rip off Beats logo still bothers me. Wearing detection is useless, and it causes functionality with the earbuds' touch controls when it's not working, which is about 50% of the time. I have it turned off. Multi-point connection is beyond intolerably unpredictable. I also have it turned off. I'm guessing both of those could be fixed with a firmware update too, but as of right now they might as well not be included features.I appreciate how interested customer support is to make me happy. I think they're almost there. But definitely don't buy into the YouTube hype that these are top-tier. Even at the price point, there are better out there. Good luck and happy holidays!***UPDATE***11/19/21 Please note this update is based on a replacement pair of L3Ps sent by Soundcore to reevaluate my original experience. This is not the same pair my original evaluation was made upon.I'm honestly left to believe that all the five star reviews being left for these are either for people who either didn't spend much time with the earbuds, people who never move from a chair while listening, or for people who just want to feel good about the fact that they spent this much money on such a buggy product. I'm updating my review to three stars only because their customer support has been very attentive, and they genuinely seem to want me to be happy with the product. Or maybe these just don't play well with iPhones. Truthfully, these are really excellent sounding headphones, other than the connectivity issues. If they could get those ironed out, despite some of the other practical issues I have with them, I'd likely call them at least a 4.5/5.That said:The connectivity issues I experienced with the first pair are still present. They're intermittent, and seem to be based a lot on moving around while using them, they are much more stable if I just sit in a chair than if I walk around the house or the neighborhood. The sound still cuts out. Sometimes several times in a minute, and sometimes it goes 5-10 minutes without doing it. It's quick but it's still there, and it's too apparent to ignore. Occasionally one earbud has an echo that fades quickly over to the other and goes away.When I use these for video-meetings connected to my computer they are mostly stable, but the touch controls don't work predictably. The right ear control will turn up the volume, but the left will only turn it down one notch and then cycle back to whatever it was set at before. You can repeat this but it's just volume down one, volume up one, volume down one, etc. from the left button. In other words, if my computer reads the volume at 73, a click from the left ear might take it to a 68. Another click will take it back to a 73. Another back to a 68, and so on.Multi-point connect is very unpredictable. If that's important to you, I would keep looking. I spend more time in my Bluetooth menu trying to make it work than I do with my Jabra Elite 7 Pros that don't have it.I also realized how finicky the case is on this second pair. It's neat, but it's not at all simple. You have to be very deliberate both about how you manipulate the earbuds into place, but also to be sure the magnet has clicked them into charging mode. It's very easy to get them in very slightly off-target, and they will appear to be in place, but won't be charging.Anyway, I know this is very long, that very few people will actually read this, and most will think this is the earbud of the year, buy them, and do whatever it takes to convince themselves they made the right purchase. I will hold onto them and see what gets fixed with future firmware updates, but it does feel pretty far into the product cycle to call these simple early-adopter woes. I, of course, would LOVE to be proven wrong. I'll update as appropriate.Latest firmware installed is V03.58, released on 11/4. Connecting to an iPhone 12 Pro.***UPDATE***11/16/21 Without prompting, Anker/Soundcore customer support contacted me to express regret that their product hadn't lived up to my satisfaction, and they are sending me a new pair to see if they better meet expectations. So a couple of things to note, without having received the new pair yet: their service and commitment to customer expectations is exceptional. I will give high marks for the fact that they were not satisfied just having me be a minority in my dissatisfaction. They have enough cheerleaders, they could easily ignore my dissent, representing the small percentage it does. So kudos for that. I also get to find out if the product is better than I think, and maybe I just got a bad set. So that's cool too. With less pressure to hurry and decide if they are or are not for me, I can give a more thorough examination. I will update when I've had a chance, but either way, I will likely be updating this to at least a three star review, just for their commitment to service. Stay tuned. If you care.********************Last week I returned a pair of Q35 headphones due to sound/connectivity issues. This week I'm returning these for similar problems. If it matters to you, I am connecting them to a 4 month old iPhone 12 Pro.I am wanting to upgrade my existing pair of Jabra 65T earbuds. In my search I read dozens of reviews and watched dozens more YouTube videos. I was originally looking at another pair of Jabras, or possibly Sonys and maybe Sennheisers. But the more I watched and read, the more I saw people raving about these. I had my misgivings but decided to give them a go. Seemingly everyone declaring them the best "bang for the buck" earbuds currently available.There are enough positive, glowing reviews about these that I won't spend a bunch of time going over the good things, of which there are several. Build, fit, and finish are all top notch. Sound is excellent when it sounds good. The additional EQ settings are super helpful in getting the right sound dialed in, as are the built in fit and hearing tests. At first I was very happy with these.Since these are technically supposed to be a Christmas gift, I haven't been using them so they'll still be new on Christmas, but I thought I'd better give them at least a trial run before the return window closed on me. Pretty glad I did.I use my earbuds daily while walking the dog, as well as at night when the family is asleep and I want to watch something but not keep them awake. During our roughly one hour walk I had several, probably half a dozen, issues with the headphones momentarily pausing themselves, and then reconnecting temporarily with extremely distorted sound, digitized and hollow for 2-3 seconds before it cleared up. Twice, the right earbud disconnected entirely and I had to manually reconnect. When I got home, the earbuds shut themselves completely off and then turned back on. I assume it was connecting to my laptop, but that's not exactly how I expect the multi-connectivity to work.Anyway, long story short, these earbuds are far too expensive and far too highly hyped to be as buggy as they are. My refurbished Jabras which cost half as much perform way better than these. I'd be better off keeping those than keeping these.It's possible I just got a funky pair, but after similar issues with the Q35s and zero issues with any other wireless headphone I own, and a nearly new phone, I am feeling like the problem is on their end, not mine. I think I'm done with Soundcore products. It feels like they rush their products to market, and expect you to pay full price to beta test them. Not for me.Die zwei Dutzend bezahlten und entsprechend euphorischen Produktrezensionen auf Youtube lassen Erwartungen aufkommen, die die Kopfhörer nicht erfüllen können. Im Detail:Optik / Haptik sind ok und dem Preis angemessen. Das kleine Licht im Case, das beim Öffnen leuchtet, ist zwar technisch nutzlos, sieht aber schick aus. Nach dem Erststart, dem problemlosen Verbinden mit dem Telefon und einem ebenfalls problemlosen Firmwareupdate kann es dann los gehen, und hier enden die postitiven Nachrichten erst einmal...Ich habe "schwierige Ohren", viele InEar halten bei mir nicht besonders. Bislang habe ich deshalb Sportkopfhörer mit diesen, naja, "Ohrhaken" benutzt, damit die Dinger nicht ständig aus den Ohren purzeln. Gerade deswegen hatte ich mich für die L3Pro mit ihren zusätzlichen Flügeln entschieden. Leider folgt hier eine große Ernüchterung: Die Dinger sind _für meine Ohren_ nutzlos. Nach langem Testen mit den verschiedenen mitgelieferten Größen muß ich sagen: Sie passen alle nicht. (Alle sind zu klein.) Das laste ich jetzt nicht so dolle den Kopfhörern an, wie gesagt, ich hab da auch bei anderen Modellen Schwierigkeiten. Ich habe jetzt eine Kombination von Flügeln und Spitzen gefunden bei denen die App "passt so und ist dicht" sagt. Optimal ist was anderes.Im nächsten Schritt habe ich die im Netz total gehypte HearID-Funktion eingerichtet. Das Ergebnis ist extrem ernüchternd. Der Klang ist nach dem Test _weit schlechter_ als in Standardeinstellungen. Mittenfrequenzen, insb. um 1 kHz, sind übel überbetont, der ganze Frequenzgang ist einfach mies. Wenn ich HearID benutze klingen die Kopfhörer wie die billigste 12 Euro NoName Grabbeltischware aus dem Mediamarkt. An dieser Stelle war ich dicht daran die Dinger wieder einzupacken und zurück zu schicken, aber: Man kann den Quatsch abschalten und einen eigenen Equalizer benutzen, und dann ist der Klang ganz ok. Nicht überragend, aber ok. Ein Vergleich mit meinen OverEar Sony WH-100XM3 ist vielleicht etwas unfair, aber in der Liga können sie definitiv nicht mitspielen.Die ANC-Funktion ist ganz ok. Schlechter als meine Sony, aber ok.Ganz gruselig ist der angebliche Transparentmodus. Nichts daran ist transparent. Den durchdringenden Außengeräuschen wird mächtig Rauschen hinzugefügt, sonst nichts. In Folge dessen ist auch die Funktion zur Stimmenhervorhebung für die Tonne. Durchgefallen!Und zum Schluß noch etwas positives: Prima ist die Multipointfunktion. Man kann die Kopfhörer mit 4 Geräten verbinden, davon zwei zur gleichen Zeit. Endlich mal ein Vorteil zu den Sony. Auch die Möglichkeit die Funktionen für Einfach- und Doppeltippen sowohl links wie auch rechts beliebig festlegen zu können ist besser gelöst als bei Sony.Dürfen die L3Pro bleiben, ich hab sie seit gestern, oder gehen sie zurück? Weiß ich noch nicht. Ich teste noch 1, 2 Tage und entscheide dann. Überzeugt bin ich, auch angesichts des nicht ganz niedrigen Preises, nicht. Ich könnte mit den Einschränkungen leben wenn sie 70 oder 80 Euro kosten würden, für das Doppelte hatte ich etwas mehr erwartet.Headphones and earphones are a very subjective piece of kit.What one person thinks is great, another may hate, simply because we all hear slightly differently.An example is the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 headphones.Loads of really positive reviews, yet I bought them and returned them within 24 hours because I thought they sounded awful!It was after returning those and wondering what I can get instead, that I came across these.Now, I have said it before, I am a big fan of Anker stuff. It is well made, well priced and their customer service is about the best I have experienced.So. at the point of writing this (October 2021) these have only just been released. This means I am a bit of a guinea pig, but also trying to write a balanced review for prospective buyers.NB. I purchased these myself so this review is going to be honest.I will also update once I have used them a little longer.The box they arrived in is quite striking and is aimed to have you feel you have purchased a premium product. It is solid and weighty. You know the contents will be safe.There is lots of stuff about them being endorsed by something like 20 Grammy award winning producers. You know, the sort of marketing hype that is so common nowadays.When I opened the box even this old cynic was impressed!On the left is a set of diagrams on how to get the best fit in your ear (more on that in a moment).In the middle are multiple sizes of the silicone buds that go in your ear, and the buds that sit on your outer ear.On the right are the ear buds (I think of them in old fashioned terms as In Ear Monitors - IEM's) and the carrying/charging case they will sit in when not in your ear.Clearly a lot of thought has gone into the presentation and it works.Now the guide on the left had me puzzled at first. I know how to put these things in I thought. Then I realised there are 2 parts to the way they sit in your ear.The problem with in ear monitors is keeping the damn things in your ear so they work to their best!Here they have designed them so the part that sits on the outer part of your ear has a silicone sleeve to help keep things in place. Then a second silicone sleeve is used for the bit that goes in your ear.They come in 3 sizes, small, medium and large for both bits.You could, in theory have small and medium in 1 ear and both medium in the other ear.In practice I found the medium size to work perfectly for me.They are comfortable with an excellent seal and I have not had them come loose in a few gym sessions since purchase.Also there has been no sweating issues or that feeling of pressure in my ears.So top marks for fit and seal.Now, before I get on to the sound, I have to talk about the app...The Soundcore app should be the benchmark for others to be measured against. It is that good!So many features, but you don't have to use them.If you wish, you can just pair them via bluetooth (simple and pretty much instant after the first time) and listen as you would normally.But, if you do go into the app - and I strongly recommend you do - you have a range of options.There are a multitude of EQ settings, options on noise cancelling and a couple of new ones on me.As things are new there will be regular updates. That is not to say they it is unstable at all. It has worked perfectly for me.HearID is where a range of frequencies are played to your ears at a very low level - so you need to run this test in a very quiet environment - to identify how you hear.Once complete it creates a custom EQ setting for your hearing.It actually works too!There is also the same test run for getting the best out of the ANC (Active Noise Cancelling). In that one you want to be in a noisy environment - I used the gym.Now, how do these things sound then?Absolutely fantastic, to my ears anyway.Strong bass and really clear mids and highs. In short a wonderfully rounded sound that actually makes me smile!It will show up lower quality recordings, they simply won't sound as lively as a really good track.An example is Chocolate by Snow Patrol on Amazon Music. That sounds gorgeous with real depth and clarity.Switch to Street Spirit by Radiohead and it lacks the same level of depth - still sounds good though.The noise cancelling really surprised me. I put them into my ears at the gym and before I had even put any music on, the outside noise was almost turned off!It does not block out everything, but it was a huge difference.I still have a pair of Shure wired IEM's which were a lot more than these when I bought them a few years ago and I did a comparison.The Soundcore's just sound better!Now I have not tried these against the offerings from Sony and Bose but I would be amazed if they sound better.Gripes? Minor ones.Some foam tips would have been a nice touch. I love the Comply tips for a perfect seal in the ear.Placing the IEM's in the charging case can be a little fiddly at first. You have to get into the habit of putting them in a certain way which is counter-intuitive to me.And that is about it.For the price, they are astonishing and should be given serious consideration before you spend a lot more on the above choices!I will update again in a couple of weeks once they have had some more use.Update 08.11.21.So, a couple of weeks in now and I continue to be amazed at how good these are.I have used them extensively in the gym, out running and just walking around.They have not fallen out, or even felt like they were going to at any point.I fully charged them when I got them and the case still has 50% remaining with the earbuds at 100%.Battery life is not a concern.Did a firmware update last week and no problems at all.Never had a single connection issue in all the time I have been using them, which is probably in excess of 12 hours so far.2 friends tried these at the weekend and were blown away by the sound quality. One of them uses Sony's XM4 headphones and the other Airpods. Both are now waiting to see if these get reduced in the Black Friday sales later this month!Overall these are still hugely impressive and I really don't get the negative reviews citing poor connection/poor fit and especially sound quality!I should also add I am not using the very latest phone with them either. My personal phone is a Galaxy S9, something over 3 years old now.If these were not good, I would say it (my Bowers and Wilkin's PX7's review is an example!)These are probably the best earbuds you can buy when you take into account cost, battery life and sound quality.Who told you that these were great earbuds? Whoever did just sold you out and they are not to be trusted as a reviewer, these have at best mediocre sound quality and that's being generous, the anc is non existent I did all the tests there were tried all the levels literally 0 difference. These are taking a page from raycons book take an utter garbage product and pay enough influences to promote it for you and rip off the public.I didn't believe the hype, but then I got them and compared them side by side by myself!If you buy memory foam tips (Check the Comply for Sony, Anker and Sony tips are exactly the same and lock in the same way) the ANC is practically the same as the Sony WH-1000XM4!The sound it's also very similar in all ranges, although I found it a bit piercing in the Anker ones. Using the software to analyze your hearing and adjusting the EQ on top of that helps on this!I am seriously VERY IMPRESSED with Anker. They just need to polish a couple of stupid bugs in the app (like you have to do the ANC auto adjust test twice in order to have it set) and they'll have a solid product. The next product will be definitely even better than Sony if they continue at this peace, so focused on the user and giving out so much value with functionality Sony is years away.The only thing worse than the Sony is the pass-through functionality, it doesn't reproduce low frequencies very well so everything sounds as if you applied a filter decreasing the low frequencies. I am sure they'll figure it out soon in their frequent updates.Buy at your peril. Volume loss, 2 hour charging on right earbud instead of 8, left ok. Bluetooth loss connection every day causing headache and not worth the Hassal, send email to sender..nowhere to be seen...seller must come first?...l think not.Had to do a lot of resets, reset Bluetooth..no good..headache. It may look good but it's what's inside and the inside is bad news...l have qualifications in this field. My jabra, half the price, sound great, no Bluetooth disconnections in 2 years....no issues...Sound core, a pain from day one..despite expensive..advice...avoid...too many headaches.
