Soundcore by Anker Life Q30 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones with Multiple Modes, Hi-Res Sound, Custom EQ via App, 40H

10 reviews for Soundcore by Anker Life Q30 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones with Multiple Modes, Hi-Res Sound, Custom EQ via App, 40H

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Rob – May 21, 2023

   
   The Soundcore Life Q30 headphones are a great value for the money and are absolutely worth purchasing at this price. I’ll start with the good (which far outweigh the cons, especially for the money).THE GOOD:Sound is clear and rich, though it requires some tweaking in the Soundcore app. Changing your EQ settings is a slight annoyance since you need to open the app to do it, but short of having preset buttons or some complicated gesture, the app is the only option Anker has so I’ll let it slide. The noise cancellation is excellent and features three different profiles for different settings: transport (for public transportation and planes), indoor (for office and coffee shop environments) and outdoor (for ambient noise in “quieter city spaces”). I usually keep mine on “transport” mode because it cuts out white noise from fans (a godsend while cooking!) while still letting me hear enough to know if someone is trying to get my attention. The NC settings also allow you to use “normal” mode (no noise cancellation, though it remains pretty quite due to the good seal of the headphones) and “transparent” mode which amplifies outside noise so you can be aware of your surroundings or hold a conversation.As far as the physical hardware goes, the buttons are GREAT: they’re clicky and responsive. I appreciate the lack of reliance on touch-based “clicks” and gestures. There is one touch control I will comment on below. Otherwise, the headphones are pretty comfortable, do not get too hot, and seal well around the ears. The articulating cups move smoothly, though I would have preferred if they could be rotated in both directions. As-is, the headphones only allow you to rotate the cups towards your body when wearing them around your neck. The battery life is fantastic: I’ve only charged them once in over a month of owning them, though it should be noted that I usually use other headphones during my workday.The built-in microphone is quite good based on feedback from people I have had phone calls with. Additionally, the Bluetooth Multipoint connection is extremely handy: it’s allowed me to switch from listening to music on my computer to taking a phone call and switch from using my phone to streaming on an iPad with ease. The bluetooth range is great because I can walk pretty much anywhere in my house while leaving my device behind.THE NOT-SO-GOOD (but still not bad!):My main problem with these headphones is the fit: when you dial them in they’re pretty comfortable, but I have trouble getting them to fit right in the first place. No matter what you do their own weight will cause them to slowly slip which requires you to readjust the headband on a similar basis. I have a pretty big head yet I have almost no need to adjust these from their tightest position. These headphones are also quite prone to slipping if you bend over, so they do not lend themselves well to repetitive tasks which require bending over: working out and doing deadlifts, gardening, etc. While the material on the earcups is plasticky, fake leather, they do not get too hot which is a plus.The headphones have their bulk, but should not be too difficult to travel with especially if you do not mind hanging them from your neck. The fit hanging them from your neck is not the greatest, but it works. The included case is also pretty bulky, but does work to give you piece of mind when throwing these in a backpack or larger bag.I have not yet used these headphones in wired mode, but it should be noted that noise cancellation and EQ do not work in wired mode. Apparently the Q35 headphones address this, but I saw many reviews claiming other features did not work as well as they do on the Q30.My last (minor) gripe is activating “transparent” mode with the right ear cup: transparent mode is very loud. It doesn’t just let sound “pass through”, it actively amplifies outside noise. This can be pretty jarring when you accidentally activate transparent mode through the touch control on the right ear cup, especially because it’s accompanied by a loud voice saying “TRANSPARENT”. The voice announcing what mode you are using is distracting, annoying, and unnecessary. I also wish the touch control was something you held, switching to transparent mode while you are touching the ear cup then going back to noise cancelling when you release, but it is only a toggle. I feel that Anker could have allowed this feature to be tweaked in the Soundcore app, but there is no option to do so.All-in-all, these are great headphones for the $70-80 range and I doubt they can be beat. If you want a pair of over-the-ear headphones for the office or home, it will be hard to find a better value.

2. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   John – July 15, 2022

   
   Let me preface this by saying that I bought these mainly for the noise cancelling, to use both to focus when working/watching media on my PC and to mitigate external sound when sleeping. I actually don’t really listen to music that often and can’t say much about the audio quality beyond “it’s acceptable”. I do have many things to say about the other two use cases though.When using it on the PC :As long as you plan to use it by BT you should be fine. I had some trouble getting it to connect at first but I blame that on my PC being old (Win 7), I made it work somehow by using a newer BT dongle, the fact that it somehow works at all on such an old setup is a plus to me, whether this was intentional or not. There’s two inconveniences though :1.- Even though you can connect by 3.5mm, the product listing doesn’t tell you anywhere that NC or EQ features are not supported during this mode. What’s worse, apparently the feature WAS supported a few years ago, but it got disabled by a firmware update somewhere down the line because of some bogus reason (the fact that more expensive models that came after this still support the feature is kinda fishy too). If you were an old user, this was a choice, whether you wanted to update or not, but new buyers will find that the product now ships with the latest firmware when you buy it, so you’re stuck with it. I wouldn’t blame you if you just assumed NC should work over 3.5mm, as it is a normally a standard feature in this price range, even worse, a lot of the reviews out there on the product are from the time when the feature was available, so people deciding to buy without doing research or based on old information are in for a bad surprise. As it is now, when you use 3.5mm the logic part of the headphones is completely turned off and only the speakers work, so you’re left with the regular unfiltered sound, and to put it frankly, the audio quality like this is terrible and not worth it, do not buy these if you plan to use 3.5mm at all, you’ll be sorely disappointed.2.- Speaking of NC and EQ, those features have several options that can be adjusted to your liking through a phone app. This is a good thing as the default config may not suit everybody’s use case, what’s not so good is tying these adjustments to a phone app only. Why do I have to switch over to my phone when I want to adjust a setting on the fly instead of being able to do it directly from my computer? What if something happens to my phone or the app stops working/gets pulled from the store sometime in the future? A PC app would have been a great alternative, and being able to modify some of the options just by using buttons would have been even better.When using as a sleep aid :This is gonna be a very picky and niche use case, but sometimes, I may be woken by unexpected noise in the middle of the night, at that point I like to be able to grab my NC headphones and put them on as soon as possible, without having to think too much about it or turn on the lights, to be able to go back to sleep. This product fails in that regard in several ways.First, the case that they ship with : The headphones only fit in when you fold them inwards a specific way, taking them out and unfolding them is a bit cumbersome and I wish they would have given you a bigger case in which the headphones fit normally without doing this. I think the idea is to make it so it takes less space when packing them or something, but the case is fairly big as it is, so if you want to save space you’re probably gonna take them out of it anyways. Should keep the folding ability but make the case itself bigger so you don’t need to store them folded.Turning on the thing is also unnecessarily complicated, the power button is same size and shape as every other button, and you have to hold it for 3 secs to turn it on, again, not the fastest or easiest thing to do in the dark. My generic brand headphones from similar price range but much older have a single slide toggle switch, it’s size and shape are different from the other buttons and turning it on just takes a flick, I would much have preferred something like that.Once the thing is actually on, turns out it will turn itself off after a few minutes if it’s not paired to anything. So if you want to just use the NC by itself, though luck, you better have your phone nearby with BT turned on so you can connect to it, even if you don’t play anything on it. Again, not the fastest thing to do when you’re on bed.Lastly, and this is a minor gripe, the device has an LED status light to indicate whether it’s ON, in pairing mode, etc. For some reason the thing is perpetually blinking regardless of state. I can understand for pairing mode, but why not just make it solid when it’s actually connected? If I take off the headphones and lie them around on my desk and forget about it, I can’t tell from a quick glance if they’re ON or OFF, I have to stare carefully for a few seconds to see if the blinking comes on and what color it is to know what’s going on. Annoying.”Better sleep” function :This is a feature of the app, it is not highlighted that often but a few reviews mention it, as one of the few people that could make use of it, I will give my thoughts on it : It’s basically a white noise machine, you have a few white noise loops to choose from and you can adjust the volume of each one individually so you can mix and match to your liking, so for example, you can have loud rain with faint sounds of birds in the background or vice versa. You can also set a timer for how long this will play for. It’s a handy feature but nothing exceptional, the stock noises are limited and may not be of everybody’s liking, the loops also feel kinda short. I find myself using mostly the rain only. If you’re into this, chances are you probably already have your own long white noise loops saved on your phone anyways, which would work just as well.Good things :Putting all that negativity aside, I do think the hardware itself is very good at this price range. The NC has 3 different settings and is worth trying them all out to see which one works better for your environment, it won’t silence everything a 100%, but it works much better than my previous cheapy headphones, and I doubt you can get much better NC at this price range. The headphones are comfortable and I have no problem sleeping with them or wearing them for hours. Is hard to tell how well the build will hold over time, but after a month of usage, nothing has broken yet. The battery is LONG and I only have to charge it once a week if anything. Although it’s not something I was even aware when I bought the product, turns out it has a built in mic and it’s surprisingly good quality, I have been able to do many long voice calls with it with no complains about the quality from the other party so far.Overall, despite the poor user experience and having to adapt to its many quirks, I do find this product useful and plan to keep using it in the future. I just hope when/if I upgrade sometime in the future, that the newer products on the line don’t suffer from the same usability problems.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   WN808 – July 18, 2023

   
   Just got these delivered and this is my first experience with Anker headphones though I do also have a small portable speaker that has worked great for the price.This headset feels very well built and you can tell just by the general feel of the device- headband, cups, swivel points all feel hefty enough to last, nothing creaky, buttons have good tactile feedback and the controls are very easy to get used to coming from an older Sony model. The included case also feels very nice, I’m glad I got this over the lower model as the case alone is worth the upgrade.Paired via NFC to my Pixel 6 which worked perfectly (Love my Pixel but sometimes the NFC causes fits). Also paired up via BT to my computer which also was a painless operation.Sound- I have only about 2 hours of listening and my current daily is a Senn HD598 so it’s a very different type just because of the closed vs open aspect. Having said that I really didn’t take long to get accustomed to these and while I would never confuse them I thoroughly enjoy them at this point…just different due to design. I would say the Senns has a superior soundstage and they are more comfortable (not as warm sitting on my ears) where the Q30 is actually more comfortable at first it does get warm with the closed / leather cups vs open / velour on the Senn.Noise Cancelling- I am very new to the technology and you can run the headphones in Transparent, Normal and Active NC. I picked these up after trying on a Bose Quitecomfort in Costco and was impressed with it. Is this as effective? Doesn’t seem like it but if you have any reasonable volume playing with NC on I barely hear any traffic which unfortunately is just outside my balcony even with the windows open. Since this is new to me the closest thing I can compare it to is using my Pixel Buds in ear monitors- The Q30 definitely blocks more than those (they do not have active NC just the passive effect of being IEM). It’s enough that I can no longer hear my neighbors kids playing with their VR headset in the stairwell between our units…which is a big reason I decided to retire my Senn for now lol.I haven’t had these long to say how the battery life is or charging times but I used it right out of the box and was playing around with NC on it’s own and then listened to some of my favorite tracks for about an hour and it’s fine. When you power them on the headphones will say its battery level. When I first turned it on it said “medium” and after playing around with it for about 2 hours it’s still at “medium”.

4. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   BZS – August 18, 2023

   
   I used to have, many years ago, Bose headphones that I lost. I recall the ANC being fantastic, what I was in the market for, but I was not going to spend over $300 on headphones. After doing research, especially on headphones people who go to the gym enjoy, these were one of the highest ranked ones. While I can’t be sure how they hold up in the gym, I will test them in the near future, they are AMAZING regardless.The best part, in addition to the ANC, is the Soundcore app. You can customize what the headphones focuses on, for example elevated base, to customize your listening experience. Some may find it annoying to download, but I personally think it is worth it.The ANC, when compared to my old Bose, are great given the price. I could barely hear anything when not even using ANC. The transparency mode is fantastic if you want to pay attention to people talking around you as well. The sound quality, regardless of the mode you are in, is amazing. I don’t even have to go up to half volume on my phone to feel like I’m listening to max volume on my small ear buds (also part of the reason I wanted standard headphones).Regarding fit and quality – I personally don’t have an issue. You get what you pay for regarding quality, but I would say it seems pretty durable/strong. I have no issues with the fit of these headphones. However, that may be due to the size of my head. Again, I can’t make commentary on how they hold up in the gym, but I’m hopeful they won’t slide off/be a nuisance. Even if they don’t work in the gym, they would be great for any other setting like a coffee shop or public transportation.In summary, these Soundcore headphones are amazing ANC headphones at an amazing price. The ANC is good, the battery life is fantastic, and they are comfortable to wear. The sound quality is up there as well with plenty of ways to customize your experience with their app. If you are in the market for good ANC headphones, are a friendly price, GET THESE.Edit: Unfortunately these are not the best for the gym. They are better suited for lounging/not intense movement. They will slide off your head while exercising.

5. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   O-man – July 18, 2023

   
   My main purpose for having noise-canceling headphones is to blank-out the announcements on the city bus. They’re overly loud, overly long, and overly infantilizing and intrusive to my thoughts. It’s also nice to have the roar of the engine muffled, since I like to sit at the back of the bus. From carrying them daily for a year-and-a-half, my Karman-Hardon Fly NC headphones had become physically ragged, their battery capacity had dwindled, and their sound had lost volume (or so it had seemed). I had to admit that it was time for a new pair of ANC bluetooth cans.From the online research, reading reviews and watching YouTube videos, I figured that these Soundcore headphones would suffice for the ANC, audio quality, and the price. I can’t do $300+ for the good Sony or Bose, and I expect less-than-stellar audio from headphones considerably less expensive. (I also don’t want to pay that much for something that I’m going to run into the ground from everyday usage.) As long as the audio doesn’t insult my ears, it’s worth the mitigated annoyance of loud canned announcements.These Soundcore Q30s are alright. The ANC feature does its job right. The audio is full and with a lot of nuance, but it’s bass-heavy in a weird way. I try to use the custom EQ to flatten the sound, but the sliders on that GUI don’t respond the way that graphic EQ normally responds (I know from audio mixing), so it’s hard to arrive at a relatively-flat audio profile. It would be great if headphone designers, anticipating usage with an app for such a purpose, would design headphones with an unbiased audio profile, rather than trying to appeal to the nightclubbers with extra bass. It will take some more fiddling in order to arrive at an EQ setting that won’t shred my hearing with highs nor pummel it with lows. I listen to a lot of different types of music, and don’t need to be told what preset EQ on the app corresponds with which; they’re all kind of wonky.Lastly, I hate the internal voice announcements. Ironically, one of the reasons why I have ANC headphones is to cancel-out external announcements. There are no stating-the-obvious “power on/power off” announcements, but those for the battery level and for the transparency/noise-canceling toggling are stupid. The voice also gets in the way of what might be important to hear at the moment when it’s announcing “transparency,” which is, again, something ironic. It’s obvious when the transparency and noise canceling are going, but it seems that I just can’t make it through life without annoying and infantilizing announcements being imposed upon me.I gave Noise Canceling five stars; Audio Quality four stars despite its EQ bias; didn’t rate Bass Quality because it’s good but too much.

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Daniel Sule – September 7, 2023

   
   There’s not a lot to complain about with these headphones. They pair speedily via NFC and consistently find the last connected device with minimal delay upon startup.The battery life on them is excellent. I barely have to charge mine, and the audible notification on startup letting you know where your battery is at means you’re never caught off-guard.Multi-device pairing is good. Could be better, though – some apps don’t play nice with it, so switching over to another paired device after pausing may not work until those apps are completely shut down, but that’s only one or two apps – and not ones that I use as frequently as my main apps.Noise cancellation is pretty good. Wish there were more levels to it, but it catches almost all interruptive sounds.The travelling case is a nice addition, too for longer trips where it’s not practical to have the headphones on you all the time.Sound quality is pretty good for my non-audiophile ears.Solid headphones. Well worth it!

7. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   FallenAngel – September 6, 2023

   
   Honestly, I do not write reviews though… I bought two of these and they are very decent. For sixty us monies they are good. However i knocked a star off for many small issues.1. The largest of the small issues is they are simply NOT durable loads of duct tape on mine.2. The next issue is very niche, however if you plan on wearing these on the couch or head on a pillow ect, you will head even the softest fabric scratching very loudly at your ear drums.3. The noise canceling works only kinda and will not help with issue 2.4. This is also number 1 again cause the are so very inexpensive, they break like every single part save the functionality. Meaning the head band breaks, the slider breaks, the ear swivle breaks, the ear phone stuffing comes apart.5. The reason 4* still, they keep working if you tape them back together before the wires get ripped out. however as said in 4 every single plastic bit breaks.

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   William – September 1, 2023

   
   I’m not a high level audiophile, and I didn’t know there was a Soundcore app until reading the reviews for this, but I can tell when audio is compressed garbage or not. I bought these to use with my phone since I’ve managed to damage the audio port on it, and the last Bluetooth headphones I tried absolutely sucked, but I was happy with the product I have received. The battery lasts roughly 40 hours, not that I’ve been measuring it, and the charging is surprisingly fast. I have never had any comfort-related issues.My only complaint, if you could call it that, is that when you power them on they say “Battery High/Medium/Low”, and the battery % is only listed in increments of 10. High is 70-100, Medium is 60-20, and low is only at 10. Not really a big deal since the battery life is good and charging is fast, though.