Today we are going to take a look at the Anker Soundcore life Q30 Review. This is a pair of Active noise canceling headphones that come in at around $70.
Where they compete with the Sony and the Bose models that come in at $350 plus. We will check out some of the features & the specs and see Anker Soundcore life Q30 worth the price.
Soundcore Life Q30 are over-ear headphones capable of connecting to two devices simultaneously via Bluetooth 5.0 and support the two most widely used audio codecs, AAC and SBC.
In addition to regular Bluetooth pairing, they offer NFC pairing by tapping your smartphone on the right earcup.
They don’t cut back when it comes to features or sound quality, so, I was very excited to review Anker Soundcore Life Q30 and see how well they stack up against Bose, Sony, and other big brands.
Now to start with Anker Soundcore Life Q30. These are a High Res audio certified pair of Wireless headphones and have hybrid active noise canceling.
These wireless headsets give you 40+ hours of battery life. They also have NFC pairing, and they have an ambient mode, so this is a lot of features you can expect for under a $100 price tag from a well-reputed brand.
What is Inside of Anker Soundcore Life Q30
As far as what you are getting inside the box, these do come with a hard case. If you are somebody that travels a lot, that definitely comes in handy because you are able to throw it in the case and not has to worry about it getting damaged.
It does come with a 3.5mm headphone cable that way if you don’t want to use them wireless you can plug them into whatever other devices you have.
Design and Build of Anker Soundcore life Q30
Now moving over to look at the headphones themselves, I really like the design of these, and I also like the fact that they are incredibly lightweight, but on top of that, you do have the ability to fold these down. The ear cups do swivel and lay flat.
Now as far as the build quality on the top of the headband it has like an aluminum feel to it, but the rest of the headphone is plastic so as far as long-term durability it might be a pair that you have to be careful with because with plastic you can have a pair that will last you a long time or it could be a pair that breaks two weeks from now.
It really kind of depends on how well you handle your headphones.
Comfort level of Anker Soundcore life Q30
as far as the padding on these, I was very impressed with how soft and thick the padding is. It’s pretty comparable to the Sony pair.
In fact, the ear cups are much thicker on the live Q30s. Still, it has that same plush feel. The ear cups are memory foam still, you can tell that they definitely wanted to make sure this is a comfortable pair of headphones. I would almost say it’s overkill because it doesn’t have a tight clamp force.
There’s not much weight on the headphones since these one made out of plastic mostly, so I don’t even think they needed to use as much padding
Controls and Connectivity of Anker Soundcore life Q30
As far as controls and features everything is physical button controls except on the right ear cup you can cover with your hand, It will switch it over into ambient mode so you can hear people around you or hear your surroundings.
Then you just put your hand back on the right ear cup. It will switch it back into whatever mode you were using previously. Now, as far as the button controls on the left hand side, you have your power button and your pairing button.
A huge plus about this model is that it has dual pairing mode to pair up to two devices at one time. That just makes it easy to switch between whatever device you are using.
You have your volume up and down, your track controls, and your play and pause on the right hand side.
App Compatibility of Anker Soundcore life Q30
They use soundcore app, which is one of the most impressive apps out there in the headphone market. What they do is it allows you to have control over the EQ settings so you can manually EQ it yourself, or you can choose between a lot of their pre-built EQ options.
I personally just like the sound of them right out of the box, but we’ll check about that a little bit more in sound. This is definitely an upgrade over Anker Soundcore life Q20.
Sound Quality of Anker Soundcore life Q30
The sound on these are not for people that want a flat reference sound because this is a very dynamic sounding headphone even if you switch between the different EQ settings, it’s tough to just flatten out the sound of these.
I would prefer the sound signature out of the box. I would definitely like bass pushed where there is a lot of punch which I personally prefer.
I listen to a lot of genres and movies and some genres it just fits very well with the same thing with the treble you can tell that it’s tuned up in a way where it’s trying to counterbalance that heavy bass.
I definitely like the warmer tone that it has but still allowing details to come through because of the brighter treble, as far as the sound stage and the sound imaging these are not as open sounding as the Sony or the Bose it is definitely still not a closed in sound.
Still, you can tell that it just doesn’t open up as much as the other pairs because of the dynamic sound but as far as telling where instruments are coming from and hearing different characteristics from different angles, Anker Soundcore Life Q30 handle these with no issues.
ANC of Anker Soundcore life Q30
Another thing that the app allows you to do is to switch between three different noise canceling modes with these, So they are calling it their multi mode noise cancelling.
Transport mode – which you would use if you are going to be traveling.
Indoor mode – that you could use obviously if you are indoors like at your house.
Then they have an Outdoor mode do want to say this right off the bat that I was very impressed with the noise canceling that these have.
Now obviously you’re gonna put the Sony and the Bose right up here at the top and let’s say they cancel out about 90% of the noise, I would put the Anker soundcore life Q30 right at around 70% which given the price difference I think that is very impressive.
I can tell that the soundcore was more aimed at blocking out lower noises like AC units and engine noises.
I still notice that you know people talking and any kind of higher pitched sounds would still come through, but given the price difference I was very impressed with the noise canceling on these.
Battery time of Anker Soundcore life Q30
Like I referred earlier, these get 40+ hours of battery life on a single charge as far as the charging cable, it uses a USB Type-C Cable.
If you do happen to pick them up and they are dead, they also have a fast charge feature where a 5 minute charge will get you four hours’ worth of use now as far as quick charge features that is some of the best that I have seen on a pair of headphones.
Call Quality of Anker Soundcore life Q30
Anker using dual mics, but I can say that this is one weak point of these headphones. You can definitely tell this is a weak point on these headphones once you listen to your own voice.
My voice sounds pretty tiny and digital, and I don’t feel like it is picking up bass tones very well. Definitely not recommended for calls due to this Mic issue.
What could be improved in Anker Soundcore Life Q30?
Given you can tweak the audio to your liking, it’s easy enough to let the exaggerated bass reproduction of the default sound profile slide. But there are a couple of simple ways the Life Q30 could be improved.
First and foremost I could remove the words active noise cancellation from the headband. They are garish and totally unnecessary. I would also like to see the headband streamlined a little, as the side sections protrude out rather a long way, which does how they look on your head no favours.
Wear detection would be a welcome addition, too, as would the ability to switch ANC profiles without having to access the app but that’s probably asking a bit much of a pair of budget-friendly headphones.
Should you buy Anker Soundcore Life Q30?
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 are fantastic value for money, delivering effective ANC that belies their price tag, class-leading battery life and extensive audio customisation options via an excellent companion app.
Sure, they are a long way from being the best looking headphones available, but sacrifices have to be made somewhere and the substance is very much there, even if the style is a little lacking.
If you want noise-cancelling headphones and are on a strict budget, the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 are a superb choice.
Conclusion
As an end result, I would like to conclude that these really only have one disadvantage or weak point and that is the microphones,
The mic is the definite weak point on these headphones so if your main focus is to use these headphones for phone calls this is definitely a pair that I would skip out on.
Ignoring that, I think these are a great pickup, especially for the price tag, again where they are giving you a lot for your money. This pair is around $70 where the Sony and the Bose come in at $350.
