Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE 1/26/21: While I unfortunately can't in good faith increase my ranking of this product (though I hope an update will address my issues), I have to add how awesome Soundcore/Anker support is. Soundcore reached out to me after I posted my review and has been in constant contact with me, asking if firmware updates addressed my issues and following up with what my issues were. It's truly refreshing to see a company care this much about their customer's experience with their products. My experience with Anker/Soundcore support has always been top notch, but this was above and beyond what I would have expected for a company whose product I said less than favorable things about. All in all, if you want a company that stands behind their products, look no further than Anker/Soundcore/Eufy/Roav/Nebula. ORIGINAL: I was excited to get these, ordering them the day they were released. Unfortunately they don’t hold up the hype. During the announcement of these headphones, they went on and on about how the ANC was tuned to keep the music as “the artist intended it", but this didn't pan out in reality. All media played with ANC on is crunchy and manipulated making listening unbearable. The high end peaks, hisses and pops, making the driver sound like it's tearing itself apart. The mid-low to low end sounds muffled and distant. In general the soundstage feels narrow, almost as if you are listening in mono and not stereo. All this results in feeling like you are listening on a dollar store pair of earphones. ANC on without media playing continues my disappointment. With a TV on in the background at a regular listening volume, ANC does manage to “reduce the volume”; However, it was still clearly audible and I didn't struggle at all to understand what was being said. That in itself is a pretty big let down, making the ANC on these feel more a gimmick than a key feature. On the brightside, if you turn ANC off, audio is just as good as you’d expect from Soundcore; crisp and bass-y with a soundstage wider than a pair of earphones at this price point should offer. But that is beyond the point. While this could possibly be addressed with some firmware updates, I am not a fan of buying a product for a broken feature hoping it will be fixed in the future. Now to some things beyond ANC. The earphones themselves are super comfortable, more comfortable than my Liberty 2 Pro (I attribute this to the lack of a wing tip). They come with with every size imaginable of ear tip, which are now labeled next to every set so you know the size, so you are sure to find your match, which results in always getting a good and stable fit in your ear. Unfortunately, unlike the liberty 2 pro’s the ear tips don’t come on a card that can be separated from the box, so keeping the ear tips means keeping the whole box or cut them out of the box. The battery case is pretty nice, but the sliding mechanism of the door feels a bit and wobbly. There is a noticeable gap when the door is closed and has the travel side to side of a joystick making it not feel as premium or durable as the Liberty 2 Pro Door. The finish is nice, with a soft touch the borders on a bit slippery but forgivable. The earphones are easy to remove and are stably held in by a strong magnet. Overall, the main promise was not delivered so they will being a return from me. Hopefully soundcore is able to address the issues on what otherwise is a nice product.