You can switch from between ANC on, ANC off and the Transparency mode on the Life Dot 3i/ Life A3i by holding the side button. The functions are indicated by beeps that are too much alike, but the Active Noise Cancelling itself is great.

Could the budget best get even better? Soundcore updates one of our favorite values in wireless earbuds.

If you're a returning Scarbir.com reader of even followed the wireless earbuds market for a bit over the last years, you will know by now: Soundcore means bass. The Life A3i is another, wonderfully executed variant of the same.

At first glance, the overall external body is similar to Life A1 and Life Dot 2. The Anker Soundcore Life A3i has mini ear wings, which give a more secure fit while wearing. They provide three sizes of ear tips like other general wireless earbuds which give the additional different sizes of ear tips. If you choose the right size and put the right position in your ear for the most secure fit and comfortable for a long listening session. The earbuds come with 10mm drivers that are quite big and you must place earbuds in your ears in the right position to perfect noise reduction. In the instruction manual, don’t wear earbuds horizontally because it will affect the noise reduction effect of the ANC. And it really is. You can customize their sound using their companion app's graphic EQ and presets. Like their truly wireless counterpart, the Anker Soundcore Space A40 Truly Wireless, they even support LDAC codec, making them a solid choice for Hi-Res audio content. They offer multi-device and NFC pairing, so connecting them to your smartphone or laptop is easy. The A3is represent my first pair of noise-canceling buds. And without hyperbole, it was nothing less than an audio revelation. After several workouts and lunches around some rather, shall we say, unruly kids, I might be ruined for anything less. It doesn’t exactly drown out the world, but it puts it a comfortable distance away. Like many affordable models from the brand, like the populair Soundcore Life A1, the Life P2 mini and Life P2i, the Soundcore A20i has a heavyweight bass. The brand improved on the execution, however.There are physical buttons on both earbuds for volume control or to skip songs. One button on each earpiece handles the phone call controls, which was really convenient for me when I was trying them out in public without looking like I was busy. Also of interest was the multitude of equalizer settings. When interfaced with the Soundcore app, users can choose from 22 presets, or customize an option for themselves. They’ve even included a little graph for each one, which was a nice visual representation that helped me sort out the changes I was hearing. Let's get to the bass later, because the variation between Soundcore products is not so much in the bass. It's in the higher frequencies. There have been quite a few variables by now. Highs have been airy ( Soundcore Spirit Dot 2), too sharp ( Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro), vibrant with a metallic underlining ( Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro) or hitting the sweet spot ( Soundcore Life P3) - to name a few.

Most Anker headphones are compatible with the Anker Soundcore app, which offers a graphic EQ and presets so you can adjust your headphones' sound to your liking. You can also remap controls and adjust the active noise cancelling (ANC) level to suit your needs.The Soundcore Life A3i is perhaps the biggest rival to the Soundcore A20i. It only costs around 15 dollars more, and adds solid Active Noise Cancelling that really helps to soften your surroundings - whether you're listening to music or not. What's more, is that the sound is better than Soundcore's other budget offerings like the Soundcore Life A1, the Life P3i, Life P2 mini and Life P2i. Compared to the A20i, the mid-bass is even weightier with deeper-hitting thumps. The Life A3i is stronger in the treble area too, putting more effort into higher-pitched vocals and higher instruments - but also letting in a bit more sharpness. The A20i is better in lower-mids; it resolves more (albeit darker-toned) details from acoustic instruments; the A3i is a bit cleaner there. We've replaced the Anker SoundCore Life P3 Truly Wireless with the Anker Soundcore Space A40 Truly Wireless. We've also replaced the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless with the Anker Soundcore Space Q45 Wireless. We've added brand comparisons as well, in addition to expanding the lineup information. Rave / Rave Mini / Mega / Trance / Wakey / Icon+ / Motion X600 / Motion+ / Infini Pro / Model Zero / Model Zero+ / Liberty 2 Pro / Liberty Air 2 / Liberty 2 / Life NC / PowerConf / Flare 2 / Rave Neo / Rave Partycast / Trance Go / soundcore Mini 3 / Motion Boom / soundcore 3 / Boost(Upgraded) / Life Q30 / Life Q20+ / Life Q35 / Life Tune / Life Tune Pro / / Life Tune XR / Life A2 NC / Life Dot 2 NC / Life Dot 2S / Liberty Air 2 Pro / Life P3 / Liberty Neo 2 / Liberty 3 Pro / Rave+ / Select 2 / Life Dot 2 XR / Rave Neo SE / Life Tune Pro / soundcore min 3 Pro / Life P3 / Life Note 3 / Life Note 3S / Life 2 Neo / Life Q10i / Life Dot 3i / soundcore Dot 3i / Life Note 3i / soundcore Note 3i / Sport X10 / Life A3i / soundcore A3i / Life P3i / soundcore P3i / Space A40 / Space Q45 / VR P10 / Sleep A10 / Liberty 4 / A20i / A25i / P20i / P25i / R50i , etc. Compared to the Spirit Dot 2 and Life A1, the Life A3i has a looser fit as rubber ear-wings are missing. It also doesn't have the wireless charging of these models. Comfort, call quality, battery life, and controls are all better on the A3i though - not to mention the availability of ANC. The App adds good value and allows good control of sound via the 22 Equalizer settings (especially though if you decided to set your own preference. The ability to change your control touch preferences is a real bonus.