Included with the headphones are a carrying case, which isn’t of the highest quality but fulfils its function perfectly well, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable and a 3.5mm audio cable that can be plugged into the right earcup for wired listening. 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.

The app offers a couple of other neat features, too. You can discover new music and stream it in the app via Soundcore’s streaming partner LÜM. This is a platform developed for independent artists and is well worth exploring if you fancy broadening your musical horizons. There’s also a Sleep Mode option, which provides you with a selection of ambient sounds that can be blended together to create a soundscape to drift off to. The tech is fun to play around with but the Life Q30 aren’t headphones you’re going to want to fall asleep wearing so it’s unlikely to see much use. Anker Soundcore Life Q30 review: What could be improved?

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The Life Q30 are charged via USB-C and have a stated battery life of up to 60 hours when ANC is turned off and 40 hours when it’s on. That 60-hour figure puts the Life Q30 top of the pile of any over-ear ANC headphones I’ve tested, while the 40 hours when ANC is active is only matched by the Urbanista Miami. I spent a fortnight using the Life Q30 as my primary headphones and impressively, they still had some juice left in them by the end of testing. The Q35 also sound good for the money, with reasonable detail and separation of tones, handling complex pieces better than most competitors, particularly when used with the highest-quality LDAC format and some hi-res audio files. BassUp is only available when using the Signature profile, which you may not find yourself using given there are 20 other EQ presets to choose from in the Soundcore app. There’s something for just about every genre, including Latin, Jazz, Pop and Piano.

Pros: good value, good sound, good noise-cancelling, very long battery life, Bluetooth 5 with SBC, AAC and LDAC support, good app, full EQ and lots of presets, comfortable. 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. The left ear cup has a button for toggling between noise-cancelling and transparency modes, a power button and a USB-C charging port.The overall performance of the Spirit X is mostly good. They are even better in some aspects than more expensive wireless earphones. They utilize Bluetooth 5.0 for their wireless connection and have a good wireless range. They connect easily with compatible devices and support multi-device pairing, allowing you to connect up to two devices at the same time. Their sound quality is decent for budget earphones while their in-line mic is adequate enough for non-business calls. There is a noticeable difference in sound profile when using the ANC on and off. Although we tested these headphones with their ANC on, the audio sounds hollow and thin if you turn the ANC off. We ran a few frequency response passes with the ANC on and off to confirm this using a wired connection and Bluetooth. You can see our graph here, which shows a drop in bass with the ANC on regardless of whether you're using a wired or Bluetooth connection. With their well-padded ear cups and lightweight frame, the Life Q20 are comfortable to wear for long hours, which is especially beneficial when using them while traveling. Their large ear cups can comfortably accommodate most ear sizes while their headband has good flexibility. Their headband clamp is also tight enough to ensure a secure and stable fit without sacrificing comfort. The Spirit X include both ear hooks and stability fins, greatly increasing their stability, which is very important when using them for sports. Even during more rigorous exercises, they will stay securely in your ears. You also get different ways to customize comfort and fit. In addition to the different ear tip and stability fin sizes, the earphones come with a cable management clip and a shirt clip. Using the cable management clip, you can either tighten or loosen the cable around your head. Hi-Res Music: Hear every detail of your favorite songs thanks to Life Q30’s 40mm drivers. The highly-flexible silk diaphragms reproduce thumping bass and crisp treble that extends up to 40kHz for improved clarity.

The Space NC have an efficient and user-friendly on-cup control scheme composed of a touchpad, a couple of physical buttons, and a switch. You’ll find the touchpad and the two buttons on the right ear cup, with the latter located on the underside. Using the touchpad, you can manage your music and control the volume. The two buttons are for call management and voice assistant activation and for initiating the pairing process and turning the headphones on or off. On the other ear cup, you get a simple switch for enabling or disabling the ANC feature. Performance The noise reduction can’t match that of the industry’s big hitters like the Apple AirPods Max, the Sony WH-1000XM4 or Bose’s NC700 but it’s a mighty fine attempt from a pair of headphones costing a fraction of the price. My one minor grumble is that you can only switch between the three modes via the app, but having to do so is certainly not a dealbreaker. Anker Soundcore Life Q30 review: How do they sound? The headphones ship with a good hard travel case, plus a small bag containing a USB charging cable, 3.5mm headphones cable with an in-line mic and an aeroplane audio adapter. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian Price

They may not be much to look at, but the Soundcore Life Q30 offer unrivalled ANC and audio customisation for the price

I was also impressed by the Life P3’s audio quality. Like the over-ear Life Q30, boosted bass is the focus of the “Soundcore Signature” audio profile. However, it’s not nearly as overwhelming here, with the P3 striking a solid balance between robust low-end reproduction and clarity in the mid and upper registers. The Liberty Neo are surprisingly decent-sounding for budget truly wireless earphones. Most consumers will be satisfied with their audio reproduction, especially those who prefer a more bass-heavy sound, not only for listening to music but also for general media consumption. They use Bluetooth 5.0 and have a good wireless range and an easy pairing process, but their latency is high. Their integrated mic is also mediocre in noisy places, which is a common issue among truly wireless headphones. For controls, the Life Q30 primarily rely on physical buttons located on the outer sections of both earcups. On the left cup you’ll find the power button along with the “NC” button, which cycles through the three sound modes on offer: normal, transparency and noise-cancelling. An excellent headphone should have a durable design and should be able to reproduce low bass notes as well as high treble notes without distortion. soundcore has developed the coaxial driver technology that’s endorsed by many outstanding audio producers to present you the true sound through our wireless bluetooth headphones. Without breaking the bank, you can now immerse yourself in the world of music with a first-class listening experience. Although not all of their headphones support this codec, a couple of their latest headphones, like the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro Truly Wireless, support LDAC, designed for Hi-Res audio. Support for this codec is also uncommon in truly wireless headphones.

The Liberty Neo are very popular budget truly wireless headphones, and that popularity is not unwarranted. They offer good value for the money and are suitable for all-around use, with their good sweat resistance and stability fins making them ideal for sports. Although their features list is hardly eye-popping, their build quality and performance are good for budget headphones. They are extremely portable for everyday use, but they have a short battery life per charge. These comfortable and well-built buds have a warm sound profile out of the box, but you can fine-tune their sound to suit your tastes using their companion app's graphic EQ and presets. You can also use the app to switch to LDAC codec to stream Hi-Res content. That said, their mic has poor recording quality. The mic captures speech that sounds far away and sibilant, which can be a dealbreaker if you take a lot of calls. However, if you're just looking to listen to music, these wallet-friendly earbuds are worth a look. This typically happened when I moved my jaw, while smiling or chewing for instance, and meant I needed to readjust the buds to reestablish an effective in-ear seal. This of course also hampers the earbuds’ ANC ability. Given that noise-cancellation is one of the P3’s strongest suits, it’s frustrating that it’s occasionally negatively impacted by an unstable fit.Like other wireless over-ear headphones, the Life Q20 have an on-cup control scheme, which is made up of several buttons on both ear cups. You can use the buttons to manage your calls and music, adjust the volume, activate your voice assistant, enable the bass boost mode, initiate the Bluetooth pairing process, and toggle the ANC feature. The physical buttons are responsive and not too stiff, making them easy to use even while on the move. Performance For budget headphones, the performance of the Life Q20 is impressive. Featuring Bluetooth 5.0, they have an excellent wireless range and an easy pairing setup. Their sound quality is decent, but their very bass-heavy sound even without the bass boost mode can be unpleasant for some people. Their built-in mic is also decent, but it’s not recommended for phone calls in particularly loud places. The noise-cancelling is surprisingly effective for the money, beating the majority of rivals at this price and even some models twice their cost. The noise of a boiler, dishwasher, cars, drills and other rumbling noises were much reduced, while speech was quietened significantly. They can’t quite match the very best in the business from Bose and Sony but otherwise do a very good job, particularly set to the “transport” mode with the Soundcore app.