As with all things from Anker and now Soundcore releasing a bunch of audio products we will start to see more and more people posting reviews. I will say that the new soundcore packaging could be better, it could have stuck with the Yellow theme from Zolo, but alas it is the same blue and white as all other products. Now, I didn’t take pictures of me unboxing this nor did I take pictures of all the accessories as it has become standard across the board so anyone who has ever owned any of anker branded headphones knows what’s inside.
Shame on me for not including those, but its mediocre to me as it’s all the same stuff. You get a Soundcore branded semi hard side case, different eartips and earwings to tailor for these to your ears, as well as happy/not happy card and instructions. Basic stuff imo, but where these really shine is in the design and execution of its controls.
Upon first handling these headphones I notice the cord is slightly thicker than the Spirit X headphones, it also uses a “s” style cable management clip. The cord is round instead of flat, and has ridges running parallel to the cord on all sides. The remote control is on the left side as opposed to the right of the Spirit X, and it’s also designed better that allows easier button presses without having to feel for the right button…the center button is elongated while the volume up and down is shaped like a mini lightbulb.
The headphones themselves feature “memory” earhooks that can be tailored to better fit your needs, this is great if your jogging as you can make it so they sit slightly off your head and allows for ambient sound to come in. And, if you choose you can have it adjusted to sit flush against your head instead to help seal out all outside noise.
Sound quality wise, these are decent sounding headphones. They will not win any bass award, because while it is there, it is on the softer side… great for those who do not like bass heavy headphones. Vocal clarity is great, I would say a small step down from the Spirit X when listening to music… but if your listening to a podcast then these win hands down. This makes them great for phone calls, you can hear people on the other end are nice and crisp and they can hear you perfectly fine, some people didn’t even realize I was using a headset/headphones. Thanks to the cVc noise reduction it works great in windy environments too, this was probably the only giveaway I was using these on one phone call.
Battery life is rated at 10 hours, I can attest and say that these lasted ne exactly 9 hours and 38 minutes on full volume. I believe they test these at around 60 to 70% volume so the stated run time would be accurate. These are also ipx5 rates and have a nano waterproof coating on them, to test this I went swimming with them. While they worked and performed flawlessly, make sure to dry them off afterwards. While swimming with them, I noticed if they came out a little in my ear I would hear gurgling and the sound would cut out momentarily. A quick shake to get the water out and they were back to working good, I adjusted the earloop so it fits flush to my head and sealed better. I was only able to go down about 6 inches before I lost bluetooth signal, but the is expected since the signal cannot travel through water. Once out the pool they continued to work as expected.
All in all, for those looking to get a decent pair of headphones and will be using it for calls as well would look no further than these. These are good for music and great for phone calls and podcast without over powering bass and great vocal clarity.
One last thing, I love how thesefit compared to the Spirit X, if you look at the pictures you will notice the X sits flat and isn’t as angled like the arc is, which makes it way more comfortable long term use. That and these are more directed towards the ear then the X which are just slightly angled
symbol on the X or at least that’s what it looks like in the pic but I do agree that the button layout on the arc is preferable. I would like to see raised symbols on all buttons on future models and the Arc button layout.
The fit on the Arc looks much more comfortable and flush with the ear. I do prefer the slim look of the ear piece and look of the controls on the X though.
