Good day folks, I received these headphones as part of the We love testing event
Now I wont bore you with the unboxing photos as others have already provided those.
Let me get right into it:
Pros:
- Soft cushiony earcups
- Collapsable fold down design
- Active Noise Cancelation (ANC)
- Can be used wired or wirelessly
- Long battery life
Cons:
- Cheap plasticky design
- Soft case
- ANC
- Poor sound
- No mic on included cord
- Volume lower with bass up
So lets start with the good, I like that these have a nice feel to them and a decent weight. Its not overbearing and they are light enough to forget you are wearing them, couple that with the soft touch earcups its a dream to wear these. I love that you can use these wired and wirelessly, saves you in case you forget to charge up the battery. But, on the plus side these have an amazing battery life and I have tested it with and without the ANC feature on…With ANC I got around 25 hours with 75% volume, without ANC I got almost 28 hours with 75% volume. Both times are with bass up off.
These are great for traveling as they fold down and the earcups swivel to further collapse the headphones to fit into the case. There is enough room to add the cable to the bag, although there is no separate spot for this. With the Anc on you can literally block out most low end noise to help you concentrate and get your work done, or drown out the low rumble of an airplane motor while traveling.
Now, for the not so good.
I tried really hard to like these headphones but in the end I couldn’t. Now I don’t know if I got a dud pair or not, but my first impression is not good on these.
When I first listened to music it was totally muddled and did not sound good, I thought it was because of bass up so I go to turn it off and found it was already off. With bass up on the volume drops significantly and it makes what your listening too sound a lot worse than without it. In the end, the sound quality that I have come to know and expect from Soundcore just was not there. There was no vocal clarity, no mid’s, it was all bassy and that muddled every song I tried playing. I even used a equalizer to see if I could eliminate the harshness, but that did not work. In the end all I was left with was headphones that Are unbearable to use.
In comparison to the Life 2, These feel more cheaply made as the buttons are not as tactile feeling as the life 2. The swivel cups move too freely like they are about to break. With the Life 2 you can use ANC while the headphones are off, which is great if your just looking to reduce outside noise, but with the Q20 you have the have them turned on. In essence I really don’t see the point to these headphones, yes they are cheaper, but at the cost of the sound quality it is not a better option in my opinion. I say spend a few extra dollars and go for the Life 2 or even splurge and get the Space NC or even the Vortex.
The Q20 is the one with the Soundcore Painted on and the Life 2 has Soundcore logo sort of embossed on them
