Spirit X (Outside the box testing) review

When I received the earbuds to test, I decided to do some research before I delved into a testing review as I wanted to be more knowledgeable for a proper review in certain areas. Part of my research was to look at some other reviews as well as to brush up on some of the terms that I knew or did not know. In my review, I wanted to bring some tests that may not have done before or to express the technical terms in more user friendly wording.

With that said, I first went to the Anker website to see how they advertised it. I went to their list of earbuds. I see a big fault in Anker’s webpage for these earbuds. You do not show the spirit x listed in your list of earbuds. You should add the Anker Soundcore Spirit X wireless earbuds to the wireless earbud page. I went to Anker homepage-other products-audio-headphones and all are listed but these earbuds.

I researched what Bluetooth 5.0 really means. Basically it gives you up to 4 times the range of a Bluetooth 4.2. Which means that the smartphone and device should work about 260 feet away.

My second research had me looking at what IPX7 means for the sweat guard. It basically offers protection from complete water submersion of up to one meter (3.2 to 3.4 feet or about 3 feet and 3-4 inches) for about 30 minutes. So if you wanted to you could ultimately go swimming in them if you want. If you look at their advertisement, you see a guy waterboarding with them on.

The one that got me was the battery life. Twelve hours on a single charge of 1.5 hours. I think it said that one hour of charge with just 5 min of charging. Will talk about this later.

What is in the box
You will get:
Soundcore Spirit X earbuds
4 eartips
4 earwings (Love these)
A shirt clip
Two cable clips
Micro USB cable
Travel pouch

First impressions
Overall, I am impressed with the look and feel of these earbuds. I have had several brands of wired earbudsover the last few years and I have to say I am enjoying Ankers Soundcore Spirit X. Why? The first thing is the earhook and earwings. They work together to provide a firm ear support system. I have to say I shook my head side to side and up and down like a man riding on a bucking bull machine. They would not shake off my ears. The earhooks provide support for outside of my ear as the wings prevent movement from the inside of my ears. I love this over other earbuds as I find that I get tangle up, and the cord lose connection due to bending damage over time. I have found a couple different ways to hang them around my neck without putting them in the pouch.
I decided to see if I can synch my Spirit X. Once synched I decided to play with them. I have to say that I was impressed with the amount of charge right out of the box. I was using them for two evenings before I decided I needed to charge them for my test. Love this as who does not want to start listening to music/videos straight out of the box. Now on with my different test.

Battery test
The battery is a lithium battery. Anker states that you will get 12 hours of play time with an hour and half charge time. It also stated that you can get an hour play time with just 5 minutes of charge. I had issues with this claim. Based on the math 12 hours on 1.5-hour charge would take you to about 7.5 min for an hour charge. Although this was one of my last test, I had to wait a bit as I had to wait about 12 hours of playing time to run them down.
My test was the following, I charged the earbuds for about 4 min 45 seconds. I took my device and started playing music and then timed that until the music stopped. My stop time after the music was playing was 56 minutes and 47 seconds. So, I give this a passing grade.

Connectivity Bluetooth 5.0 test
As stated Bluetooth 5.0, you can get about 260 feet or so with it connected to your device. Which is 4x the rate you can get with 4.2. My initial thought was “really” but I was also thinking “Awesome”.
My test involved using an Ipod (v6) and myself. I played a song that was consistent and did not have no pauses in it so that I can tell when there may be distortion.
I also did this test at work due to a long unobstructed corridor. I placed my ipod on the window and started to walk down the cubicles. I have to say I am impressed, I walked about 200 plus feet (to the chair) before I started to get any distortion. I think I could have went a little farther but ran out of length. (see pictures below).
I must give this a passing grade too. I would say all results may not be the same due to device and other factors.

IPX7 protection test
IPX7 definition is that Spirit X will provides sweat guard as well as complete water submersion up to one meter (over 3 feet) for up to 30 minutes. I do have to say that this test put the fear in me. Why? I had other test but was going on faith of the IPX7 protection. With that said, I made the plunge into my above ground pool (pun intended). I set up my iPod to play some tunes, grabbed my son and jumped in to play in the water. I had a couple of thoughts for this test and my son helped me on my first test without me even asking. It was the splash test. As he was splashing and no issues, I got a little braver. I decided to do a submersion test. I went underwater several times and the sound and earbuds still worked.
I give this a passing grade as well.

Wife test
I have to say to Anker, I may soon have my Spirit X earbuds taken soon from me. After the water tests, my wife started to use them to go tanning in the pool. She also started to think of other ways to use them on vacation and on the beach, such as putting her phone in a waterproof pouch and wearing them on the beach or poolside.
This is a definite passing grade.

Pouch test
I never really saw anybody reviewing or testing the pouch. I like the pouch. I have found that I can put my Anker iPod cord in the pouch with my earbuds. I would like to see a pocket on the other side so that I can have my Aker cords on one side and Spirit chargingcord on the other side.

Now I did do a floating test with the pouch. I put my earbuds, and cord in the pouch, I had a pan full of water and placed the pouch on the water. It floated. For me this is great to know the weight of the cord, earbuds and pouch was light enough to float on water. I have some upbeats and despise the pouch (or as I call it - “the granny purse”) and know that they would sink like a rock.
Other than a second pocket, I give the pouch a passing grade

Overall, I enjoyed testing the earbuds. It is hard to find any fault in them (great sound, sweat proof, stays on your head and good connectivity with a great price). Any cons— I could see the power button be a little bigger to determine which buttons you may be hitting. Maybe the pouch being a little bigger. Other than the wife test and buying her a pair, I give these a grade A.

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Thanks for your thorough and well thought out review, not many people research what is claimed and just go off what others say, so kudos for that. I too took mine swimming, I did laps with mine in my swimming pool…which is now taken down since I’m moving next week, otherwise I would have made another video review of them. But they worked great for me and I’m glad your enjoying yours

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After all of that I left out two additional pictures that I had for the test. Oh well, Here they are.

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great review!! well done! :wink:

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I want to ask you, in your review you say that you have used it in the pool, do you think it could be used for a longer time? I swim one hour a day, do you think it can be used without inconvenience during that training time in the water?

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@daiross I have swam with mine for over 2 hours with no I’ll effect.

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I like to know that, mine still haven´t submerged it during swimming for fear of damaging it

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As stated with the ipx7 rating meaing. it stated that they could be submerged in the water for thirty minutes. As you can see in their ads for the earbuds, there is a guy surfing and they stated a coating they have to protect the components. I would assume that they would be ok as they would not be totally submerged for long periods at a time and depending on how you swim. But I say that with caution as I can not 100 percent to say how an hour of swimming would affect them vs playing in the pool with my kids. If you do it, please let us know how they do. I would be interested in how an hour of swimming affect them.

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I swam laps with mine for about a half hour doing the breast stroke, half hour back stroke and the other hour was just general swimming and playing with my son and wife. During the breast stroke I had my head submerged between strokes and with the back stroke my ears were under water for the most part. Connectivity is the biggest issue when going under water but they have held up and I use them every night at work and I swear like crazy. So I know when you do decide to use them swimming you will be fine.

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With its rating and knowing the quality that comes with Anker and stay above the maximum depth an hour or two should be fine. Try and keep the inside of the earbuds dry. I don’t think they are marine grade (they just have the IPX7 rating).

I know this is a typo but I got a good chuckle out of it! :joy:

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Also, great review and research @Duane_Lester! Thanks for posting!

:wink: shhhhh i won’t tell1 if you don’t tell

Lol. Me too. He may be using the microphone function. I have used it once. I love electronics but really have not gotten into using my earbuds microphone. Probably where I use headsets for PS4 or WOW

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It’s really amazing to see these swimming photos involved our headphones.:grinning:

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