SoundBuds Curve disappointment

#1

I don’t understand why these are so well reviewed. I’ve been through a lot of earbuds over the last 5 years and these are the biggest letdown in recent memory. With a large body like they have, I would expect a bigger sound. Instead the bass is below average and the overall volume isn’t really adequate. The Senso S250 buds the Curve set was meant to replace have significantly more volume and more bass, although the Curve buds have a clearer, less muddy sound. The Curve buds are well-made, so that is not my complaint.

So if I was to return the Curve set and trade up, what would the Anker community suggest? I’m not a fan of the large body earbuds like the Curve, but I can be persuaded to put up with the large body if I get large sound and long battery life. Does the Soundcore Spirit X have better sound, or is it more of the same? What about the sound quality of the Spirit Pro? I’m willing to pay more to get the bump in bass and volume that I want.

#2

Sorry to hear of your disappointment, used the Curves myself for the 15 months or so and never had any issues with loudness or bass but each persons take on what is good audio is always subjective, IMO.

As for what to replace them with, are they to be mainly used for exercise / workouts (due to you choosing the around the ear Curves) or just for general use?

I recently started using the Spirit X after ripping the earbud of my Curves a few weeks ago while getting a workout in. The audio in my opinion is much clearer on the Spirit X, with lower bitrate tracks being easy to identify on my playlists. The fit and hold I’ve found to be mostly the same, perhaps just a touch better as they are newer. Bass sounded fine to me but you do need to get a good fit with the eartips to take full advantage of the Curves or Spirt X’s…

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#3

“Ears” are different.
Are you sure the earplugs you are using are REALLY fitting perfectly?
If not there is a loss of bass.
I dont use such inears with plugs, because when I put those in my ears perfectly (voluminous bass) it causes me pains after a while.

#4

I don’t know if I should buy them or not. Your advise has clearly helped me here to pick earphones so I think I might pick the wireless zolo liberty’s. Thanks a lot for the advise. Much appreciated.

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#5

They will mainly be used at work, which has a lot of ambient white noise in the background. For exercise, I have a set of BackBeats Fit which let in ambient noise, which is a good thing when you are outdoors, and they don’t have a floppy cable to annoy me.My main criterion for the second set is good volume, good sound quality and good battery life.

#6

I agree that fit is critically important to get volume and bass.I’m using the largest of the tips, which is typical for me, as I evidently have large ear canals. I think the fit is pretty good and I even checked that there is nothing blocking the screen where the sound comes out. Like any other set of buds, I can get a bigger sound by forcibly pressing them into my ears, and I’m sure a lot of engineering and design work goes into deciding the placement of the drivers to get the best overall sound. Like maybe if Anker had placed the drivers 1mm closer to the ear canal, I would have found them perfectly acceptable.

#7

I will say that if the large tips are what you use generally, but still have to rush then in a bit to get better sound then try a size down in eartip size and see if you will feel that same way about the sound. I also generally have to use large eartips but with my recent liberty air I found one ear I had to use the large eartips and the it her ear I had to use the medium tips as it sealed and fitted better

#8

The Spirit X are my favorites for earbuds so far. I’m rough on them and haven’t had any issues and they at least sound good to me. I am pretty picky about the quality of sound coming from earbuds.

#9

They come with the medium size tips installed. The large tips were a definite improvement.

#10

I really like the Curve. They definitely do not sound better than my Jaybirds X3s or Bose earbuds but they are perfect for $19.99. I use them to cut the grass, work out in the garage, etc… Plenty of bass, mids and highs. As @ndalby states “good audio is always subjective” To me you can’t beat the price for the quality you are getting. Just my opinion…