Anker Soundcore C30i review

With a sleek clip-on design, the $69.99 Anker Soundcore C30i True wireless earbuds Lets you easily hear your surroundings while you enjoy your music. However, this same open-ear aspect leads to an overwhelming bass response and an inconsistent ear-to-ear fit. Ultimately, if you want a quality audio experience from open earbuds, say $179, you’ll have to spend more. Apple AirPods Or the $219.99 Beyerdynamic Verio 200. If you’re not willing to pay that price, Anker’s own Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earphones offer better sound quality and effective active noise cancellation for $99.99. They don’t have an open design, but they include a decent digital transparency mode.

Design: Fashionable look, but a poor fit

Available in Clarity Black (a translucent dark gray) or Radiant White, the Soundcore C30i earpieces look like futuristic, miniature over-ear headphones. They clip to the lower middle of the back of your ear, much like the $299 Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, so they shouldn’t interfere with the specs. They fit differently than the earbud-style AirPods and the around-ear Vario 200, though all of the above position their drivers so they project audio toward your ear canal without creating a seal. As for the C30i earphones, they rely on titanium-coated, 12mm-by-17mm racetrack-style drivers to deliver sound. Anker does not specify a frequency range.

Unfortunately, snug fits can be difficult. An optional eartip-like sleeve for the clip component grips the outer ear (they come in medium or large sizes), though you may find them uncomfortable. However, more problematic is that there is no reliable way to keep the earpieces in the same position in both ears. This variability often leads to unbalanced audio performance, with one ear delivering more volume and bass than the other. Of course, the advantage of this design is that there is nothing to prevent you from hearing your surroundings. Digital clarity modes aren’t nearly as effective at accurately conveying directionality and volume.

The earbuds support Bluetooth 5.3, AAC and SBC codecs and multipoint connection with up to two devices. Anker doesn’t mention Google Fast Pair compatibility. Given the open design, you won’t hear any difference with the high-resolution codec options, though you do get high-quality LDAC support with the in-ear Soundcore Liberty 4 NC.

You control the earbuds via the capacitive touch panel on the back of your ear. It’s easy to accidentally trigger playback or summon your voice assistant when you’re trying to position the earpieces correctly, and it takes some practice to reliably tap their small touch target area while wearing them. By default, the controls are the same in each direction. A double tap handles playback and calls, a triple tap skips a track, and a long press summons your voice assistant. You can completely rearrange the control layout in the app with independent control assignments to each side. Still, some users might miss a single tap gesture as an option.

An IPX4 rating means the earbuds can withstand just a splash of water. It’s uncomfortable but par for the course as far as open-ear models go. A light rain or a sweaty workout shouldn’t be a problem, but you should avoid getting drenched in them. If you want affordable earphones for running or working out, the in-ear TriBit FlyBuds 3 offer an IPX8 rating for $39.99.

The charging case has a matte plastic exterior and is relatively compact. Its flip-top lid reveals the charging cradles and the odd-shaped earpieces fit easily. Below the edge of the lid is a status LED, while the back has a USB-C port for the included USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable.

Anker estimates the earbuds can last about 10 hours per charge, and the case holds an additional 20 hours of battery life. These numbers are pretty good, though your real-world results will vary based on your typical listening levels. Charging for 10 minutes will give you 3 hours of music playback.

App Experience: Functional Control

The Soundcore app (available for Android and iOS) is simple to look at and easy to navigate. It features battery life readouts for each earpiece and a series of tiles above the case.

The Sound Effects tile contains four presets: 3D Surround Sound, Bass, Custom EQ, and Soundcore Signature (default). The reverb-heavy 3D surround sound preset doesn’t sound great, but there’s no harm in trying it out for games and movies. Selecting the Custom EQ option gives you eight adjustable EQ bands between 100Hz and 12.8kHz—you can save any presets you’ve created.

Tap the control tile to customize the on-ear tap gesture. You can disable these controls in the settings section if you want Head to the Dual Connections tile to manage your paired devices or the Prompt Tones area to toggle feedback tones and low battery prompts. The last tile lets you download firmware updates and view the product’s serial number.

Sound Quality: Unbalanced

For testing, I clipped the earbuds just below the center of my ears. It’s not the most comfortable position for me, but it provides the best audio experience. I can confirm that the custom EQ preset is worth using as it noticeably changes the sound signature. Just remember that boosting the lower frequencies mostly affects the lower mids because there isn’t much deep bass response to begin with. I reset the earbuds to the default Soundcore Signature option for my evaluation below.

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the earbuds rarely provide any sense of bass depth. Thumps just sound like clicks, especially at high volumes. Digital signal processing (DSP) steps in here to prevent distortion, though some low end still creeps in. Bass thumps have a bit more body in the mid-range, though they never sound big or heavy. Even if you fold your ears forward so the drivers are closer to your ear canal, the bass response is quite low. Both AirPods and Verio 200 do well here.

The drivers aren’t capable of reproducing sub-bass at the 34-second mark of Kendrick Lamar’s “Obeyment,” though I wouldn’t expect open earphones to accomplish the feat. Presence, and the drum loop has no sense of power or low-frequency depth.

Bill Callahan’s “Drover”, a track with a much less deep bass, provides a better sense of the audio signature. No matter where I put the earphones, Callahan’s voice suffers from a sort of radio effect—it’s thin, bright, and devoid of most low-mid presence. In fact, the entire song sounds bright and missing in the way of mids and bass. For their part, the drums only sound like polite calls.

On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene of John Adams Another is the Gospel according to Mary, the earbuds at least provide a pleasingly wide and open stereo image And since this track lacks much bass depth, the presentation is mostly realistic. Drivers are still low and scoop too much in the middle.

The voice mic array offers decent clarity for the price, and thanks to reasonable signal levels, I could understand every word from a test recording on my iPhone. You won’t have any issues while on a call or interacting with the voice assistant. AirPods offer a particularly powerful mic, but then again, they cost a lot.

Verdict: An affordable open design with flaws

The Anker Soundcore C30i earbuds offer long battery life and a useful companion app, but their inability to fit reliably or deliver effective mids and lows outweighs those positives. If you’re determined to get earbuds that let you hear your surroundings without interference, we recommend saving your money for the Apple AirPods or the Beyerdynamic Verio 200 as both offer better audio quality. Meanwhile, if you’re looking to stay under $100, the in-ear Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earphones earn our Editors’ Choice Award for noise cancellation, more detailed sound, and equally impressive battery life, though they lack an open design.