Life A3i

Fiest of all I love these earbuds. Finally earbuds with active NC and without these weird rubber thingies that slip off when sweating a little. The sound is really great with the correct equalizer settings(see picture). I have had no problems connection wise until the new firmware update came.

With this new firmware update 14.05, the earbuds all of a sudden started to have little connection drops. I have had no issues like this before the update.
It would be great if soundcore could look into this and offer a fix.

After a month of ownership:

Pros:
Fits my ears (small), comfortable for full day of wear
Amaaaaazing battery life (I can wear them through a 9 hour workday, and then to the gym afterwards for a couple hours), the case goes multiple days without charging as well.
Sound quality is good, nothing to complain or rave about
Stays in ears, functional, I HATE touch buttons so I really appreciate the customizable manual/press buttons on these
NO Bluetooth or connection problems yet.

Cons:
Hear-through is almost impossible to use with long hair, because it brushes the mic. Also, if you accidentally touch the mic with this option on, be prepared to annihilate your eardrums for a millisecond. I don’t use this feature anymore, which is a bummer.
Doesn’t feel as expensive/nice as Jabras or Technics, which I tried before these but returned because of connection/fit problems.

I have bought a couple dozen wireless earbuds in the last few years ranging from top tier like Samsung, Jabra, and Plantronics (now Poly) to entry level like S525 and MPow. In the midrange are some Earfun and Anker Soundcore... this is where I have concentrated my search.Earfun makes some great buds, but they aren't always comfortable and the touch controls have some odd sequences. Yes, I know that their app allows changing some of the controls, but only the media ones - not the phone controls. Plus they don't make anything with real buttons, only touch controls. I want the positive feedback of real buttons when using controls rather than guessing whether I have tapped the right spot the right number of times as with touch controls. The Jabra Elite buds are the absolute best in this area.My previous favorites from Soundcore were the P3i, A1, and A40. The P3i have great sound, good comfort and tactile buttons, but the microphones are barely average and they don't have multipoint connection capability. The A1 is far and away the most comfortable design that I can wear for many hours without issue, but the microphones are only a little better than the P3i and they have no noise cancelling or multipoint capability. The A40 checks almost all the boxes... good sound, decent microphones, logical controls (customizable through the app), custom equalizer, ANC and multipoint capability, but no physical buttons and they get uncomfortable after 2-3 hours.These A3i have what is, so far, the best combination of features and capabilities. They are almost as comfortable as the A1 - I can wear them for several hours without discomfort although I'm still more aware of them than the A1. They have real buttons in a novel location that take a few hours to get used to, but are almost impossible to engage accidentally. The controls are logical and can be modified in the app. The sound is very good and the microphones are quite good. The equalizer and ANC are very effective including a transparency mode that actually works. Despite some of the other reviews, these DO have multipoint connection capability... I suspect it may have come with a firmware update. However, the product description is inaccurate where it says that a wireless charger is included - charging is strictly USB C. I would have loved wireless charging, but it's not a show stopper.If the A1 had ANC and multipoint capability then it would be my favorite without question, but since they don't, these are easily the next best that I've found.

I have bought a couple dozen wireless earbuds in the last few years ranging from top tier like Samsung, Jabra, and Plantronics (now Poly) to entry level like S525 and MPow. In the midrange are some Earfun and Anker Soundcore... this is where I have concentrated my search.Earfun makes some great buds, but they aren't always comfortable and the touch controls have some odd sequences. Yes, I know that their app allows changing some of the controls, but only the media ones - not the phone controls. Plus they don't make anything with real buttons, only touch controls. I want the positive feedback of real buttons when using controls rather than guessing whether I have tapped the right spot the right number of times as with touch controls. The Jabra Elite buds are the absolute best in this area.My previous favorites from Soundcore were the P3i, A1, and A40. The P3i have great sound, good comfort and tactile buttons, but the microphones are barely average and they don't have multipoint connection capability. The A1 is far and away the most comfortable design that I can wear for many hours without issue, but the microphones are only a little better than the P3i and they have no noise cancelling or multipoint capability. The A40 checks almost all the boxes... good sound, decent microphones, logical controls (customizable through the app), custom equalizer, ANC and multipoint capability, but no physical buttons and they get uncomfortable after 2-3 hours.These A3i have what is, so far, the best combination of features and capabilities. They are almost as comfortable as the A1 - I can wear them for several hours without discomfort although I'm still more aware of them than the A1. They have real buttons in a novel location that take a few hours to get used to, but are almost impossible to engage accidentally. The controls are logical and can be modified in the app. The sound is very good and the microphones are quite good. The equalizer and ANC are very effective including a transparency mode that actually works. Despite some of the other reviews, these DO have multipoint connection capability... I suspect it may have come with a firmware update. However, the product description is inaccurate where it says that a wireless charger is included - charging is strictly USB C. I would have loved wireless charging, but it's not a show stopper.If the A1 had ANC and multipoint capability then it would be my favorite without question, but since they don't, these are easily the next best that I've found.

I have bought a couple dozen wireless earbuds in the last few years ranging from top tier like Samsung, Jabra, and Plantronics (now Poly) to entry level like S525 and MPow. In the midrange are some Earfun and Anker Soundcore... this is where I have concentrated my search.Earfun makes some great buds, but they aren't always comfortable and the touch controls have some odd sequences. Yes, I know that their app allows changing some of the controls, but only the media ones - not the phone controls. Plus they don't make anything with real buttons, only touch controls. I want the positive feedback of real buttons when using controls rather than guessing whether I have tapped the right spot the right number of times as with touch controls. The Jabra Elite buds are the absolute best in this area.My previous favorites from Soundcore were the P3i, A1, and A40. The P3i have great sound, good comfort and tactile buttons, but the microphones are barely average and they don't have multipoint connection capability. The A1 is far and away the most comfortable design that I can wear for many hours without issue, but the microphones are only a little better than the P3i and they have no noise cancelling or multipoint capability. The A40 checks almost all the boxes... good sound, decent microphones, logical controls (customizable through the app), custom equalizer, ANC and multipoint capability, but no physical buttons and they get uncomfortable after 2-3 hours.These A3i have what is, so far, the best combination of features and capabilities. They are almost as comfortable as the A1 - I can wear them for several hours without discomfort although I'm still more aware of them than the A1. They have real buttons in a novel location that take a few hours to get used to, but are almost impossible to engage accidentally. The controls are logical and can be modified in the app. The sound is very good and the microphones are quite good. The equalizer and ANC are very effective including a transparency mode that actually works. Despite some of the other reviews, these DO have multipoint connection capability... I suspect it may have come with a firmware update. However, the product description is inaccurate where it says that a wireless charger is included - charging is strictly USB C. I would have loved wireless charging, but it's not a show stopper.If the A1 had ANC and multipoint capability then it would be my favorite without question, but since they don't, these are easily the next best that I've found.