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In 2016, when Apple became the first company to drop the 3.5mm headphone jack on its handsets, a revolution was promised. The first generation of Apple Airpods, released that same year, would be the beginning of a wave of new truly wireless earphones that would transform hearing aids forever. It’s only recently that this promise has begun to bear real fruit – with a tidal wave of genuine wireless earbuds at affordable prices, rather than just the high-end versions we’ve had to deal with before. This is our Anker Soundcore Life P2 Review.
Chinese manufacturer Anker is one of the new companies to throw his hat in the ring. With a well-established reputation, due to its popular Soundcore speakers and batteries, Anker has a cachet that many others don’t have. However, this is still a new area for the company, and as such, all its products are trying first – so are they worth buying?
Anker Soundcore Life P2 Review Design
In the world of real radio, there are only a few distinguishing form factors, and the Soundcore Life P2 belongs in the category inspired by the Airpods – that is, they blatantly copy Apple’s design. However, whatever the Anker Soundcore earbuds lack in originality, they make up for it with comfort and utility. Each one is feather-light and has a reassuringly good fit, helped by the addition of a variety of silicone earbuds in different sizes.
The stem of the earbuds is dark, which means they don’t stand out as much as the white AirPods, which aren’t too long either. Each button has a single button, with simple functionality (on/off, pairing, and skipping tracks), which helps to keep things relatively simple. The carrying case is also light and charges with the superior USB-C stand – a nice touch we don’t always get at this price point. It houses a large battery that, with combined charging and use on the go, allows up to 40 hours of use of the charger.
While using the earbuds for a standard commute for a week, we found that we never had to charge the case itself, because we had more than enough juice to charge the buds every few days. All in all, these earplugs are inconspicuous and comfortable, if it’s a bit useful. The pouch fits well in a jacket pocket on a commute, for which it was designed. The only bit of flair is a small gold accent on the edge of each button – otherwise, they’re a sober affair, which is to be expected from the budget price point.
Performance
As with audio products sold primarily through Amazon, the Soundcore Life P2 earplugs come with a litany of marketing speak. Their price is justified by “graphene drivers, noise cancellation, cVc 8.0 technology, PUSH AND GO technology, BassUp technology,” and more – but you can ignore most of them. What matters is the experience of using the buttons themselves – which is mostly positive. For starters, Bluetooth connectivity is on the stronger side.
Using an iPhone 11, we found that the reception remained consistent between rooms and through different walls, without skips or dropouts, and this turned out to be the case on the road as well. Also, on the way, this proved to be the case. Pairing is too easy, with the buttons connected directly to the last device used when they are removed from the case. The sound profile also makes an excellent first impression, which usually also applies to long-term use. Bass is spicy and energetic, if not exactly spacious, but overall there is a decent big sound image with both tips in your ears.
We found the bass line in Outkast’s Prototype funky and smooth, the warm jazzy notes of Kate Schilling’s Kite vocals well represented, and power to spare in the drums of Avenged Sevenfold’s track Crossroads. These earbuds are designed for commuting, and with an IPX7 rating, also for training – but they’re for consumers using Spotify, not audiophiles armed to the teeth with FLAC files and Ohms (look it up). An important selling point of these earplugs is their calling behavior. With four microphones in total, we came in with high expectations – which were usually met.
Anker Soundcore Life P2 Review Conclusion
There are plenty of real wireless earplugs these days, flooding every price point from budget heads to high-end portable audio – both established players and newcomers are trying to make a name for themselves in an increasingly competitive market. And yet the Anker Soundcore Life P2 buttons stand out from the crowd. They have a comfortable, hassle-free design, good sound, excellent call quality, and great stamina. They can’t offer the highest level of sound reproduction, but what they do produce is detrimental to their price and is certainly good enough for the average listener.
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