Soundcore C30i by Anker, Open-Ear Earbuds, Clip-On Headphones, Lightweight Comfort, Stable Fit, Firm-Shell Design, Attachable Ear Grips, Big Drivers for Clear Audio, 30H Play, IPX4 Water-Resistant

A set of great ear clips. Wishing for improvements on control and phone calling
My review is heavily based on my purposes and usage for ear clips, which is for listening to podcasts, not music, on the metro, buses or walking on the busy street of metropolitan city center, and jogging on a quiet street. I would occasionally need to speak over the phone, or even participate in an online meeting while commuting. I also need a pair of earphones for connecting my laptop again for phone calls or online meetings.So before getting C30i, I used two pairs of cheap Bluetooth earphones: a pair of earhooks for the laptop, and a pair of ear clips each consists of two connected small balls. The earhooks work well when talking but they are too big to carry around. The earclips were fine but the sound quality is mediocre. It was simply not possible to meet all the needs so I needed to compromise and pick two sets for two different purposes.Meanwhile, in the search for these earphones I have returned a pair that performs poorly but never heard back nor gotten any refund :(Therefore, I was hoping that C30i could replace both when I decided to give it a try. And a short answer is YES it does MOST of the jobs well. Almost there!My needs are, in order of importance, and ratings are:(1) No isolation to the environment, no noise cancellation. The concept of ear clips is perfect! I have no issue in using plug-in earbuds but even the cheap models without any noise cancellation would still muffle some sound from outside, and this is not what I want.In this sense C30i is perfect. 5 stars.(2) Comfortable in wearing: it depends on the shape of the outer ear and personal preferences. Unfortunately it takes trial and error. For me it fits almost perfectly without any of these adjusting shells. If I put on the medium sized shell my ears ached slightly in the long run, but I did get more sound because of a better clip location. Seeing many people said they “bite” to their ears, I thought the manufacturer could make them even smaller and provide shells.C30i could have fit even better but at present it works well. 4.5 stars.(3) Being able to speak over a phone call: I have to say this is one of the two unmet things left on my wish list! In a quiet place it is no problem but when it gets noisy my voice will be blocked also. Too bad. 3 stars(4) Multi-point connection: one word: Wow. I can simply have it connected to both my laptop and cell phone, listen from either of them, without a problem.C30i is simply great here. 5, no, 6, stars on it!(5) Can control the playing easily: the volume (need a louder sound in a busy area), pause or resume playing when entering a shop, move to previous or next clips as needed. Quite disappointingly C30i in this regard is pretty lame. Allowing users to customize the function on the app may sound great, but it is of no use if the buttons or touch sensors are not working well. The simplest double clip for pausing a podcast works less than half of the time despite constant “practicing”. Double clip won’t resume playing either if it is paused for a slightly longer period of time. (BTW, such things work well for cheap clips that have a physical button on the back side of the clip. I don’t understand why they couldn’t get it. *sigh*) 1 star(6) Easy to carry: reasonably small, and one can get a silicon carrying case like I did, such that I can access them on the move. 5 starsFinally, the much improved sound quality is a great plus, one thing I neglected when picking cheap ear clips. The white option comes with a pearl touch in finishing, which is pretty. The battery for 1-shot use is outstanding (10 hours claimed) but I’ve never exceeded this limit. Reasonable water resistance for jogging is important also but we will see then. (I occasionally jog in light rain. Had no issues with those much cheaper models so it shouldn’t be a problem. Will get back if it is an issue then.)A minor wish item is to be able to read the amount of charge left on the case.That’s it. I am still quite happy with it. Just hope that it gets improved in the near future!

I bought these for cycling, so I could continue to hear everything going on around me but still get my tunes. I was surprised with how nice they sound, from the bottom end up through the mid-range to treble. Not knockout good, like a set of Bose, but way better value than Bose. I’ve worn them for 3 hours straight and have forgotten I still have them on. I think I could get away without using one of the clips to make them a bit snugger, but I don’t want them falling off while I’m cycling. I’ve read that the controls are hit and miss, but I haven’t found that at all. There’s a tone that sounds when you complete an action, like pausing or skipping a song or bumping the volume. The Soundcore app isn’t splashy but quite functional.

I wanted an open ear design as I find having something stuck in my ears whilst exercising becomes uncomfortable. Naturally I was drawn to the Bose Open Ultra clip-on earbud, but I could not justify the £250 to £299 cost for running on the treadmill or around the park. And let’s be honest do we really need an audiophile quality sound when sweating and dodging others whilst out running?As a brand I love Anker and have a number of their power solutions – they justifiably have a great reputation in this area, but I was still somewhat dubious about a pair of £45 clip on open earbuds. I thought they would be tinning and disappointing. Having worn my newly acquired ones over the last few days I can report that I find them pretty comfortable and have a pretty impressive sound quality. Even when load enough to hear them over the TV (when my wife is watching) they do not leak significant sound. The standard EQ is OK, but I still downloaded the app onto my iPhone and tried the other options. To me the Bass present sounds awful (flat), I agree with other reviewers who say the spacial audio/surround is rather disappointing and that was true for the vast majority of music from most of my streaming sources I use. There are some tracks that do sound pretty ok. But again, this is not really the purpose of these buds (I am also in love with my Sonos Era 300, so these are never going to stand up to muster). That said if you spend even a few moments with the custom options and set an EQ profile that suits your taste you will find these little bits of clip on plastic more than capable of sounding nice whilst exercising.Reviewer also mention that they are poor for call quality – again not really surprising when you consider the design and their intended purpose.Would I recommend these? If you have no financial limits and you want to sit in quiet environments, I would hazard the Bose are better, but for exercising with I can’t imagine they are 5 times the price better.Anker/Soundcore have done it again. They have built a good (not super premium) quality product and brought it to market at a price that delivers pragmatically pleasing results at a sensible price – thanks Anker.A last point – the case is a little naff, serviceable and functional but does let the overall package down. I do not need or even really want wireless charging, but the case does feel like it is – plastic.

These are great for listening to music and podcasts but still being able to hear the sounds around you. Easy setup, case is nice and charges quick. Surprisingly comfortable seeing as they clip on the back of your ear.