Anker Soundcore Life Q30 review

We found the Anker Soundcore Life Q35 delivered great value in the noise canceling headphone market. Now, we’re taking a look at its even more affordable sibling, the Anker Soundcore Life Q30. Can this headset hold up as a daily driver at such a low price? Find out in our Anker Soundcore Life Q30 review.

Editor’s note: this is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

What’s it like to use the Anker Soundcore Life Q30?

The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 deliver a solid all-around experience. The headphones come in a nice hardshell carrying case, a USB-C charging cable, and an analog audio cable for wired listening. A plastic design keeps the headphones lightweight, and I found them comfortable to wear for hours at a time. The overall feel of the headphones is similar to the Bose QuietComfort Headphones, which cost about four times as much.

With no IP rating for dust and water resistance, you shouldn’t take the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 on crazy outdoor adventures. The lack of sweat resistance also means you should be cautious using them at the gym.

How do you control the Anker Soundcore Life Q30?

The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 has control buttons on the bottom of the ear cups. You can’t change what each button does, but they are clearly labeled with their primary functions, so I found it easy to learn how to use them.

The right ear cup has one fancy trick up its sleeve: when you hold the palm of your hand over the ear cup for one second, it enables transparency mode. This makes it easy to quickly talk to someone without removing the headphones.

Should you use the Soundcore app for the Anker Soundcore Life Q30?

You can use the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 just fine out of the box, though the Soundcore app unlocks additional customization features. Most importantly, the app has an equalizer to adjust the headphones’ sound. There are a bunch of EQ presets to choose from, or you can create your own custom EQ. You can also customize the noise canceling within the app, selecting between Transport, Indoor, or Outdoor modes. Each of these targets different frequencies of environmental noise.

Another feature in the app called Superior Sleep is pretty fun to play around with. It uses binaural recordings of various ambient noises such as rain, wind, fire crackling, etc. You can simultaneously play as many of these sounds as you want and adjust the mix to your liking.

How do the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 connect?

The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 use Bluetooth 5.0 to connect. There is also a 3.5mm aux input, so you can listen wired when needed. There’s no support for fancy Bluetooth codecs such as aptX or LDAC, but I had no connection problems using the AAC codec with my phone and laptop.

How long does the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 battery last?

In our battery test, the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 lasted an impressive 46 hours and 35 minutes on a single charge, exceeding the 40 hours of playback time Anker specifies.

How well do the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 cancel noise?

The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 does a good job of blocking out environmental noise. Passive isolation from the ear cups blocks out most high-frequency noise. With active noise canceling (ANC) enabled, there is also a significant reduction in low and mid-frequency noise. This means most environmental noise will sound about one-quarter as loud while wearing the headphones.

The transport mode is the most useful of the three available ANC modes since it blocks out frequencies that passive isolation alone struggles to attenuate. The indoor and outdoor modes provide weaker noise canceling.

On the flip side, transparency mode works well at amplifying your surroundings. I appreciate the quick trigger of transparency mode by holding a palm over the right ear cup, but I wish it would also pause the music playing so it’s easier to have a conversation.

How do the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 sound?

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)

The chart below shows how the sound of the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 was assessed by the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score (MDAQS) algorithm from HEAD acoustics.

The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 scored very well for both Timbre and Immersiveness. This means most people will likely enjoy how their music sounds on these headphones. The distortion score appears low but is about average for the Bluetooth headphones we’ve seen.

Reviewer’s notes

The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 sound pretty good. Audiophiles aren’t going to like the way these sound, but then, this isn’t an audiophile product. Casual listeners will have fun listening to the Anker Soundcore Life Q30, and if you don’t like the default sound, you can easily adjust it with the companion app.

For a song like Gravity by SLANDER, the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 provides some extra punch to the bass drop. Every hit of the distorted synth sounds feels as though it’s rattling around your brain with boosted bass and highs. This song also showcases the immersiveness of the Life Q30, with background vocals and percussion elements all around my head in the virtual soundstage.

On the other hand, the headphones show their weakness with the song I Fall Apart by Post Malone. In the first part of the song, there is a lack of detail on the keys and guitar. Then, when the deep sub-bass comes in at 0:57, it is overpowering compared to almost every other element of the track.

Objective Measurements

Comparing its frequency response to our headphone preference curve, the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 has an absurd amount of emphasis on low frequencies below 200Hz. It also has a narrow peaking boost in the high frequencies around 8kHz. This creates what you might describe as a more exciting sound, with booming bass and an emphasis on the “sizzle” of higher harmonics. Anker is not the only one making headphones with these characteristics, but it’s a little overdone in this case. It’s far from our ideal, but it is a fun sound many enjoy, particularly for high-energy genres such as EDM.

Can you use the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 for phone calls?

The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 microphones work fine for taking calls on the go. In most situations, the person on the other end of the line should have no problem understanding what you are saying. Listen to our standardized demo below, and let us know what you think.

Anker Soundcore Life Q30 microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Should you buy the Anker Soundcore Life Q30?

At a retail price of only $79.99, the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 is undoubtedly a deal. You get excellent battery life, solid active noise canceling, and sound customization using the Soundcore app.

This is a versatile headphone with the option of listening wired or wireless and including both ANC and transparency modes. This is probably your best option if you have $100 to spend and want a do-it-all headphone.

How do the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 compare to the Anker Soundcore Life Q35 and Life Q20?

Regarding price, the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 slots between the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 and Anker Soundcore Life Q35. All three headphones perform similarly, with minor differences between the different models. The only drawbacks with the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 are that it doesn’t come with a hard case, doesn’t have Bluetooth multipoint, and uses micro-USB instead of USB-C to charge. On the other hand, the more expensive Anker Soundcore Life Q35 brings the high bit-rate LDAC Bluetooth codec, smart wearing detection, and an airplane adapter. You’ll have to decide which, if any, of those features are worth the upgrade.

What should you get instead of the Anker Soundcore Life Q30?

Finding good Bluetooth headphones under $100 is like searching for a needle in a haystack. That said, you can find some good options if you’re willing to make a sacrifice or two.

The top competitor to the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 is the 1MORE SonoFlow $99.99 at Amazon. These headphones offer a comparable feature set at a similar price. You get Bluetooth 5.0, decent ANC, and a companion app with EQ. The main difference is that these headphones have a more neutral sound, focusing less on bass and high-frequencies. It’s a toss-up here; we say go with whichever headphones you can find at a better price.

If you’re okay with on-ear style headphones, you should take a look at the Jabra Elite 45h ($99 at Amazon). Those headphones are lightweight and portable but don’t have ANC. If you do want ANC, check out the JBL Tune 660NC ($79 at Amazon).

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