I lost my Airpods Pro at an amusement park last month. Expecting a new Airpods Pro release in the fall, I looked for a cheaper alternative. So I bought Soundcore Life Note 3 TWS earbuds for $40.
TBH, the soundcore earbuds exceed my expectation. It uses the BES2300 bluetooth SoC on both ears. The audio quality is intelligible from Airpods Pro in normal mode. And the charging case has a USB-C connector.
However, the manufacture did make compromises,
- The earbuds have much longer stems than Airpods Pro.
- The charging case is also bulkier than Airpods Pro's.
- It does not support multi-point Bluetooth connections. So it cannot seemlessly switch between two devices. Fortunately I would only use it with my iPhone.
- iOS integration is not as good as Airpods Pro. This could be due Apple's limitations.
- The noise cancellation mode is noticeably weaker than Airpods Pro. The transparent mode is mostly useless. I think this is due to the lack of microphones. The Airpods Pro have 4 mics on each earbud. The Soundcore only has three.
- No wear detection sensors. Music will continue playing until I put the earbuds into the charging case.
In all, I am satisfied at the $40 earbuds.
One thing I don't understand is why Soundcore has so many TWS earbud models. Even more than Apple, Sony, and Samsung combined.
