With high-end active noise cancellation (ANC) easily reaching over $300, “affordable” has meant the $150 to $200 range—until now. The $79.99 Anker Soundcore Life P3 earphones lower the floor dramatically, with an attractive price for pair of true wireless earphones whether they have noise cancellation or not. Of course, the ANC can’t compete with the likes of the $280 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, but it’s shockingly good for the price. The sound quality is also fantastic, and those two attributes earn the Life P3 our Editors’ Choice award for affordable noise-cancelling earphones.
Simple, Colorful Stems
The P3’s stem-style earpieces are available in black, dark blue, light blue, red, or white. The in-ear fit is fairly secure, though there’s plenty of room for the stems to hang at different angles, which can create variable audio performance; for me, the ideal sound came from the stems pointing forward slightly. Five pairs of silicone eartips in various sizes are included to help achieve an ideal fit.
Internally, 11mm dynamic drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. The earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.0, and support AAC and SBC codecs, but not AptX.
The clamshell charging case has three LEDs below the lid on the front, and can charge wirelessly on Qi-compatible chargers, a rare feature in this price range. The back end of the case houses a USB-C port for the included USB-C-to-USB-A charging cable. A Bluetooth pairing button sits on the inside of the case.
The Soundcore app for Android and iOS works with Anker’s various wireless audio products, and it’s quite useful. It offers adjustable eight-band EQ with several presets, along with toggles for a low-latency Gaming Mode. You can also adjust various settings for Ambient mode (which lets you hear your surroundings when the earphones are still in your ears) and ANC (including Indoor, Outdoor, and Transport modes that target different frequencies of surrounding noise). Beyond that, the app also delivers firmware updates.
Anker estimates the Soundcore Life P3’s battery life to be roughly seven hours with ANC off, or six hours with it on, while the case carries an extra 35 hours (ANC off) or 30 hours (ANC on). Your results will also vary with your volume levels.
Soundcore Life P3 Noise Cancellation and Sound Quality
Back when the $249 AirPods Pro were released in late 2019, they were a huge leap forward for true wireless noise cancellation, but things have progressed steadily since then, and Anker’s $80 earphones definitely compete in terms of ANC prowess. The P3’s ANC is actually more effective at dialing back low-frequency rumble than the AirPods, and similarly effective at dialing back higher frequencies. When it comes to the absolute best ANC, the $280 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds and Sony WF-1000XM4 outperform them all, but the fact is, Anker’s performance is shockingly good for the price.
Transport seems to be the most effective ANC mode overall, dialing back deep low-frequency rumble like you’d hear on a plane or train quite effectively. However, it seems to almost exaggerate highs in scenarios with less deep low frequencies and more mids and highs, like a loud restaurant. Your favorite ANC mode will likely end up a matter of taste.
See How We Test Noise-Cancelling HeadphonesSee How We Test Noise-Cancelling Headphones
For audio performance, on tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the earphones deliver powerful low-frequency depth. They don’t distort at top, unwise volume levels, and still deliver some serious thump at moderate volumes. The lows are nicely matched by the highs, which are also sculpted.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Soundcore Life P3’s general sound signature. The drums on this track have a full, round depth to them, and Callahan’s baritone vocals get some added richness. The high-mids and highs are also boosted and sculpted to a notable degree, creating a not-at-all accurate sound signature that is nonetheless balanced and appealing. The app’s EQ allows for plenty of adjustment, so the booming bass can be dialed back to far more reasonable levels.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence for its attack to retain its punchiness, but we noticed more of the added bass depth applied to the loop. The vinyl crackle and hiss in the background takes a step forward in the mix, while the vocals are delivered cleanly and clearly, but with some added sibilance. The star of the show is the sub-bass, with rumble you can almost feel.
Unsurprisingly, orchestral tracks like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound a little bass-heavy here. But not terribly so, as the higher-register instrumentation is still bright and crisp enough to hold its own.
The mic offers solid intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone, we could understand every word we recorded, despite the typical Bluetooth distortion. The mic signal is relatively strong, and callers shouldn’t have issues understanding you when there’s decent reception.
Unbeatable Performance for the Price
Earlier this year, we were impressed by another pair of Anker earphones, the $130 Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro. We still give that pair a slight edge over this one in terms of noise cancellation performance, but we’re surprised at just how effective the Soundcore Life P3 earphones are at blocking out deep low-frequency rumble for $50 less. Of course, the $280 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds and Sony WH-1000MX4 are still the best noise-cancelling true wireless models on the market, but Anker proves that you can get good ANC and powerful bass depth for $200 less, and that’s enough to earn our Editors’ Choice award.
