Bluetooth anker soundbuds sport a3233 review
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The Anker SoundBuds Curve have a surprisingly decent-looking, sporty aesthetic. They have thick and flexible ear-hooks, and the matte finish makes the earbuds feel a bit more premium than the similarly designed SoundPeats Q9A Wireless. The inline remote and the cable, however, feel a bit cheap. They also do not come in as many color schemes as the JBL Endurance Sprint to match your tastes and preference but, their understated look will work for most. Show Weight 0.05 lbs Clamping Force 0 lbs The Anker SoundBuds Curve are comfortable. The tips don't enter as deeply into the ear canal as most in-ears, which removes a bit of the soreness and pain some listeners experience during long listening sessions. Unfortunately, the rubber tips sometimes slide in the ear canal, which can be slightly distracting and uncomfortable for some. On the upside, they come with six tip options to help you find the right fit, so it shouldn't be much of an issue. OS Compatibility Not OS specific Ease Of Use Decent Feedback Decent Call/Music Control Yes Volume Control Yes Microphone Control No Channel Mixing No Noise Cancelling Control No Talk-Through No Additional Controls No The Anker SoundBuds Curve Wireless have a simple three-button layout with no additional features. It's an easy-to-use and efficient control scheme that provides all the essential functions; call/music, track skipping, and volume controls. However, the buttons are a bit small, and even if they're easy to find on the in-line remote by touch, bigger buttons with a bit more feedback would have been preferred. Avg.Temp.Difference 1.2 °C The Anker SoundBuds Curve are very breathable headphones. Like most in-ears, they don't cover the outer ear, which remains relatively cool when exercising and working out. They cover a bit more surface area than typical in-ears due to their ear-hook, earbud-like design, but it's a negligible difference and won't make you sweat like on-ears or over-ears do. L 2.6" W 2.1" H 1" Volume 5.4 in³ Transmitter Required No The Anker SoundBuds Curve Wireless are easy to carry around on your person. They're compact, lightweight and you can fold them to fit into a pocket, bag, or purse. They're slightly larger than in-ears like the AUKEY Latitude Wireless or Jaybird Tarah Wireless but are still very portable and come with a decent case. Type Hard case L 3.2" W 3.2" H 1.4" Volume 14 in³ These headphones come with a good hard case to protect them from minor impacts, scratches, and falls. The case shell is not as hard as some of the other cases we've tested, but on the upside, it's compact and can fit into a pocket. Update 06/25/2019: We revised the Build Quality score. The score and text have been adjusted. The Anker SoundBuds Curve have a decent build quality. They have thin audio cables and the earbuds and ear-hooks are fairly dense and relatively sturdy, making them better built than some cheaper sports-oriented like the Mee audio X6 Plus Wireless. They feel better built and more premium than the similarly designed SoundPeats Q9A Wireless, but the audio cable is thinner. These headphones have a stable ear-hook design that's great for sports. They won't easily fall off your ears, even during intense workout sessions. They also have a couple of stability fins included in the box that helps with the fit, which makes it even more stable. However, the earbuds will slip out of your ear canal from time to time. They won't fall, but the change in the seal when they move around slightly changes the audio, which may be an issue for some. If you prefer a truly wireless design, check out the SoundPeats TrueFree.
Sound Bass Amount 5.16 dB Treble Amount -2.72 dB Avg. Std. Deviation 0.16 dB The Anker SoundBuds Curve's frequency response consistency is fantastic. If the user can achieve a proper fit and an air-tight seal using the assortment of tips that come with the headphones, they should get consistent bass and treble delivery every time they use the headphones. Std. Err. 4.94 dB Low-Frequency Extension 10 Hz Low-Bass 6.7 dB Mid-Bass 5.26 dB High-Bass 4.03 dB The Anker SoundBuds Curve have okay bass accuracy. Their LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is excellent. Low-bass, responsible for the thump and rumble in bass-heavy genres like EDM, hip-hop, and film scores, is overemphasized by more than 5dB. This results in quite a bit of thump and rumble, which fans of bass may like. Mid-bass and high-bass are also hyped, but only by 3dB. Overall, the bass is thumpy and heavy without sounding too muddy and cluttered. Std. Err. 1.61 dB Low-Mid -0.04 dB Mid-Mid -1.6 dB High-Mid -1.86 dB The Anker SoundBuds Curve have an excellent mid-range performance. The overall response is even and flat but recessed by about 2dB. This nudges the vocals and lead instruments towards the back of the mix by giving bass and treble a bit more emphasis. Std. Err. 1.56 dB Low-Treble -1.23 dB Mid-Treble -0.59 dB High-Treble -10.65 dB These headphones have amazing treble accuracy. Low-treble is even and within 0.75dB of our target. Mid-treble is also well-balanced but a little uneven between 8Khz and 10KHz. This could make some sibilants (S and T sounds) slightly lacking and some others too sharp. Overall, their treble response is well-balanced, which is important for good reproduction of vocals, leads, and cymbals. Peaks 1.44 dB Dips 0.81 dB Weighted Group Delay 0.2 Weighted Amplitude Mismatch 1.18 Weighted Frequency Mismatch 0.93 Weighted Phase Mismatch 1.35 These headphones' imaging performance is excellent. The weighted group delay is at 0.2, which is very low. The GD graph also shows that the entire group delay response is below the audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were very well-matched, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (instruments, voices, footsteps) in the stereo image. PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.) N/A PRTF Size (Avg.) N/A PRTF Distance N/A Openness Acoustic Space Excitation Their passive soundstage performance is bad. This is because creating an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage is largely dependent on activating the resonances of the pinna (outer ear). The design of in-ears and earbuds fully bypasses the pinna and doesn't interact with it. Also, because these headphones have a closed-back enclosure, their soundstage won't be perceived to be as open as that of open-back earbuds. Head Modeling No Speaker Modeling No Room Ambience No Head Tracking No Virtual Surround No App WHD @ 90 0.238 WHD @ 100 0.093 Firmware Unknown Power On Connection Unknown Codec aptX, 16-bit, 48kHz EQ No EQ ANC No ANC Tip/Pad Silicone (small) Microphone In-line Isolation Overall Attenuation -14.85 dB Noise Cancelling No Bass -2.69 dB Mid -16.48 dB Treble -26.82 dB The Anker SoundBuds Curve have a mediocre isolation performance. In the bass range, where the rumble of bus and airplane engines sit, they achieve about 3dB of isolation, which is barely noticeable. In the mid-range, important for cutting out speech, they isolate by more than 16dB, which is good. In the treble range, occupied by sharp S and T sounds, they isolate by about 27dB, which is decent. Overall Leakage @ 1ft 31.14 dB The leakage performance is great. Like most other closed-back in-ears, these headphones don't leak much in the bass and mid-ranges. A significant portion of their leakage is in the treble range and between 3KHz and 6KHz, which is quite a narrow range. The overall level of the leakage is not loud either, peaking at around 57dB SPL at 1 foot away, which is about the same as the noise floor of most offices. Microphone Integrated No In-Line Yes Boom No Detachable Boom No Mic Yes LFE 369.71 Hz FR Std. Dev. 3.44 dB HFE 2,523.3 Hz Weighted THD 1.666 Gain 41.56 dB The Anker SoundBuds Curve's microphone has a sub-par recording quality. The LFE (low-frequency extension) of 369Hz means speech recorded/transmitted with it will sound noticeably thin. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 2.5KHz is poor and results in speech that's muffled and lacking in detail. It also negatively affects the understandability of speech. SpNR 13.07 dB The in-line mic is mediocre at noise-handling. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 13dB, indicating they're best suited for quiet environments and will struggle to separate speech from ambient noise in moderate and loud situations. Active Features Battery Type Rechargable Continuous Battery Life 12.7 hrs Additional Charges 0.0 Total Battery Life 12.7 hrs Charge Time 1.5 hrs Power-Saving Feature No Audio While Charging No Passive Playback No Charging Port micro-USB The Anker SoundBuds Curve have a continuous battery life of 13 hours and only take about 1.5 hours on average for a full charge. This makes them a decent option for casual and heavy users, but unfortunately, they don't have many power-saving features to extend their battery life. They will stay paired to your device until the battery runs out or they're out of range, so if you forget to switch them off, the battery will continue to drain, which isn't ideal. App Name No App iOS No Android No macOS No Windows No Equalizer No ANC Control No Mic Control No Room Effects No Playback Control No Button Mapping No Surround Support No These headphones don't come with a compatible app for added customization options. You can check out the Jaybird Freedom 2 or the Jaybird Tarah Wireless if you want in-ear headphones with a highly customizable sound. Connectivity Bluetooth Version 4.1 Multi-Device Pairing No NFC Pairing No Line Of Sight Range 90 ft PC Latency (SBC) 163 ms PC Latency (aptX) 140 ms PC Latency (aptX HD) N/A PC Latency (aptX-LL) N/A iOS Latency 156 ms Android Latency 78 ms The Anker SoundBuds Curve don't have multi-device pairing or NFC support. On the upside, their hold-to-pair procedure is not difficult to use and not as frustrating as some Bluetooth headphones due to the decent feedback of the buttons on the in-line remote. The Anker SoundBuds Curve have quite a bit of latency with PCs and iOS devices, which isn't ideal for watching movies and a lot of video content. However, their latency with PCs is lower when using the aptX codec, and they don't have too much latency when connected to Android devices. Also, some devices seem to compensate differently for latency, so your experience may vary. Non-BT Line Of Sight Range N/A Non-BT Latency N/A Analog Audio No USB Audio No Detachable No Length N/A Connection No Wired Option Analog/USB Audio Latency N/A The Anker SoundBuds Curve have no wired option. If you want in-ears with a wired design and a universal in-line remote, check out the 1More Triple Driver. PC/PS4 Analog No PC/PS4 Wired USB No PC/PS4 Non-BT Wireless No Xbox One Analog No Xbox One Wired USB No Xbox One Non-BT Wireless No Type No Base/Dock USB Input No Line In No Line Out No Optical Input No RCA Input No Dock Charging No Power Supply No Base/Dock These in-ear buds don't have a dock. If you want headphones that are versatile and have a dock, try the SteelSeries Arctis 7. However, they aren't as compact or easy to carry around on your person. How long do Anker SoundBuds take to charge?Full recharge time is about 90 mins. I fly London-Dubai a lot and use the Soundbuds Slim+ as my main in-flight earphone since I've never been comfortable with over- or on-ear headphones. Flight time is typically 7 hours and I've always had to swap over to the second pair after 5.5-6hrs due to the battery running out. Are Anker SoundBuds slim waterproof?Whether you're running in the rain, or working up a sweat in the gym, SoundBuds Slim's waterproof build prevents liquids from damaging the sensitive internal components. Play for up to 10 hours*; longer than most earphones on the market. Do SoundBuds slim have a microphone?Push yourself to your limit during workouts and SoundBuds Slim will handle your audio effortlessly. * In-built microphone (with CVC Noise Suppression) and 3-button remote enable you to manage more conveniently - from skipping a song, to answering a call without touching your phone. |
