Status Audio, creators of the Between 3ANC wireless earbuds, have a fair few aims with its products. One is to make audiophile quality to the masses. Another is listening to users to improve its products. The last statement could be …
Status Audio, creators of the Between 3ANC wireless earbuds, have a fair few aims with its products. One is to make audiophile quality to the masses. Another is listening to users to improve its products.
The last statement could be considered hyperbole of the worst kind, but via crowdfunding for the Between Pro units Status Audio did actually listen to the people – doubling down on features such as impressive battery life, active noise canceling, and wireless charging.
These Between 3ANC unit offers a range of features then, but can they ultimately justify their high price tag? And are they worth looking into for gamers? Well, read on.
Out of the box, they’re eye-catching. Despite boasting a design that’s a little boxier than your usual airpod apeing look, they’re lighter than you’d expect and the case that houses (and charges) them has a nice matte finish.
The bluetooth connectivity was simple and pretty easy to set up on our phone – but one of the more notable elements of this feature is that you can connect to two devices simultaneously. Not massively unique nowadays, but very welcome especially when we were switching between our phone and Steam Deck.Â
Once you gave the earbuds connected the sound from them is impressive to say the least. Boasting a hybrid triple drive system, these pump out serious noise compared to many earbuds we’ve tried.
It’s not just unrefined noise though, but often feels like you have a mini home surround sound system set up around your head. It’s impressive with videos but we found these came into their own when playing a more complex title – such as online arena shooters or MOBAs.
This is down to the onboard hybrid system that utilises a 6-mic array, which is also a big factor in their noise canceling technology – which worked flawlessly during our time with them.Â
The build quality of the earbuds is also solid, as despite being lighter than you’d expect, they survived any unfortunate drops off the desk they experienced, and never felt like they were slowly falling apart – an issue we’ve encountered with cheaper units, and even ones in the same price range.
One issue we encountered was controlling things via touching the sides of the earbuds, and they were a little temperamental at times. We’ve found this to be a common issue with earbuds like these, yet it would be nice to see a solid and workable alternative to small buttons – which are still much more preferable in our eyes at this stage.
However the battery life is solid enough, and we managed to get over 10 hours of play time on one charge. The earbuds are simple to charge wirelessly with the included case too.
There’s even a dedicated mobile app to use to adjust audio settings on the headphones, something which is a nice extra feature – but perhaps won’t be something non-audiophiles will get much out of.
But we don’t think that’s the target market for these earbuds, and with the price that’s to be expected. The Between 3ANC justify their high price if you utilize the extra features – such as accompanying app – but more casual users may want to weigh things up before taking the plunge on these over more insubstantial offerings.
You can find more about the Between 3ANC units right here.
