The Status Between 3ANC earbuds offers a sleek look and solid sound (especially for the price), but may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Status Audio is all about simplicity and emphasizing function over form. Featuring a minimalist design style, they want their headsets to be more about the experience for listeners than branding. One of their newest releases brings active noise cancelling to their wireless earbuds, with the Between 3ANC.
Recently, they gave me the chance to try out the newer product. After a couple weeks of solid use, I’m here to share my overall thoughts. Let’s break it down!
Look and Feel
Before we get into the nitty gritty of the specs, let’s talk about how it looks. The Between 3ANC comes in a couple different colors: Bone (white) and Onyx (black). I was sent the Bone colored one, and right out of the box, they feel…fancy. That’s the best word I can think of. While the design is all about being minimal, it still evokes that sense of elegance/sophistication.
For all intents and purposes when you open these up, they look like fancy, expensive, tech. I know that shouldn’t matter, but they do look sleek even with the simple aesthetic it’s goes for.
Everything you need to get started is included in the—surprisingly tiny—box. There’s the charging/carrying case, the earbuds themselves, instructions, charging cord, and a set of three different ear tips (12mm, 13mm, 15mm) that also have a companion “fitwing” piece as well. This is to ensure that you can size the buds to your specific comfort zone, and even mix and match (each set comes with left and right options) to ensure the best fit possible.
The only thing that’s a little “off” with the look, is how far they stick out. They’re like little fins popping out from your ears, almost as if you’re a robot creature from a cheesy 50s Sci-Fi flick. I can’t say that they’re bad, just takes some getting used to. More than once, I accidentally caught the lip of a bud while doing stuff and inadvertently flicked it out of my ear.
I’m not sure if it’s due to them sticking out, but the buds have a tendency to rotate around in your ear over time (especially while working out or doing something physical). It’s not a dealbreaker, but can be a tad annoying to have to stop and readjust.
Let me get this out of the way, and make it abundantly clear this is 100% a me thing. I cannot stand having things in my ear. It just…doesn’t work well for me and why I mostly use over the ear headsets. About the only reason I can tolerate the AirPods (and refuse to upgrade to the “Pro” models), is because they largely just sit there.
That’s not the case with the 3ANC, as the silicone earbud tips pretty much fill up the space within your ear. It just…it’s weird to me. Combine that with the fitwing pieces and the buds sit snuggly into your ears, almost “sealing” them off.
Considering a primary function of the 3ANC‘s are the active noise cancellation, that type of snug fit is exactly what you want. So in that regard, it’s doing exactly what it should be doing, and all things considered I can’t say it’s uncomfortable. Much as I dislike the overall feeling, they never once felt uncomfortable, or that they hurt/left my ears feeling sore when I was done and took them out.
This said, if you don’t have any random ear-sensory related issues, you won’t have any issues with the comfort level of these buds.
Functionality
Let’s take a look at how the Between 3ANC‘s actually work. After all, that’s a smidge more important than how they look! For reference, I’ve been using the 3ANC earbuds exclusively for the last couple weeks (instead of my normal AirPods). That means I’ve been working out with them, making calls, and watching some movies.
Quick Specs – Here’s a rough breakdown of the general specifications you’re looking at with these earbuds:
Driver: Triple driver system (10mm dynamic/2x Balanced Armature)
Sensitivity: 105 dB SPL/mW
Frequency response: 5hz-25,000hz
Bluetooth: 5.2
ANC: Yes
Battery life: 8 hours (ANC on) / 12 hours (ANC off)
Water resistance: IPX5 waterproof rating
6x External Microphones
Touch controls
Wireless Charging
Multiple EQ settings
Transparency mode
Multipoint Connectivity
I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty of all these (mostly because I would not be the best person for that), but the earbuds largely deliver on the company’s promise. I’ve actually found the battery life to be a bit longer than what’s listed on the box which is pretty impressive.
It’s easy to pair the earbuds with any Bluetooth device, and once it’s done, you won’t have to worry about re-pairing them every time you want to use them. Simply flip open the lid and it starts working with the device you’ve paired it to.
The water resistance feature is nice, but don’t think you’re going swimming with them. The primary function of that is to protect from sweat so you can wear them while doing something physical. If it can handle my sweaty self from running in Texas in the Summer, I have no doubts it can survive even the sweatiest of workouts.
The charging of the case itself is relatively fast and can be done with either the included cord, or wirelessly. I didn’t have issues with either. I will note I’ve seen others mention having some concerns with the case itself, in that the buds don’t always make the right contact/connection and thus aren’t charging. Personally speaking, I haven’t experienced that problem, but I also haven’t seen a set of wireless buds that HAVEN’T had that to some degree (Apple included).
Controls – The Between 3ANC has some neat control options. The physical buttons on the top toggle between ANC and transparency mode (which I’ll talk about shortly), allowing you the ease of turning it off and on as needed. With additional presses, however, you can check the battery level, activate the voice assistant on your device, or even power off the whole thing.
The metallic parts on the sides act as touch controls. From those you can adjust volume up and down, pause playback, jump forward/skip a track, and answer or reject phone calls. In all, it’s built to be completely usable without having to go back to your phone (or whatever device you’re connected to).
While it takes a little bit to get the timing down (I kept accidentally hitting pause when I wanted to skip a track), all of these functions work incredibly well. It’s more intuitive than I thought it would be initially, and it wasn’t long before I’d go whole workouts without so much as glancing at my phone. I simply didn’t need to.
Beyond that, there is a companion app you can use, which allows you make some adjustments to the device. Through the app, you can adjust the audio to your preferences (including a custom equalizer), and even make presets you can swap between. So if you have different preferences for listening to music, watching a movie, or participating in conference calls, you can flip to the preset you’ve made.
It’s neat, and a solid feature, but other than that the app is relatively bare bones on features. You can’t change up the controls or anything like that. One thing I’d love to be able to adjust, is having some sort of auto-off feature when they aren’t in your ear. If a bud falls out, the playback doesn’t pause…it just keeps going.
Pretty much, until you put them back in the case and close it, they’ll stay connected to your device…I may have missed a phone call or two after a workout when I set the buds on my desk to “dry out” before putting them in the case.
How it Sounds – By and large, I can’t find any complaints in terms of how they sound. I watched a number of movies (I do that instead of music while working out), and found the audio very immersive. It picks up on the lower noises, the minor sound effects, while prioritizing all the right aspects. The result is feeling about as close to surround sound viewing as I’ve had with anything other than a full headset.
Phone calls were…fine. I’m not saying they’re bad, far from it. Just, with a total of six microphones (three in each bud), I was expecting something…more. Regardless, there really isn’t much to worry about if you’re looking for something that sounds great and does an excellent job of blocking out extraneous noises. That said, the ANC isn’t perfect…
ANC/Transparency – The main feature of these buds are the Active Noise Cancelling. Hell, it’s in the NAME of the earbuds. I’ve had the chance to check out some elite gaming headsets that also featured ANC, and came away thoroughly impressed. It’s an interesting concept that essentially uses microphones to listen to external noises, and uses the technology to invert them; effectively cancelling the soundwaves out as they come in. In theory, being dynamic allows it to catch frequencies regular muffs wouldn’t.
In practice, it’s a bit more difficult when it comes to wireless earbuds. Even with the various sizing tips included, it’s tough to get that “perfect” seal needed for true ANC. The result is something always manages to slip through. While I would certainly argue it’s better than no ANC at all, it’s not as impressive as one would hope.
The transparency mode works largely as intended. When this is enabled, the external mics allow the outside noise in so that you can carry on conversations and such without having to remove the earbuds.
The biggest problem I had with this, is that it still filters out audio once it gets above a certain level. I have a very loud/boisterous laugh. So when I was chatting with people and I started laughing, they cancellation would kick in and I’d miss part of the conversation. It’s more of a minor issue, but it was off putting every time it happened.
Overall, the Between 3ANC is a solid wireless earbud experience. The sound is great and I loved watching movies with them (even with my weird ear sensory issues). The amount of controls you have built within the buds themselves are a highlight for me and a major reason I’ll keep using these day-to-day. For a $200-250 device, however, I do wish the titular ANC function was a bit more robust.
The Between 3ANC wireless earbuds are available now and you can pick some up—plus learn more about them—directly from Status. They’re also available via other retailers in store and online.
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