Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsBoomy Low End
Reviewed in Canada on July 16, 2023
In an attempt to find which was the best, I tested the Soundcore Life Q30, Life Q35 and Space Q45.
I'm a bit of an audiophile but I'm also notoriously cheap. So Soundcore, being a brand that I feel delivers good sound quality for value, was my first choice when choosing over-ear headphones. I have a couple of their in-ear headphones (Soundcore Liberty 2 Pro and Liberty 3 Pro) and I have been very happy with their sound quality and, most particularly, their custom EQ options available on the Soundcore App.
I was looking for a set of headphones that, of course, sounded great but also sounded reasonably good when connected passively with an aux cable. They would be used mostly as a passive set of headphones for monitoring a digital drum set and guitar multi-effects pedal. I wasn't interested in using ANC while in aux mode because it introduces a slight amount of delay to the audio signal.
First I tried the Life Q30. The sound when connected via bluetooth was reasonable. But rather boomy and lacking in clarity and definition. ANC functioned reasonably well and transparency mode was very clear as well. When connected to an aux cable, the sound was muddy and bass heavy. With little to no definition and clarity. I returned them and decided to try the next model up...
The Life Q35 were a noticeable improvement over the Q30's in sound quality via bluetooth. The clarity and definition were improved, but the boomyness remained. No amount of EQ could tame the low-end. ANC functioned reasonably well and transparency mode was also very clear. I also encountered some issues with some devices not syncing audio correctly with this model that I had never experienced before with other bluetooth headphones. When connected to an aux cable, the sound was almost identical to the Q30. This was disappointing because it leads me to assume that the drivers in both the Q30 and Q35 are probably identical.
After returning the Q35's, the Space Q45's went on sale and I decided to give them a try. The sound quality via bluetooth was the best overall (to my liking). Boomyness had been replace with more clarity. If you like the boomy sound, it can be achieved via the "Bass-Up" option in the Soundcore app. Although the sound was improved, it was nowhere near as good to my ears as the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro earbuds. ANC was best overall and transparency worked well initially. However, I was prompted to install an updated firmware on the Soundcore app, which rendered transparency almost unusable. Sound via the aux input was reasonable and clear. But was still a bit disappointing. So, in the end, I returned them. And I have decided to stick to using my Liberty 3 Pro earbuds for wireless listening (which are excellent) and I will look for a pair of regular, passive, over-ear studio headphones for wired listening.