Anker SoundBuds Slim Bluetooth Headphones

I recently picked up a pair of Anker SoundBuds Slim Bluetooth Headphones. My current iPhone X and previous iPhone 7 Plus don’t have a headphone jack so it’s time to shift to wireless Bluetooth headphones.

The Apple EarPods that come with the iPhone X use a Lighting port connector, but I never really have liked the sound nor fit of Apple’s earphones. The EarPods don’t fit my ears correctly and hurt when I put them in. That leaves their using the Apple 3.5 mm to Lighting Adapter with standard earphones / headset or going wireless. The Apple adapters work and I do use them but they are a pain. They are easy to lose and don’t survive a trip through the laundry.

I’m not ready to spend $160 on a pair of Apple’s wireless AirPods. While I haven’t tried them, I don’t think they will fit my ears as the design is similar to the EarPods and at $160 they will be painful to replace if lost.

So I decided to try out an inexpensive pair of Anker SoundBuds Slim Bluetooth Headphones. I bought them on Amazon for $26. I picked up the black ones, but I checked today and they have red and blue ones for $19. I might have went for red or blue to save the $6 bucks if I saw that.

For $19 or $26, I wasn’t expecting much. I wouldn’t expect much from a wired headset at the same price and these are Bluetooth. Checking out the box, they list Total Hold (stay in your ear), a 7 hour battery life, and water resistance as the key features. On the back of the box, it says there is a 18 month warranty.

For $26, they certainly come with a lot of stuff in the box. You get the SoundBuds, a shirt clip, and fit clip to adjust the cable length around your neck. The SoundBuds come in a storage pouch. They also include a number of different sized Ear Tips and Ear Hooks. I counted three sets of tips and hooks in the bags and one set installed on the buds themselves. Looks like there are Xtra Small, Small, Medium, and Large Tips and Small, Medium, and Large Ear Hooks. There is also a short microUSB to USB-A charging cables, but no charger.

The SoundBuds shipped with the battery partially charged. I was able to turn them on and pair them with my iPhone 6s very easily. The SoundBuds have a three button control with volume up, volume down, and a play / pause button. I tried out all the buttons using the YouTube app and they all worked well.

I initially tried the SoundBuds with the default Ear Tips and Ear Hooks and found they didn’t fit. I removed the Ear Hooks and thought they fit better. I’ll need to spend more time trying to fit the Tips and Hooks. The User manual shows how to properly insert the SoundBuds into your ears.

So far, I have found these to be perfectly acceptable for watching videos and listening to audio podcasts. I need to spend more time listening to music to get a better idea about how they sound. I also still need to try out the headset feature on a few calls.

Updates:
I put the Ear Hooks back on and looked at the manual to see how to put the SoundBuds in my ear. The hold in place and fit better once I did this.

I spent some time listening to music with these and they resonate bass. I’m not sure how good the bass sounds though. I’ll have to compare it to some other headphones and headsets I have.



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