Status Audio Between 3ANC Wireless Earbuds

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I’ve been away enduring the summer heat, and while I was out from the office I also lived with the Between 3ANC Earbuds from Status Audio. These wireless earphones are seemingly like many other premium options but there are notable differences. chief among them is utilization of a robust triple driver setup which is not what you’d normally expect from your typical earbuds. There’s a lot to appreciate if style and better-than-average audio are at the top of your list.

Styling, Function & Battery Life

Let’s jump in and talk appearance since that’s the first thing you’ll notice about the Between 3ANC. It certainly makes a statement with a contrasting color theme that sports a silver base with either an Onyx (black) or Bone (off-white) top. The overall shape is relatively thin and flat, without any sharp edges for a organic look. Somehow even with the additional sound drivers the 3ANC is compact and doesn’t protrude past the earlobe, and the tips can be manually swapped for small, medium, and large canals.

The top has controls on both left and right sides, where a quick tap on either button handles playback and call management, and a double tap adjusts volume, specifically left to lower and right raising it respectively. Pressing and holding the buttons navigates tracks, with left going backward and right skipping forward. Doing a triple tap on either ear activates your connected device’s voice assistant.

The styling cues also extend to the rechargeable case where the earbuds are housed and are color-matched to whatever 3ANC model you pick. If you owned any modern earbuds then you already have a good idea on how it operates, all you need to do is connect the base via USB-C with the included cable and set the earbuds inside (which are magnetic to reduce fumbling around) to give them more juice which only an hour or so to get it back to full power. Status says you can expect 12 hours from a full charge, I got really close at 11.5 hours before being alerted that they were about to die.

Performance

Fit and feeling is exactly what you’d expect, not too obtrusive but you know they’re seated inside your ears—there’s nothing bad but comfort is about average for a $199 pair of earbuds. The signature attribute for the Between 3ANC though is the performance despite its emphasis on being bass heavy. I’d say that these earbuds provide clear and deliberate audio, but not necessarily accurate in neutral profile and accuracy for audiophile listening. Low frequency response is where these earbuds do their best work with their triple 10mm driver arrangement minimizing distortion and unfavorable drop-off with experimental and rock genres.

Instrumentals in songs that put bass in the background provide a decent sense of depth, although drums no matter how they come in heavier almost to a fault, with audible warmth being the primary sound signature. Status obviously chose dynamics over precision, but the bigger details are great if you prefer music that comes in on the highs over softer vocals and lighter percussions. Hip-Hop is where the 3ANC excels with synth, hisses, strikes exhibit some boost to drive home bass frequencies. Vocals, at least to my ears are good and delivered cleanly, however nuances and sibilance take a backseat with little holding up the midrange. Again, it doesn’t sound bad, but the bright highs and intense lows are prioritized without any way of adjustment—you get what you get here.

Microphone

Communication is also fantastic with the mic picking up every word I say when talking on the phone. I normally hate wireless Bluetooth even if it’s the latest version (v5.2) but distortion was nearly eliminated, and conversation quality was clear enough that the people I talked with didn’t know I was wireless. Of course, embedded features like active noise cancelling and environmental noise reduction also helped too.

Conclusion

There you have it, I used Status Audio’s Between 3ANC Earbuds throughout the summer and they held up nicely. They exude style, intuitive controls, and can handle the hot, humid, and swampy elements thanks to its IPX5 liquid resistance rating. More importantly, these earphones sound good and deliver powerful audio with its three internal drivers for each ear, although the end result isn’t exactly a accurate profile to match. Despite this, the Between 3ANC are far from average do stand out from the hundreds of other generic wireless earbuds already on the market.