The Soundcore Anker Life Q20 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones are a top-notch choice for music enthusiasts worldwide. These wireless over-ear Bluetooth headphones have caught the attention of over 20 million people with their exceptional sound quality. The Life Q20’s custom oversized 40 mm dynamic drivers produce Hi-Res Audio, allowing you to hear every detail with exceptional clarity.
The Life Q20’s digital active noise cancellation algorithm and four built-in ANC microphones have been fine-tuned through over 100,000 real-life scenario tests, reducing ambient noise by up to 90%. The exclusive BassUp technology instantly strengthens bass output, resulting in an amplified listening experience, especially for bass-heavy genres like EDM and hip-hop.
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Rebecca –
The headphones overall are great for the price, the sounds is very good, they look good and ANC works. I have a few issues with them, the left earcup is a little bigger then the right and the pad is not evenly attached to the headphones. Also the ANC works pretty good except for the fact that when turned on if you move your head too fast or walk too hard you get a loud cracking sound at every move but this doesn’t happen if ANC is off. Overall the headphones are great, if it wasn’t for those few little flaws I would give it 5 stars.
Stephane –
Headphone good lasting battery. Very good sound and I’m someone picky when it come to that. I have purchase 1 pair for me and two pair for my parents . The only fall when listening to the headphone is when you move your head that may hear at time the plastic moving that are holding the cup and make sound in your ears. The cups are not well insulated from the internal noise free from the movement of the headset. Blocking sound from the outside is good from the noise cancellation but not from the headset movement . It’s fine again if you don’t move much while watching a movie but if you walk around the house if you would walk outside then I think the headphone would poor in my book to hear this tugging noise more to the right cup. Again this is on my test from 3 pairs ordered in the same week .2 silver pair and 1 black pair . They all did the same effect . As you can see I would advertise this headphone more to my friends and family but after buying 3 pairs and having to see that they all do the same . Again if your looking at sitting and watching tv or listening to music stationary then you will play but if your looking at walking and moving lots then I would not get this pair . Overall 2/5 stars but sound 5 stars noise cancellation 4 stars and battery life 5 stars .
Jordan Pon –
Let me start off by explaining my use-case for these headphones.I was in the market looking for something to be a good accompaniment to my brand new Oculus Quest 2. I planned on sharing the play experience with some friends, so earbuds were out of the question for sanitary reasons. I wasn’t looking for stupidly-expensive headphones to have to play some VR games, but wanted something decent so Beat Saber would sound better haha. Previously, I had bought these $15 Panasonic headphones that had banger reviews, but once they arrived, I put them on, turned on some music, and instantly boxed it back up. Trash. So back to Amazon I went to look for something that’s more bang-for-your-buck. I stumbled upon a bunch of non-mainstream headphones and then eventually to these. I have some Anker chargers and stuff but I never knew Anker made audio hardware, so I thought I’d read some reviews and try them out since they were on sale for $45 vs. their $60 MSRP. I knew now that if I wanted even the slightest decency in quality, I’d have to spend more than $15 haha.Next, let me explain my experience in audio hardware.I wouldn’t consider myself a professional audiophile, but I know good sound when I hear it. My most expensive pair of headphones are my Sennheiser HD 650 for when I dabble in music production or want listen to music at the highest quality pair with my FiiO portable amp interface, my pair of Sony MDR-V6 (my favorite pair of headphones/ studio monitors and ol’ faithful), Sennheiser CX 5.00i (hands-down best-sounding and most-balanced earbuds), 2 pairs of Sennheiser CX 300 (best-sounding alternative to the 5.00i), Beats Studio (trash), Beats Solo HD (even more trash), airpods 1st gen, and various pairs of earpods lying around. Hopefully that gives you a small glimpse of how much high-quality audio means to me…or how stupid I am for owning a couple pairs of Beats…NOW FOR THE BREAKDOWN ——Sound Quality —- 8/10These are actually quite above decent! The price is just a bonus. I’d say the quality as normal headphones for listening to music and gaming, they’re perfect. Crisp highs and good lows (with a bit of a default bass-enhancement). The mids could use a bit of work but to be honest, for $45 this is prob some of the best sound you can get at this price-point. Pretty much what a lot of these reviews say. Heck, these may be better than/ as good as most name-brand $100-200. I’ve used various Bose Quiet Comfort series headphones ($300+) and haven’t been impressed with their sound quality. I would say these sound just as good, if not better, than Bose QC headphones, as controversial as that may be to say haha. Another comparison is against my airpods, which I consider pretty good-sounding. I would say these are about the same as airpods, but with added bass and optional added bass on top of that. Beats muddle everything else with their added bass, while these don’t IMO. Overall, sound quality on these is solid and for under $60, I would say is a steal.DO NOT USE FOR MUSIC PRODUCTION OR AS STUDIO MONITORSI only say this because there are reasons that these are just meant for listening. There are drivers in these that may not sit well with production hardware, such as an amplified audio interface, preamps, or other equipment. When I plugged this into my FiiO via the provided aux cable, the sound became unbalanced. It’s probably because it wasn’t meant to take in more power than it was built with, so better to leave these headphones vanilla than add anything else to them. Use them for listening or gaming and you should experience optimal sound quality. Oh and also, DON’T EVER BUY BEATS. These headphones sound eons better than any of the Beats products that I’ve owned/ tried, including the discontinued $400 Beats Pro.Comfort —- 10/10These are also quite comfortable. I’ve worn it as long as 3-hour time period so far and the sides of my head/ ears weren’t sore like after long wears of my Sennheiser HD 650s. Just like my Sony MDR-V6s they are foldable, so that may have something to do with the flexibility of its entirety. My Sennheiser HD 650s are non-foldable, and that’s a big drawback for those :'(. The memory foam pads covered with faux leather allows the headphones to comfortably conform to your head shape. The only thing I can really compare the comfort to is the Beats Studio, which surprisingly, despite their build quality, are pretty comfortable. Overall, I feel like these would fit most heads and provide almost universal comfort.Features —- meh, not much to talk aboutReally the only added features are the optional bass-boost and active noise canceling (ANC). The optional bass-boost isn’t bad, it just doesn’t do much for me because bass is already enhanced right outta the box. So if you’re into bass-boosted and bass-heavy music, these will be quite pleasant for sure! The ANC also doesn’t really do much for me since I listen to my music loud enough to drown out pretty much everything anyway. But, when I turn it on without music playing, it does do something. It’s not quite as effective as the Bose QC headphones, but I think it works pretty well in most loud situations. I just haven’t used it on a plane yet haha. The volume control buttons have an annoying beep every time you press + or – , but whatever. This actually sucks- you can’t use the headphones while they’re charging, even wired. Ridiculous, I know. But hey, can’t have everything, right? Big oof on Anker’s end on that.Aesthetics —- 6/10Not gonna lie, these are pretty generic looking headphones. They don’t have some revolutionary design to it, but they look like your average good-looking generic headphones. They aren’t flashy like Beats or Airpods (or probably the upcoming Airpods Studio) but they don’t look bad at all. They’re just…normal. But, I did only get the black pair, so maybe the gray one looks better in different settings. Don’t let this be a deal-breaker, though.Connectivity —- 6/10Wired, these things are perfect. The provided cable could be longer, but that’s nothing against the headphones themselves. Just buy an extender or a longer cable online for like $10 or less. THE ONLY REASON I’M KNOCKING OFF A STAR is because of what a lot of people are complaining about: the choppiness and clicking of the Bluetooth connectivity. Every now and then the headphones will click or have that split-second static noise while I’m listening via bluetooth. It’s not often, but happens enough to dock a start off. Now, I could just return these and try to get another pair, but I’m too lazy and don’t really care too much about the clipping every now and then, so that’s on me. But, it’s a problem a lot of other reviewers are complaining about so it’s a legitimate issue. The range is fine so far. I’ve been able to walk 30 ft. away without any clipping issues. I’ve also used these for video calls and they work just fine with no clipping.Conclusion —- Overall grade: 9/10You may or may not find headphones this great-sounding at this price-point or even a step up in price-point, but then again I haven’t tried every single pair of headphones on the market. But I can say with confidence that these stack up pretty well against my studio headphones that I own and I would recommend these to anyone looking for decent-sounding headphones, because with these, you’ll get way more than what you’re looking for. These will definitely be a pleasure to play VR games with and even moreso just listening to music while at home or traveling!Now if you’re looking for decent earbuds, I recommend the Sennheiser CX 5.00i! (If you haven’t noticed, i’m definitely biased towards Sennheiser, but they’re industry-standard and the have the best sounding audio products I’ve ever experience, hands-down)
Stephane –
I really like these Anker headphones but have an issue with them.Pros: They are comfortable, a great value, have a high quality feeling to them. They do reduce ambient noiseCons: minor – reduced ambient noise at the cost of some minor white noise.Major issue is the interference caused by other Bluetooth or Wifi devices. This might be a BT issue but I cannot use these headphones wirelessly while using my laptop with my BT mouse. The audio is so broken, it cannot be listened too. The wired connect solves the audio issue, but defeats the purpose of having a wireless headphone.Overall, really like them but haven’t solved the issue of the audio interference with other BT devices. Cannot seem to “change channels” like you can with WiFi.
Rebecca –
I initially like the headphones (sound quality good for the price), but I quickly realized that when the noise-cancelling mode was on, there was a rattling in my right ear so I decided to return them. The same night I used the headphones, I started to notice my ears feeling itchy and uncomfortable. The next day, I had a severe rash around both my right and left ears (attached). After consulting with my doctor and taking Benedryl every day for a week, the swelling and redness have finally subsided but both ears are still itchy and pink. I would definitely not recommend this product.
Carl Payne –
UPDATE: Added the 5th star. Read the review with edits at the end.Wow. I am rarely this blown away by consumer-grade peripherals, but I feel very compelled to write a glowing review of these headphones.I do a lot of audio work, and cans are ubiquitous. I have some wired Sennies that I love behind the mixer, a couple wired Audio Technicas that have stood the test of time in the broadcast studio, and a pair of nice Sony BT cans with ANC, so I will be comparing these Ankers to the Sony model WH-1000MX3.Without question, Anker has come further, faster, than a lot of peripheral manufacturers. The attention to detail in their products is exceptional, and downright attractive. The build quality is great, the packaging is great, the functionality is great, the ergonomics are great. My experience with their hubs is what leaned me toward their headphones.After a bad experience with in-ear phones on an airplane, I decided I really needed some over-the-ear headphones for flying, but I didn’t want to carry around a $300 pair of cans that I only use a couple dozen times a year. I looked on Amazon, saw the reviews, read the single-star complaints, and plunked down a whopping $60 (SIXTY BUCKS?!?! Are you kidding?) figuring they couldn’t sound that awful and would be perfect for the task.Let me assure you: these are the perfect headphones for flying.I like the idea that if they get lost or stolen, they’re easily replaceable. I love how well they fit (with a caveat, below), and they look great. MOST of all, holy cow do they sound great!Pairing the first time was a little bit of a process, but that’s to be expected the first time you play with a new toy. After that, I put on my go-to sound check song (“Sacrilege,” by Mentallo and the Fixer), cranked the volume way up, and listened.I have no idea what the THD or frequency range on these are, but I don’t think I care. The “silent note” at the 1:00 mark of that song came through so clearly, without even the slightest hiss or noise, that I was madly in love with them immediately. The dynamic range is exceptional, there was no need for me to play with the super-duper-bass-button-doodad, I just let it play.The highs are crisp without tinny tones, the lows are deep without rattling the 40mm drivers (I’d love a set like this with 50mm drivers), just a very clean, direct, simple, uncomplicated sound quality that rivals the AT 500’s I have and is absolutely on-par with the Sonys.So I tested the ANR. I turned on the A/C in my office, reset Sacrilege, and played the beginning again. The A/C, as expected, kinda dampened the experience, but not any worse than the Sonys. I reset the song again, with the A/C on, and activated ANR (it’s called ANC on the Sonys). THIS is where the two headphones differ dramatically.With Noise Cancellation on, the Ankers outperform the Sonys. Period. It’s a night and day difference, so if this is why you’re considering these headphones, waste no more time and go get yourself a pair.In terms of tonal quality, I put these at the top of the list of any wireless earphones anywhere. I mean it. They’re better than ANY earbud type I’ve listened with, they’re better than every other OTE without ANR/ANC, and they’re as good as the Sonys, but with better ANR. They’re better than any WIRED earbud, too, including the Sony IEMs I used to use back when everything had an 1/8″ jack.Sound is, as you would expect, not ‘quite’ as good as the higher-end wired ATs and Sennies. I don’t think Anker would mind me saying that, because they’re a completely different application. If you play MP3s and don’t think they sound worse than lossless files, you wouldn’t appreciate the higher-end phones, so go buy these right away. If you can’t hear compression noise in your satellite radio, then you won’t appreciate the compression of BlueTooth and you should go buy these right away.That’s quite a lot of good stuff to say about a pair of headphones that cost less than a decent dinner.There are 3 reasons for the 4 star review.1. The ear pads are uncomfortable for my ears. Not VERY uncomfortable, but enough that I have to adjust the phones several times during a 3 hour flight. It might be that they’re new and I just need to break them in. If that turns out to be true, I’ll adjust the review up a star.2. The battery life isn’t that great. To be fair, I only need about 12 hours of battery life and I’ll just recharge them. However, the advertised battery life is estimated at 40 hours with ANR and 60 hours without. My experience is that with ANR I get about 22-24 hours, and without I get about 48. Now, I have not had these very long, so I’ve only timed my first recharges, so if it turns out the battery life goes up with proper use, I’ll add the 5th star.3. They don’t fold up as small as the Sonys or even my ATs. This one alone is not worth docking a whole star, but it’s the only other complaint I have. Carry-on space is so limited, and there’s a pocket in my bag that the Sonys fit in, and these don’t (not by much though).Hope that helps you make a decision. I’m very happy with these, and I just might give them some airtime at sea level just for giggles.UPDATE January 2023: After using these headphones for a reasonable amount of time, I’m adding the 5th star. The earphone cushions did “break in,” which I’m not crazy about (if it breaks in, it will break out), but they did become more comfortable. Ordinary movement is sufficient to avoid the urge to move the head phones. On a 3 hour flight, they’re perfectly fine. When they are new, the cushions are a bit stiff and I should have realized that, because my AT’s needed their cushions replaced after umpteen years.Battery-wise, I am getting pretty close to advertised spec, but I have noticed that if you crank up the volume on your phone or player, then crank up the volume on the headphones, the battery life suffers dramatically. Play with it a bit, adjusting device volume and then headphone volume until you get good sound without noise.Finally, I’ll tell you that I like these so much that I bought a BT card for my PC. These are pretty good for videoconferences, and they’re nice to have while you run a buzzsaw or have screaming children next door and you just want to not be distracted. I’ll still prefer my Sennies for mixing, and I still prefer my AT’s for ordinary focused PC work, but these cans are exceptionally good. I cannot get over how good they are, affordable or not.Five stars. When they wear out, or break, or otherwise stop making me smile, I’ll just go buy another set.
Stephane –
I really like these Anker headphones but have an issue with them.Pros: They are comfortable, a great value, have a high quality feeling to them. They do reduce ambient noiseCons: minor – reduced ambient noise at the cost of some minor white noise.Major issue is the interference caused by other Bluetooth or Wifi devices. This might be a BT issue but I cannot use these headphones wirelessly while using my laptop with my BT mouse. The audio is so broken, it cannot be listened too. The wired connect solves the audio issue, but defeats the purpose of having a wireless headphone.Overall, really like them but haven’t solved the issue of the audio interference with other BT devices. Cannot seem to “change channels” like you can with WiFi.
Jordan Pon –
Let me start off by explaining my use-case for these headphones.I was in the market looking for something to be a good accompaniment to my brand new Oculus Quest 2. I planned on sharing the play experience with some friends, so earbuds were out of the question for sanitary reasons. I wasn’t looking for stupidly-expensive headphones to have to play some VR games, but wanted something decent so Beat Saber would sound better haha. Previously, I had bought these $15 Panasonic headphones that had banger reviews, but once they arrived, I put them on, turned on some music, and instantly boxed it back up. Trash. So back to Amazon I went to look for something that’s more bang-for-your-buck. I stumbled upon a bunch of non-mainstream headphones and then eventually to these. I have some Anker chargers and stuff but I never knew Anker made audio hardware, so I thought I’d read some reviews and try them out since they were on sale for $45 vs. their $60 MSRP. I knew now that if I wanted even the slightest decency in quality, I’d have to spend more than $15 haha.Next, let me explain my experience in audio hardware.I wouldn’t consider myself a professional audiophile, but I know good sound when I hear it. My most expensive pair of headphones are my Sennheiser HD 650 for when I dabble in music production or want listen to music at the highest quality pair with my FiiO portable amp interface, my pair of Sony MDR-V6 (my favorite pair of headphones/ studio monitors and ol’ faithful), Sennheiser CX 5.00i (hands-down best-sounding and most-balanced earbuds), 2 pairs of Sennheiser CX 300 (best-sounding alternative to the 5.00i), Beats Studio (trash), Beats Solo HD (even more trash), airpods 1st gen, and various pairs of earpods lying around. Hopefully that gives you a small glimpse of how much high-quality audio means to me…or how stupid I am for owning a couple pairs of Beats…NOW FOR THE BREAKDOWN ——Sound Quality —- 8/10These are actually quite above decent! The price is just a bonus. I’d say the quality as normal headphones for listening to music and gaming, they’re perfect. Crisp highs and good lows (with a bit of a default bass-enhancement). The mids could use a bit of work but to be honest, for $45 this is prob some of the best sound you can get at this price-point. Pretty much what a lot of these reviews say. Heck, these may be better than/ as good as most name-brand $100-200. I’ve used various Bose Quiet Comfort series headphones ($300+) and haven’t been impressed with their sound quality. I would say these sound just as good, if not better, than Bose QC headphones, as controversial as that may be to say haha. Another comparison is against my airpods, which I consider pretty good-sounding. I would say these are about the same as airpods, but with added bass and optional added bass on top of that. Beats muddle everything else with their added bass, while these don’t IMO. Overall, sound quality on these is solid and for under $60, I would say is a steal.DO NOT USE FOR MUSIC PRODUCTION OR AS STUDIO MONITORSI only say this because there are reasons that these are just meant for listening. There are drivers in these that may not sit well with production hardware, such as an amplified audio interface, preamps, or other equipment. When I plugged this into my FiiO via the provided aux cable, the sound became unbalanced. It’s probably because it wasn’t meant to take in more power than it was built with, so better to leave these headphones vanilla than add anything else to them. Use them for listening or gaming and you should experience optimal sound quality. Oh and also, DON’T EVER BUY BEATS. These headphones sound eons better than any of the Beats products that I’ve owned/ tried, including the discontinued $400 Beats Pro.Comfort —- 10/10These are also quite comfortable. I’ve worn it as long as 3-hour time period so far and the sides of my head/ ears weren’t sore like after long wears of my Sennheiser HD 650s. Just like my Sony MDR-V6s they are foldable, so that may have something to do with the flexibility of its entirety. My Sennheiser HD 650s are non-foldable, and that’s a big drawback for those :'(. The memory foam pads covered with faux leather allows the headphones to comfortably conform to your head shape. The only thing I can really compare the comfort to is the Beats Studio, which surprisingly, despite their build quality, are pretty comfortable. Overall, I feel like these would fit most heads and provide almost universal comfort.Features —- meh, not much to talk aboutReally the only added features are the optional bass-boost and active noise canceling (ANC). The optional bass-boost isn’t bad, it just doesn’t do much for me because bass is already enhanced right outta the box. So if you’re into bass-boosted and bass-heavy music, these will be quite pleasant for sure! The ANC also doesn’t really do much for me since I listen to my music loud enough to drown out pretty much everything anyway. But, when I turn it on without music playing, it does do something. It’s not quite as effective as the Bose QC headphones, but I think it works pretty well in most loud situations. I just haven’t used it on a plane yet haha. The volume control buttons have an annoying beep every time you press + or – , but whatever. This actually sucks- you can’t use the headphones while they’re charging, even wired. Ridiculous, I know. But hey, can’t have everything, right? Big oof on Anker’s end on that.Aesthetics —- 6/10Not gonna lie, these are pretty generic looking headphones. They don’t have some revolutionary design to it, but they look like your average good-looking generic headphones. They aren’t flashy like Beats or Airpods (or probably the upcoming Airpods Studio) but they don’t look bad at all. They’re just…normal. But, I did only get the black pair, so maybe the gray one looks better in different settings. Don’t let this be a deal-breaker, though.Connectivity —- 6/10Wired, these things are perfect. The provided cable could be longer, but that’s nothing against the headphones themselves. Just buy an extender or a longer cable online for like $10 or less. THE ONLY REASON I’M KNOCKING OFF A STAR is because of what a lot of people are complaining about: the choppiness and clicking of the Bluetooth connectivity. Every now and then the headphones will click or have that split-second static noise while I’m listening via bluetooth. It’s not often, but happens enough to dock a start off. Now, I could just return these and try to get another pair, but I’m too lazy and don’t really care too much about the clipping every now and then, so that’s on me. But, it’s a problem a lot of other reviewers are complaining about so it’s a legitimate issue. The range is fine so far. I’ve been able to walk 30 ft. away without any clipping issues. I’ve also used these for video calls and they work just fine with no clipping.Conclusion —- Overall grade: 9/10You may or may not find headphones this great-sounding at this price-point or even a step up in price-point, but then again I haven’t tried every single pair of headphones on the market. But I can say with confidence that these stack up pretty well against my studio headphones that I own and I would recommend these to anyone looking for decent-sounding headphones, because with these, you’ll get way more than what you’re looking for. These will definitely be a pleasure to play VR games with and even moreso just listening to music while at home or traveling!Now if you’re looking for decent earbuds, I recommend the Sennheiser CX 5.00i! (If you haven’t noticed, i’m definitely biased towards Sennheiser, but they’re industry-standard and the have the best sounding audio products I’ve ever experience, hands-down)