These are very good, bordering on excellent, earbuds. I bought them to replace some Skullycandy Push Active “earhook” earbuds. Why didn’t I get a replacement set of Skullcandy earbuds? The fit of the Skullycandy’s were just not right, and the charging case died after about a year and a half. Now, I use them a lot, so I don’t expect a charging case to last 5 years, but just 18 months???
So, the positives: 1) The size and fit (5*)—the earbuds are very small, and the hinged ear-hooks are AWESOME; 2) The ease of setting them up on Android devices—I’m not an Apple user (5*); 3) The overall sound quality (5*)--you cannot expect the Boston Symphony on something the size of a nickel; and 4) The phone app (5*)—it’s easy to use and not cluttered with a bunch of nonsense. I especially liked the ability to reassign the buttons to functions that you might want to use more in your own world.
Now, the “negatives”: These aren’t really negatives per se; but I’m calling out a couple of things for future purchasers. First, although Anker claims that these are noise cancelling, they are not. You will shut out a bit of ambient noise, but, if you really want noise cancelling, then drop the 300 or 400 bucks and get yourself a set of Sony or Bose complete over-the-ear headsets. If you are buying these solely because of the noise-canceling claim, then move on. The only other drawback is that the case, while small (a good thing for a pocket or for traveling), doesn’t seem very sturdy. We’ll see how it holds up. Of course, the Skullcandy case stopped charging in less than two years, so my personal bar is pretty low on this quality aspect.
Finally, I ordered the “off white” set. They are actually a bit more on the beige side, and that’s just great. They don’t stand out like a bright white or bright red neon sign.
