Tech reviews

Status Between 3ANC review: stunning and with solid ANC, but forget tailoring


Status Between 3ANC: Two-minute review

How to differentiate yourself in a sea of Apple AirPods impersonators? Create a bold, angular, wide-stemmed design in “bone”, with easy on-ear volume that could never be mistaken for an Apple product – that’s how. Then, pack the earpieces with three drivers per earbud (dual-balanced armature drivers; one 10mm dynamic driver) and add six mics in total, dotted around the striking design, to boast a whopping 38dB of active noise cancellation. 

It’s a compelling proposition. That last claim alone makes these some of the best noise-cancelling earbuds on the market. If all you want to know is whether that noise-nixing assertion holds water, we don’t mind spilling the tea early: it does. You can only choose “on” or “off” mind, but when the ANC toggle is switched to on, the rest of the world all but melts away – yes, it’s that good. Also, they’re surprisingly comfortable and the sound quality is more than acceptable; big, expansive and zealous, although lacking an extra ounce of dynamic sensitivity. 

This New York outfit says it never compromises on the drivers within its products – and it shows. Battery life is also highly competitive, at eight hours with ANC switched on (the same as that offered by the new Sony WF-1000XM5) and 30 hours in the case (which betters the 24-hour total in Sony’s latest progeny). Plus, it’s nice to see wireless charging and an IPX5 water-resistance rating on the spec-sheet, too.

The thing is, gazing at this same spec sheet (and the companion app), you can’t help but notice a few omissions. There are no fit or hearing tests; no branded, spatial audio side-sauce such as 360 Reality Audio, THX, Dolby or Dirac; no sound zones; no auto-off and no voice-enhancing sidetone or “Hear My Voice” tech during calls. 

Status Between 3ANC earbud held in hand

The bud may look an oddly sharp shape, but the Status are very comfortable (Image credit: Future)

Neither do you get LDAC, aptX Low Latency or, in fact, support for any of the higher-resolution Bluetooth codecs, which is a shame. However, you do get multi-point connectivity to two devices, which works well. 



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