The Life Q30 are charged via USB-C and have a stated battery life of up to 60 hours when ANC is turned off and 40 hours when it’s on. That 60-hour figure puts the Life Q30 top of the pile of any over-ear ANC headphones I’ve tested, while the 40 hours when ANC is active is only matched by the Urbanista Miami. I spent a fortnight using the Life Q30 as my primary headphones and impressively, they still had some juice left in them by the end of testing. None whatsoever. When watching videos, the audio is perfectly in sync, regardless of what operating system you use. The build quality really is very impressive, especially for such an affordable pair of headphones, and the outside of the earcups looks classy in particular, where the design evokes a vinyl record, with the OneOdio logo in the centre. Yes, there's some plastic mixed in with the silicon and metal, but it doesn't feel or look cheap at all.

Firstly, these headphones have impressed us with the build quality and design. The unit feels really quite premium and all the buttons are nice to press. The ear padding is very comfortable and the cups fit comfortably over all types of ears. I have some reservations about the controls. For starters, the volume buttons are inverted, whereas the bottom button increases volume and vice versa. As for stability, these headphones aren’t meant to be used in a gym. The clamping force isn’t strong enough to securely keep them on your head. Welcome to the @regancipher review of OneOdio's over-ear hybrid ANC headphones, the upgraded for 2022 Focus A10. With the glut of TWS passing through the RC test bench, it has been a while since I've documented a review of a wired/wireless headphone here at Headfi - the last ones being the Soundcore Q series and Tronsmart Apollo Q10 - but the competitive price and impressive feature set definitely catch the eye with the A10, and with OneOdio being a specialist over-ear vendor, rather than a TWS manufacturer going off on a tangent, this has been a review I've been really looking forward to doing, having put the product rigorously through it's paces over the course of the last few weeks.

TL;DR: recap

Like with many affordable headphones, these too change their sound when you enable noise cancellation. Onto the audio, and as you can see from the graph, OneOdio have gone with a very upper-mid-centric 'monitor-style' tuning which favours a clean, lean sound signature, giving prominence to female vocals and instruments with a very gentle and lightweight lower frequency response. The nicely judged balance between bass and treble was obvious in the new album by The Slow Readers Club, “Joy of the Return”. The definition between the driving bass lines and guitar riffs that typify the recent work of this Manchester band was spot on.

Also, considering the overall frequency response of these headphones, I’ve found out that the mids are (somewhat) clear and neutral while the bass is fully overexaggerated. Don’t get me wrong, there’s powerful bass to drive most pop songs and EDMs, but it’s unnatural and needs more nuance. Included with the headphones are a carrying case, which isn’t of the highest quality but fulfils its function perfectly well, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable and a 3.5mm audio cable that can be plugged into the right earcup for wired listening. The timbre is on the colder side of natural, and this works well with most music styles, especially electronic 80's & 90's from the likes of Tears for Fears and Seal. Switching ANC on/off doesn't have a huge impact on the sound in the way we often see it tightening the sound up on TWS. Using the headphones in wired over wireless gives you the benefit of Hi-Res Audio, and for me I did notice an upturn in the sound when plugging a cable in. Everything feels a little tighter, and the volume seems a little quieter, so you may have to crank it up a little louder.OneOdio boasts up to 50 hours of battery life and my real-world usage got very close to that, sitting at around 45 hours. That’s quite a good achievement, especially considering the price! Sound & Specs The A10 have a very natural, fresh tonality and head stage, with good width and depth. The focus on the midrange, with a recessed lower frequency response permits a perceived sense of depth and positioning, and allows for good separation - it's easy to separate instruments and locate exactly where they are around you. I tested with a number of different genres and found imaging to be very accurate throughout. Despite the clean nature to the sound signature, trebles are not too bright - there's texture and finesse to tams, shakers and cymbals, without ever sounding shrill or edgy.

Though she is still writing for Android Authority, she went on to start writing for MakeUseOf, KOINO IT Solutions, and, of course, Review Geek. Moreover, the imaging is also quite good but not pinpoint accurate. There are some blurry spots in between channels, but nothing that would ruin your listening experience. OneOdio A30 Frequency Response The default tuning is great, however, the occasional sibilance can be too much for more sensitive users. Bass is to the fore, although sometimes just a little woolly but there’s plenty of detail to be heard as long as the source is good. The carrying case is well-designed and does a satisfying job protecting the headphones. It’s a hard shell case with a zipper running around the case — you’re supposed to open it up like a book.

What’s in the Box?

The app offers a couple of other neat features, too. You can discover new music and stream it in the app via Soundcore’s streaming partner LÜM. This is a platform developed for independent artists and is well worth exploring if you fancy broadening your musical horizons. There’s also a Sleep Mode option, which provides you with a selection of ambient sounds that can be blended together to create a soundscape to drift off to. The tech is fun to play around with but the Life Q30 aren’t headphones you’re going to want to fall asleep wearing so it’s unlikely to see much use. Anker Soundcore Life Q30 review: What could be improved? There’s an old adage when it comes to buying headphones: affordability, sound quality, bells and whistles – choose any two. If you want to get a better handle on the competition, we’ve got a comprehensive roundup of all the best budget headphones and a price-agnostic roundup of the best Bluetooth headphones. The problem with the sound with ANC on is that the upper midrange and treble are too boosted and therefore too harsh.

On the other hand, extra bass from the ANC OFF mode helps balance out that slightly aggressive higher frequencies. Treble For controls, the Life Q30 primarily rely on physical buttons located on the outer sections of both earcups. On the left cup you’ll find the power button along with the “NC” button, which cycles through the three sound modes on offer: normal, transparency and noise-cancelling. Now is as good a time as any to consider noise-cancelling headphones because the once-wide gap between Bose and other audio manufacturers has shrunk enough to allow for some serious competition in the space. Bose still offers some of the best ANC on the market, but several other brands are now highly competitive. Beyond that, many of the options here offer sound signatures that you might prefer over what you get from Bose, along with better apps that allow for more customization of the audio and ANC experiences.

Dual-Device Bluetooth Connection

The 2300 chipset allows for support of AAC and SBC - there's no LDAC support sadly, but it's possible to meet the Hi-Res Standard (as we mentioned previously) by using the headphones in wired mode.