The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are budget-friendly over-ear headphones. They stand out from the pack, thanks to their noise cancelling (ANC) system, which has three different noise isolation settings, so you can find one that's best suited for the environment around you. They also have a companion app, which offers a graphic EQ and presets to help you customize your listening experience, and support handy features like multi-device pairing.
TheĀ Anker Life Q30 are decent for neutral sound. Out of the box, they have an excited, V-shaped sound profile that delivers intense thump and boom, which is good for fans of genres like rock, but might not please listeners who prefer a flatter sound. Their treble delivery can also vary depending on the fit and seal, and their soundstage feels closed-off and not very spacious. That said, their companion app offers a graphic EQ and presets so you can adjust their sound to your liking.
TheĀ Anker Q30 are good for commuting and travel. They have an outstanding noise cancelling system and can reduce the rumble of bus or plane engines around you. They're comfortable, decently well-built, and offer over 44 hours of continuous battery life, which is good for long travel days. However, they're a bit bulky, making them harder to take with you on the go.
The Anker Q30 are over-ear headphones, so they may not be the best choice for sports and fitness. They're bulky, making it hard to take them with you on the go, and they can fall off your head with moderately intense movement. They also don't have an IP rating for dust or water resistance, but that's to be expected since they're over-ears. That said, they're comfortable.
TheĀ Anker Life Q30 are decent for office use. They're comfortable and have long continuous battery life, which will last through multiple workdays before they need recharging. They also have a powerful active noise cancelling feature that helps reduce office chatter around you. On the downside, they leak audio, so if you're listening to music at a high volume, those around you can hear it.
The Anker Q30 aren't compatible with Xbox or PlayStation consoles. While you can use them with Bluetooth-enabled PCs, their latency is too high to be suitable for gaming.
TheĀ Anker Soundcore Life Q30 are okay for wired gaming. Although you can use them wired with their 1/8" TRS video, you can only receive audio and can't use their integrated mic to chat with teammates. However, they're comfortable, and their excited sound can help emphasize sound effects like explosions in your gameplay.
TheĀ Anker Life Q30 are alright for phone calls. Their integrated mic does a fair job recording your voice, although it can sound thin and a little dull. It struggles to separate your voice from background noise, though. Thankfully, they have an active noise cancelling feature that can reduce a lot of background noise around you.
Several Sound tests have been updated following TB 1.8. There have also been text changes made throughout the review, including the usages and product comparisons, to match these results.
The Anker Life Q30 are available in three color variants: 'Black,' 'Midnight Blue,' and 'Sakura Pink.' We tested the Black variant, and you can see their label here. We expect all color variants to perform similarly to our model. If you encounter another variant, please let us know in the forums, and we'll update our review.
The Anker Life Q30 are the next generation of the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Wireless. Unlike their predecessor, these budget-friendly over-ears come with a hard pouch to help protect the headphones when you're on the go and have a companion app with features like a graphic EQ and presets to help tweak their sound. Their active noise cancelling performance is excellent, too, and beats competitors like the TREBLAB Z7 Pro Wireless.
Check out our recommendations for the best noise cancelling headphones, the best noise cancelling headphones under $100, and the best travel headphones.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless and the Sony WH-CH720N Wireless share many similarities and are fairly comparable. The Anker headphones have the edge in their significantly better noise cancellation and greater continuous battery life, but their headband is prone to breakage. On the other hand, the Sonys are plasticky, but they're not known to break over time, and they're lighter. They feature the company's 360 Reality Audio, which offers virtual surround sound and adaptive listening modes.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are better for most people than the Sony WH-CH520 Wireless, unless you care about virtual surround sound. The Anker headphones supply active noise cancelling (ANC) to effectively reduce environmental noise. They have a companion app with an equalizer to adjust their sound profile, although it's otherwise fairly simple. The on-ear-fitting Sony headphones have a better mic and longer battery life. They also have virtual surround sound. They're wireless-only and lack ANC, so you'll hear your environment much more.
The Anker Soundcore Space Q45 Wireless are slightly better over-ears than the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless. The Q45 are better built, are less prone to inconsistencies in audio delivery, and leak less audio at high volumes. They also have an adaptive ANC system instead of three ANC presets. However, both headphones have a comparable full range noise isolation performance that does an amazing job of blocking out external noise.
The Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless are better headphones than the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless. The Sony are more comfortable, feel better built, and have a better-balanced sound profile right out of the box. Plus, they have an auto-off timer to help conserve their battery life when not in use. That said, the Anker have a longer continuous battery life and a better full range noise isolation performance.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are a better deal than the Anker Soundcore Space One Wireless. While both headphones share similarities like LDAC support, the Life Q30 are more comfortable, come with a sturdy carrying case to help protect them from damage on the go, and have a significantly better noise isolation performance. However, the Space One are better built.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless and the Anker Soundcore Life Q35 Wireless are very similar headphones with slight differences. While both headphones are comfortable, the Q30 have a better ANC performance. However, the Q35 have a better overall mic performance and support LDAC codec for high-quality audio, which some users may prefer.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are the next generation of the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Wireless and are slightly better than their predecessor. The Q30 come with a hard case. They have an improved noise isolation performance and longer-lasting battery life. They're also compatible with the Anker Soundcore app, which allows you to customize their sound profile with a graphic EQ and presets. However, the Q20 are more stable on your head.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are better headphones for commuting than the Skullcandy Hesh ANC Wireless. The Anker are better built and more comfortable, and their active noise cancelling feature has a significantly better performance. They also have a longer continuous battery life, can be paired with up to two devices at a time, and have a companion app with a graphic EQ and presets to help you tweak their sound. However, the Skullcandy have a more stable fit.
The Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless are better headphones than the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless. The Sony are more comfortable, feel sturdier, and have a better companion app. However, the Anker have a longer-lasting continuous battery life and three different ANC modes to better isolate the kind of ambient noise around you.
The Bose QuietComfort 35 II/QC35 II Wireless 2018 are better over-ears than the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless. Though the two offer a comparable noise isolation performance, the Bose are more comfortable and have a better battery performance. However, the Anker have a more customizable sound profile, as their companion app has a graphic EQ and presets.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are better headphones than the Skullcandy Hesh Evo Wireless. The Anker are more comfortable and better built, and have an amazing active noise cancelling feature. They also have a companion app that offers a graphic EQ and presets and support multi-device pairing and NFC pairing.
The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2 Wireless and the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless have different strengths, and you may prefer either pair. The Anker have an ANC feature and block out much more ambient sound, so they're more suitable for purposes like commuting. On the other hand, the Audio-Technica have a longer battery life. Their sound profile is also much flatter, which some may prefer to the Anker's bass-heavy sound, but you can customize both headphones' sound profiles in their respective companion apps.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless and the Sony WH-XB910N Wireless have different strengths. While both headphones support multi-device pairing, the Anker can block out significantly more ambient noise while the Sony are more comfortable and better built.
The Beats Solo Pro Wireless and the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are casual-use headphones with different strengths. The Beats are better-built and leak less audio. However, the Anker have a more comfortable fit, a better battery performance, and their ANC has a better full range noise isolation performance. You can also customize their sound profile using their companion app's graphic EQ and presets, and you can pair them with up to two devices at a time.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are better than the Sony WH-XB900N for most purposes. The Anker have a much better noise isolation performance, a longer continuous battery life, and support multi-device pairing. However, the Sony have a much more comfortable and stable fit.
The Razer Opus Wireless 2020 are better headphones than the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless. The Razer feel better-built and have a flatter sound profile right out-of-the-box. They can also isolate more noise around you and have an auto-off timer to help conserve battery life when they're not in use. However, the Anker offer different settings for their ANC and can be paired with up to two devices at a time.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless and the Razer Opus Wireless 2021 have different strengths. While both headphones are comfortable, the Razer are better built and have more consistent audio delivery, and their default sound profile is flatter, which some users may prefer. Their battery performance is better, and you can use them wired with full audio and mic compatibility. However, the Anker have a companion app with a graphic EQ and presets to help you adjust their sound to your liking. They also support multi-device pairing, meaning you can stay connected to your PC and smartphone at the same time.
The AnkerSoundcore Life Q30 and the Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 Wireless have different strengths and depending on your usage, you may prefer one over the other. The Anker are more comfortable. Their active noise cancelling (ANC) feature does a better job of reducing background noise around you and they have longer-lasting continuous battery life. Their companion app also offers a graphic EQ on top of presets. However, the Plantronics have a more stable fit and leak less audio.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless and the Wyze Noise-Cancelling Headphones Wireless have different strengths, and depending on your usage, you may prefer one over the other. The Anker come with a hard case, and their adjustable ANC feature can cut down a greater amount of ambient noise around you. Their integrated mic also offers a somewhat better overall performance, and they have a longer continuous battery life. However, the Wyze have an auto-off timer to help conserve battery life, and their default sound profile is a bit flatter, which some listeners may prefer.
The Sony WH-H910N/h.ear on 3 Wireless and the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless each have their advantages, so one may suit you better than the other depending on your needs. The Sony have a more stable fit, an auto-off timer to conserve the charge when not in use, and leak less audio. Meanwhile, the Anker can connect to two devices at once, block out far more ambient noise, take less time to charge while offering over 40 hours of continuous playback time, and deliver audio more consistently.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Wireless are better headphones than the TREBLAB Z7 Pro Wireless. While both headphones are comfortable, the Anker ones have a significantly better noise isolation performance, better battery life, and a companion app that offers a graphic EQ and presets to help you adjust their performance to your liking. However, the TREBLAB headphones are better-built, and support aptX and aptX HD codecs, which is good if you want to listen to high-quality audio.
The Anker Q30 look very similar to the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Wireless. They have a simple design with a black satin finish. With this generation, a small logo in gold is found on both ear cups, making it look a little more refined. They also come in 'Midnight Blue' and 'Sakura Pink' if you prefer a more colorful look.
They're comfortable headphones. Like the Wyze Noise-Cancelling Headphones Wireless, they feel lightweight and don't clamp too tightly on the head. The headband padding feels thin and can become uncomfortable when worn for long listening sessions.
These headphones have a good control scheme that's easy to use. Only the right ear cup has a touch-sensitive surface, but most of the controls are physical buttons located on the bottom of both ear cups. While the buttons are clicky and there are voice prompts for the different ANC settings, there aren't beeps for most of the other commands.
On the left ear cup:
Power button:
NC button:
On the right ear cup:
Play/Pause button:
Volume rocker:
Touch-sensitive surface:
Over-ears like these headphones aren't very portable. They're bulky, and while the ear cups can swivel to lay flat and come with a hard case to help protect them, they still take up some room in a bag or backpack.
Unlike the Anker Soundcore Space One Wireless, these over-ears have a good hard case. It has a zipper so that it fully closes, and there's a small section inside so that you can store its cables. It'll protect your headphones from minor water exposure and accidental drops.
The Anker Q30 have a decent build quality. They're mostly made of plastic and silicone-like materials, which makes them feel sturdy. There's also faux-leather padding on the headband and cups and a metal plate in the headband. They feel dense enough to survive a few accidental drops without getting damaged. However, some users have reported that their units' headbands cracked or broke over time, which points to issues with the build quality's durability. We haven't noticed this issue with our unit, though. Some of our team also use these headphones as their daily drivers, and they haven't encountered this either, so your experience may vary. However, if you have experienced this problem, please let us know in the forums. If you're looking for better-built Anker headphones, try the Anker Soundcore Space Q45 Wireless instead.
The Anker Q30 have an excited, V-shaped sound profile. The bass delivers intense thump and rumble, while the treble adds sparkle and brightness to your mix. This sound is well-suited for genres like rock and pop, which benefit from added bass and treble to make tracks sound exciting and dynamic. While some users may find this sound profile overtly bass-heavy, their companion app offers a graphic EQ and presets to help tweak their sound. Here are some measurements of a few EQ presets.
There is a noticeable difference in sound profile when using the ANC on and off. Although we tested these headphones with their ANC on, if you turn the ANC off, the bass becomes boomier and the mid-range more hollow-sounding. However, it doesn't sound as bad as the Anker Soundcore Life Q35 Wireless when the ANC is off.
These over-ears have an alright frequency response consistency. Their treble delivery varies depending on fit, positioning, and seal, so it's important to take the time to adjust their fit on your head to get the same listening experience each time you use them.
Their bass compliance is okay. It's overemphasized across the whole range, so tracks with a strong bassline, like Satisfaction by Benni Benassi, have heavy thump, rumble, and boom. But, depending on your taste, you might find that all of this extra bass can also make mixes sound boomy and muddy.
These over-ears have good mid-range target compliance. There's a bit of over-emphasis coming from the bass range into the low-mid, which results in vocals sounding a touch muddy. The rest of the range is a touch recessed relative to our target, so lead instruments sound a bit distant.
The Anker Life Q30 have very good treble compliance. The low-treble is well-balanced, if a touch inconsistent, so voices sound clear without being harsh. On the other hand, the mid-treble is over-emphasized, which makes S and T sounds piercing. That said, treble delivery can vary depending on fit, positioning, and seal.
The peaks and dips performance is satisfactory. The headphones control their own sound profile well through the bass and mid-range but struggle to do so in the treble range, where there's also a bit of a mismatch between the left and right drivers. This inconsistency in the low- and mid-treble means voices can sound harsh, dull, or piercing depending on their pitch.
We've tested several products from Anker and encountered some imaging issues, which can indicate the brand's overall quality control and ergonomics. Imaging can vary across units, though. Our unit's L/R drivers have high phase mismatch, causing inaccuracies in the stereo image. There's also a slight frequency mismatch, which can result in holes in the stereo image. That said, the L/R drivers are well-matched in group delay, ensuring tight bass and transparent imaging, as well as in amplitude, helping to balance the stereo image.
The Anker Q30 have a poor passive soundstage. While it's perceived as wide and natural, audio still sounds like it's coming from inside your head rather than from out in front of you. Also, due to their closed-back design, they sound less spacious than open-back headphones.
The weighted harmonic distortion performance is good. All ranges fall within good limits, producing clean and pure audio at moderate volumes. At max volume, there's some distortion present in the right driver's bass range, and it's more noticeable when the ANC is on than off. However, we don't expect most users to encounter this issue, as listening to audio at such a high volume is very uncommon. It's also worth noting that most headphones have some distortion at max volume; we don't recommend using any headphones at max volume either, as it can negatively impact your hearing over time.
These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when listening using these settings.
The Anker Life Q30 have excellent noise isolation. With their active noise (ANC) feature set to the 'Transport' mode setting, they perform better than the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Wireless. They can reduce a significant amount of bass-range noise like bus or plane engines. They also cut down a lot of mid-range noise, like office chatter, as well as higher-pitched sounds, like the hum of an AC unit. These headphones also offer two other kinds of ANC. 'Outdoor' mode aims to cut down traffic and wind noise, while 'Indoor' mode focuses on reducing mid and treble-range noise like office chatter and the hum of fans.
Note: Some users have reported that the ANC system doesn't work when the headphones are wired due to a firmware update or the feature being removed in a newer batch of headphones. Using firmware 02.10, our unit's ANC is usable while wired, so long as the unit has remaining battery life. However, you may be unable to do the same with your unit. We don't know how to differentiate batches for these headphones, but you can see our model's serial number here.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 have an impressive performance when it comes to attenuating against commons scenarios. They do a great job of isolating you against the low rumble of plane engines and fare even better when you use them in environments like a noisy office or bus street.
Wind noise differs from other sounds as it interacts directly with the ANC microphones. This leads to a loud and annoying tone as the ANC system attempts to cancel a sound that isn't reaching your ear. Unfortunately, the Anker Soundcore Q30 struggle with wind noise. They also lack a wind reduction feature to help reduce this, so you'll want to avoid windy environments where possible.
Their leakage performance is mediocre. Their leakage is concentrated in the mid-range, so it sounds somewhat full. If you're listening to your audio at a high volume, people at the office may be able to hear it.
The Anker Soundcore Q30's integrated mic's recording quality is fair. It sounds thin and a bit dull, but your voice still sounds clear and easy to understand.
The integrated microphone's noise handling performance is just mediocre. It struggles to separate your voice from moderate background noise and is best suited for calls taken from a more quiet environment.
The battery performance is excellent. They have over 44 hours of continuous playback time with their ANC on. If you need even more playback time, the manufacturer advertises them as lasting up to 60 hours with their ANC off. Thanks to their TRS audio cable, you can use them passively, but you can't use them while they're charging. Depending on your unit's batch, you may be unable to use the ANC system while wired. While they have an auto-off timer, it only turns off the headphones if they're not connected to a Bluetooth source. They won't power off if you're still connected to your Bluetooth device, even if you're not listening to anything.
The Anker Soundcore app is great. You can adjust the sound of these headphones using their graphic EQ or presets. You can also adjust their ANC with three different levels: 'Transport' mode, 'Outdoor' mode, and 'Indoor' mode. There are also sleep features available. You can make a mix of calming ambient sounds like birds tweeting or chimes and also set a timer for them.
These over-ears come with a 1/8" TRS cable that you can use to passively listen to audio. However, you can't use their mic while wired. They also come with a USB-C to USB-A charging cable. Using firmware 02.10, our unit's ANC can be used via analog, so long as battery life remains. However, this may be unique to our unit's batch, and you may not be able to use this feature wired. We don't know how to differentiate batches, but you can see our unit's serial number here.
These over-ears have great Bluetooth connectivity. Unlike the Skullcandy Hesh Evo Wireless, you can pair them with up to two devices simultaneously and support NFC pairing, simplifying the pairing process. However, they have high latency on PCs vis SBC codec, so you'll encounter lip-sync issues if you're streaming video. Some devices and apps compensate for latency differently, though. If you're looking for similar Anker headphones supporting the LDAC codec, try the Anker Soundcore Life Q35 Wireless.
These headphones can connect to Bluetooth-enabled PCs with full audio and mic compatibility. If you're using their analog cable, you'll only be able to hear audio.
You can connect these headphones to PlayStation consoles by plugging their analog cable into your controller's AUX port. However, you'll only be able to receive audio.
The Anker Q30 are only compatible with the Xbox One when you plug their 1/8" TRS cable into the AUX port of a controller. You can only receive audio as they don't have mic support.