Status Between 3ANC True Wireless Headphones Review

The Status Between 3ANC look similar to the Status Between Pro True Wireless. They have a rectangular design with a metallic shell covering the lower half of the stem. Like their sibling, each bud has a triple driver design that's comprised of two balanced armature drivers and one 10mm dynamic driver, which helps improve sound quality and clarity. These buds come in two color variants: 'Onyx' and 'Bone'.

These buds have a decently comfortable fit. Like the Status Between Pro True Wireless, they have a lightweight design and come with a couple of differently-sized ear tips and stability fins to help you get the best fit. That said, they stick out of your ears more than traditionally-designed in-ears like the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) Truly Wireless and can cause fatigue over time. Since the controls are located on the top of the buds and on the stem's touch-sensitive surface, you won't push them deeper into your ear when registering a command.

These buds have good controls. A physical button is on the top of each bud's stem, with touch controls on the stems. Unfortunately, you need to hold the bottom of the stem, as pushing the buttons can cause the buds to wiggle out of your ears. You must also be quick in double tapping to register this kind of command; otherwise, it'll only register a single tap. On the upside, there are voice prompts for ANC off or ambient sound off, reaching min or max volume, searching for devices, and powering on and off the device. There are also chimes for turning ANC or ambient sound on and beeps when playing and pausing audio. However, there aren't any track-skipping tones.

Physical button (on either bud):

• Single tap: Toggles between ANC on and transparency mode.
• Double tap: Activates voice assistant.
• Triple tap: Alerts you to battery status.
• Tap and hold: Powers the buds on and off.

Touch controls:

On the left bud:
• Single tap: Plays and pauses audio.
• Double tap: Skips to the previous track. Also answers and ends calls.
• Press and hold: Lowers the volume. Also rejects calls.

On the right bud:
• Single tap: Plays and pauses audio.
• Double tap: Skips to the next track. Also answers and ends calls.
• Press and hold: Raises the volume. Also rejects calls.

These buds are very portable. You can easily store them in most pockets or bags without an issue.

The carrying case is great. Unlike the Status Between Pro True Wireless, this case supports wireless charging. There are three LED lights on the front of the case and a reset button on the back.

The Status Between 3ANC's build quality is good. They're mostly made of plastic with a metal sleeve capping the stem. The ear tips and stability fins are silicone and come in different sizes. The manufacturer also states that they're certified IPX5 for resistance against direct water exposure, but it isn't clear if this certification includes the case.

These earbuds have a stable fit, thanks to their stability fin design. Although they stick out of your ear, they stay in place while you're on the move. If you make a lot of vigorous head movements, you may need to readjust their fit since they can feel like they're falling out our your ears due to their design.

• Status Between 3ANC earbuds
• 3x sets of ear tips
• 3x sets of stability fins
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• Carrying case
• Manuals

Using the Status Signature EQ preset, the Status Between 3ANC have an excited sound profile that delivers extra thump, punch, and boom in the bass. Vocals and instruments aren't drowned out in mixes; they're bright and sparkly, thanks to extra treble. If you prefer a different sound, their companion app offers a graphic EQ and presets to help you adjust their sound.

We noticed a difference in frequency response when using the Status Signature EQ preset, depending on if the ANC is on versus off. When off, the buds deliver a lot more bass than when on. However, the extra boom and warmth also muddies vocals and instruments. You can see a comparison between both settings here. You can also see a comparison of all the EQ presets with ANC on versus off here.

The frequency response consistency is very good. The buds have a small hole that could affect the ANC performance when covered by the stability fins. However, because our rig's ears are made from silicone, it causes the buds to move more than it would if worn by a human. As a result, once you get a good fit, you'll experience consistent bass and treble delivery each time you use them.

The bass accuracy is very good. The response is overemphasized across the range, resulting in extra thump, punch, and boom. This sound is great if you like genres like EDM and hip-hop that can benefit from extra bass. However, this overemphasis can clutter vocals and instruments.

The Status Between 3ANC's mid accuracy is great. The response is fairly even, although a bit of overemphasis is coming from the bass range into the low-mid, which clutters the mix a bit. The mid-mid is more neutral, ensuring the presence of vocals and instruments, while a bump in the high-mid makes them sound intense. In songs like Psycho Killer by Talking Heads, the lead singer's voice is fairly clear and present throughout the mix, but in the higher registers, it starts to sound a little harsh.

Keep in mind that while the mid response is quite flat, the Peaks and Dips shows a dip in the low to mid-mid, suggesting that the buds have trouble controlling their sound profile in this range.

The Status Between 3ANC have great treble accuracy. It's overemphasized throughout most of the range. The low-treble is very overemphasized, so vocals and instruments sound harsh. That said, sibilants like cymbals are bright but not piercing.

The peaks and dips performance is great. A small peak in the mid to high-bass adds punch and warmth to audio. A dip in the low to mid-mid thins out vocals and instruments while nudging them to the back of the mix. The low to mid-treble is slightly overemphasized, too, making vocals and instruments sound harsh while sibilants like cymbals are bright.

Status hasn't produced a lot of headphones, but previous products from this manufacturer, like the Status Between Pro True Wireless, have shown solid quality control and ergonomics. Our unit's L/R drivers are well-balanced in group delay, ensuring tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. Our unit is also well-matched in phase response, amplitude, and frequency response, which ensures that objects like voices are placed correctly in the stereo image. Although there's a peak in the phase response's mid-mid, it isn't easy to hear in real-life content and won't affect your listening experience.

The passive soundstage is bad, but that's to be expected. By design, they bypass your outer ear, which sound needs to interact with to create a more immersive and wide soundstage. As a result, the soundstage these buds create is closed-off and sounds like it's coming from inside your head, rather than from speakers in the room around you.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is very good. Although there's a small peak of distortion in the high-treble range, it's hard to hear as we lose sensitivity to this range over time. As a result, all ranges fall within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Status Between 3ANC's noise isolation performance is good. They're equipped with an ANC system that can block out a good amount of noise across the range. It's mostly concentrated on cutting down bass range noise like bus and plane engine rumbles. That said, even though it can reduce some of this noise, it falls short compared to similarly priced buds like the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro True Wireless. On the upside, these buds offer better isolation in the mid to treble ranges, where you find ambient chatter and high-pitched sounds like the whirl of a computer fan.

The leakage performance is outstanding. Most of the audio leakage is concentrated in the bass and treble range, and it sounds thumpy and thin. Luckily, if you're listening to audio at high volumes and in a moderately noisy place like an office, people around you won't hear it.

The integrated mic's recording quality is okay. It performs similarly to that of the Status Between Pro True Wireless. Your voice sounds thin and slightly distorted, but you'll still be intelligible and clear.

When testing the mic, we noticed distortion was introduced into our passes by our headphones mic. After switching the mic from the left mic (which we use by default for testing) to the right mic, we still noticed similar levels of distortion. This original THD measurement skewed this test's scoring and made it seem like the mic was performing worse than it was. As a result, we've put 'N/A' to bring the score closer to what we believe is its performance.

The integrated mic's noise handling is mediocre. The mic has trouble separating your voice from background noise, which can affect speech quality. If you're taking a call from a noisy environment like a busy street, your voice isn't very clear, and the mic distortion will annoy whoever you're talking to.

The Status Between 3ANC has a good battery performance. The manufacturer doesn't specify that the case or total battery life, but only that of the buds. They're advertised to last eight hours continuously, and we measured a similar amount. We also measured three charges in the carrying case, which makes it easy to keep the buds recharged on the go. Keep in mind that battery life varies depending on use, though. Luckily, if you want to extend their battery life, their auto-off timer automatically turns off if you forget to do so.

The Between 3ANC app is good and simple to use. You can see a video of how it works here.You can customize the buds' sound using the EQ presets or the 8-band graphic EQ. You can also see the amount of battery life remaining on each bud, disconnect the buds directly from the app, and enable ANC on, ANC off, and ambient mode.

The Bluetooth connectivity is great. These buds support multi-device pairing, so you can stay connected to your PC and smartphone simultaneously. That said, unlike the Status Between Pro True Wireless, they don't support aptX codec, which can help improve audio quality when streaming. Their latency using SBC codec on PCs is quite high, so it's not ideal for streaming video. Their latency on Android devices is high too, which causes lip sync, although it's lower on iOS devices. That said, remember that different apps and devices compensate for latency differently.

These headphones come with a USB-A to USB-C cable. You can't use it to passthrough audio, but it's used to charge the carrying case.

The Status 3ANC can connect to Bluetooth-enabled PCs with full audio and mic compatibility. However, this is the only way to connect these headphones to your PC.

These headphones come with a carrying case. It has a USB-C port to charge up the case and supports Qi wireless charging.