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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2023
I bought these in August 2021, while my wife has a pair of the older ones (I think it's 20+ instead of 30 in the model name?). Hers use a microUSB connection, I like mine with the USB-C power connection, but for the most part they seem to work the same.
For the price, they're just great. I own a pair of Bose corded noise cancelling headphones, and --- true, I'm no audiophile, but I think the sound and noise cancelling are just fine on both units, the Bose being much more expensive. AND, the faux thin leather covering the ear cushions on the Bose just flat wore out and I had to replace those --- no such problems thus far at least with the Soundcore units. The lower price makes me more comfortable taking them along on trips too, just less of a 'big investment'.
However. A month or two ago I noticed the the hard plastic had cracked on one side close to but above where the adjustable ear pieces connect to the arch part that goes over your head. I fortunately caught it in time where it was a minor crack, but was already acting kind of "loose" and would clearly get worse if left alone, so I tightly wrapped black electricians tape around to support it, and that's been working fine. In fact, as it turned out, the tape was kind of handy as I could finally now tell just by feel which was the right and which the left side --- significant not for the sound, but for how the button controls are laid out.
But this morning (2/26/2023) I found that the other side was cracked in the same way. So I've applied the same fix, and again, I think I caught it soon enough that I'll be able to continue to use it. But it's clearly a design flaw given that both sides have cracked in the same place, and in neither case was there any triggering event --- I didn't drop them or put excessive force or anything like that. I just happened to notice one day that it was cracked.
If you buy these, you might consider just pre-emptively wrapping both sides tightly with black tape. I think that if I hadn't caught both of these cracks early on, it's possible that the headphones would become unusable (not certain). I'd say to start about 3/4 inch above the very bottom (curved ends) of the "arch" part, and wrap up perhaps 2" from there. One downside there though is that they become a little less easily portable unless you make a couple of cuts in the tape to allow the ear cups to complete fold up should you want to buy the case available for these.
FWIW, this has not happened to my wife's pair of Q20+'s, and she uses them a lot. Though who knows, there could be some difference in how we use them. But if these ever become unusable, I'll look to see if the Q20+ model is still available for sale. Or maybe someday they'll fix this design flaw and future units will work better? I wouldn't count on it. If they were going to do that sort of test-to-fail quality assurance, the design of the plastic around the ear cup joints would never have shipped in a production model. Sadly, we really do live in a throw-away world.
Understand, for the price I think these are great, just be aware of this caveat.
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Update August 6th 2024:
I've had these almost exactly three years now, and my tape job on the cracked plastic is holding up, but these clearly aren't terribly durable as the very thin fabric that covers the foam on the earpieces is wearing out. On the left side it's worn and pulled away to the point where I see the soft foam rubber, but it still works well enough. On the right side there's a substantial worn spot, though it's not so bad.
I definitely don't use these every day. Occasionally I'll wear them quite a bit, but days then will go by when I don't use them, or that I use earbuds instead. So it's not like this is from really constant use.
I wonder if there's a kit available to repair this new problem. My more expensive Bose headphones do have such a replacement kit. I'd hate to toss the earphones just because of these minor durability issues, but might end up having to do so.
Bottom line is that I wouldn't expect these to be a long-term possession, most likely bound for drop-off at an electronics recycling point in the not too distant future.
For the price, they're just great. I own a pair of Bose corded noise cancelling headphones, and --- true, I'm no audiophile, but I think the sound and noise cancelling are just fine on both units, the Bose being much more expensive. AND, the faux thin leather covering the ear cushions on the Bose just flat wore out and I had to replace those --- no such problems thus far at least with the Soundcore units. The lower price makes me more comfortable taking them along on trips too, just less of a 'big investment'.
However. A month or two ago I noticed the the hard plastic had cracked on one side close to but above where the adjustable ear pieces connect to the arch part that goes over your head. I fortunately caught it in time where it was a minor crack, but was already acting kind of "loose" and would clearly get worse if left alone, so I tightly wrapped black electricians tape around to support it, and that's been working fine. In fact, as it turned out, the tape was kind of handy as I could finally now tell just by feel which was the right and which the left side --- significant not for the sound, but for how the button controls are laid out.
But this morning (2/26/2023) I found that the other side was cracked in the same way. So I've applied the same fix, and again, I think I caught it soon enough that I'll be able to continue to use it. But it's clearly a design flaw given that both sides have cracked in the same place, and in neither case was there any triggering event --- I didn't drop them or put excessive force or anything like that. I just happened to notice one day that it was cracked.
If you buy these, you might consider just pre-emptively wrapping both sides tightly with black tape. I think that if I hadn't caught both of these cracks early on, it's possible that the headphones would become unusable (not certain). I'd say to start about 3/4 inch above the very bottom (curved ends) of the "arch" part, and wrap up perhaps 2" from there. One downside there though is that they become a little less easily portable unless you make a couple of cuts in the tape to allow the ear cups to complete fold up should you want to buy the case available for these.
FWIW, this has not happened to my wife's pair of Q20+'s, and she uses them a lot. Though who knows, there could be some difference in how we use them. But if these ever become unusable, I'll look to see if the Q20+ model is still available for sale. Or maybe someday they'll fix this design flaw and future units will work better? I wouldn't count on it. If they were going to do that sort of test-to-fail quality assurance, the design of the plastic around the ear cup joints would never have shipped in a production model. Sadly, we really do live in a throw-away world.
Understand, for the price I think these are great, just be aware of this caveat.
===============================================================
Update August 6th 2024:
I've had these almost exactly three years now, and my tape job on the cracked plastic is holding up, but these clearly aren't terribly durable as the very thin fabric that covers the foam on the earpieces is wearing out. On the left side it's worn and pulled away to the point where I see the soft foam rubber, but it still works well enough. On the right side there's a substantial worn spot, though it's not so bad.
I definitely don't use these every day. Occasionally I'll wear them quite a bit, but days then will go by when I don't use them, or that I use earbuds instead. So it's not like this is from really constant use.
I wonder if there's a kit available to repair this new problem. My more expensive Bose headphones do have such a replacement kit. I'd hate to toss the earphones just because of these minor durability issues, but might end up having to do so.
Bottom line is that I wouldn't expect these to be a long-term possession, most likely bound for drop-off at an electronics recycling point in the not too distant future.
