Reviewers of the Soundcore Life P3 disagree about almost everything except the price. Expert Reviews calls the noise cancelling the best it had tried under £100, while another site called it its biggest disappointment. Laptop Mag loved the calls, and Digital Trends thought they were average. When published opinions split this far, the useful question is which conditions produce which result.
I found much less direct owner feedback than I wanted, so please treat long-term reliability as an open question. Also note that the Life P3 is a separate product from the Life P2 and the P20i, so reviews of those do not apply here.
Product image from the Amazon listing.
Noise Cancelling Is the Reason to Buy
Two reviewers found that the noise cancelling beats the price. Expert Reviews called it “the Life P3’s stand-out feature” and said these were “the most effective ANC true wireless earbuds” it had tested under £100. SoundGuys gave it 8 out of 10, and says Transport mode cuts the loudness of most outside noise by about 80 percent.
Related reading
The dissent came from NerdTechy, which heard little difference between the three modes and rated them only moderately effective. I think the explanation lies in fit, and I will come to that. The three modes are Transport, Indoor and Outdoor. Expert Reviews found the first two worked very well and that Outdoor did less. SoundGuys also measured less reduction in Indoor and Outdoor, so a commuter should simply pick Transport and leave it there.
For a bus, a train or a noisy office, this looks like the right tool at this price. Please keep your expectations in proportion, though. These are budget earbuds, and their strength is the steady rumble of transport. Sharp voices and high sounds are harder for any earbud.
Fit Decides Whether You Get Any of That
Noise cancelling on earbuds depends on a seal, and here the reports split. Digital Trends found them comfortable for long wear, and more secure than AirPods. SoundGuys found them comfortable for hours and secure during workouts. But Expert Reviews, even with the largest tips, said they “would sometimes work themselves a little loose” when the reviewer moved their jaw, which weakened both the seal and the noise cancelling.
So a talker or a chewer may get a worse result than someone sitting still, and this may be why the reviews disagree about noise cancelling. The app includes a fit test, and Digital Trends points out that the silicone tips in the box help with sealing. Run the test on day one and try each tip size before you judge the sound or the noise cancelling.
The earbuds are rated IPX5, which covers sweat and splashes but not going under water.
Product image from the Amazon listing.
Calls: Fine Indoors, Weaker on the Street
This is where you should read the marketing with care. Anker advertises six microphones and AI-enhanced calls, and the results vary with the room.
Laptop Mag listed “surprisingly good call quality” as a strength, and NerdTechy said call quality was very good. Digital Trends, testing outdoors, heard no dropouts, but the reviewer’s voice “sounded thin and at times quite distant.” Indoors was much better. SoundGuys found speech intelligible in its simulated noisy settings, which it says beats many budget earbuds.
SoundGuys also ran a reader poll on the microphone. Of 181 votes, 49 percent rated the mic good or perfect, and 15 percent rated it bad or awful. That is a fair summary of the whole story: usable, and not impressive.
Related reading
There is a practical trap as well. Digital Trends warns that “you can’t switch between ANC/transparency once a call is in progress,” and that the app cannot be opened during a call either. If you want to hear your own voice clearly, set transparency before you dial. That is easy to forget when a call comes in as you walk out the door.
For a daily Teams or Zoom user, I would call these acceptable from a quiet room and a poor choice as your only headset for work.
One Device at a Time
SoundGuys reports no multipoint, so the buds connect to only one device at a time. This matters more than the spec sheet suggests. If you move between a Mac and a phone during the day, you will be disconnecting and reconnecting by hand. SoundGuys had no connection problems with an iPhone, and Laptop Mag listed a strong Bluetooth connection as a plus, so the link itself seems fine.
The Bluetooth version is 5.2, with SBC and AAC codecs. AAC is what Apple devices use, so iPhone and Mac owners lose nothing there. I found no detailed report of these buds on a Mac, so I can only say that basic Bluetooth audio should behave normally. Most Bluetooth earbuds drop to lower sound quality when a Mac uses their microphone, and I would expect that here too, but I have no report that proves it for this model. The Soundcore app runs on phones, so make your settings there. There is a low-latency Gaming Mode as well.
Product image from the Amazon listing.
Touch Controls and Daily Use
Touch controls are a repeat complaint. Laptop Mag said they “can be finicky at times,” and Expert Reviews found that they can miss inputs. Digital Trends likes that you can customise them in the app. A mistaken tap is a small thing, but you will meet it daily, so spend time on the tap settings early.
The buds have no wear detection, so music will not pause when you take one out. Digital Trends and Expert Reviews both list this as a downside.
Battery reports are mostly in agreement. Digital Trends gives Soundcore’s claims as 7 hours per charge with noise cancelling off, and 6 hours with it on, plus the case, for 35 or 30 hours overall. Its own test reached about 7.5 hours without noise cancelling. Ten minutes on the charger adds about two hours. That covers a long commute and a working day with breaks. Expert Reviews thought rivals such as Huawei’s FreeBuds 4i did better, but this is good enough for most people.
Too Much Bass for Some Ears
The sound is the part I would warn you about most. Laptop Mag listed heavy bass as a main complaint. SoundGuys went further and said that with noise cancelling on these have more bass than any earbuds it has tested, and that the Bass Reducer preset barely helps. Its verdict was “Budget earbuds for bass-heads,” with the line that “Everyone else should probably look elsewhere.” It gave the sound a low score even though it rated the product 7 out of 10 overall.
Related reading
Others liked what they heard. Digital Trends called the earbuds “an exceptional value” and gave them an Editors’ Choice award, with the note that exacting listeners may want more. NerdTechy praised the audio too. The app has an eight-band custom EQ, and owners who dislike the bass should go there first, ahead of the presets. Still, if you listen mostly to podcasts or acoustic music, a bass-heavy tuning may need more correction than you want to do.
Long-Term Wear Is the Unknown
I looked for owner reports of failed charging, one bud going silent or cases that die, since those are the usual problems with cheap wireless earbuds. I could not find enough on this exact model to tell you anything. Please do not read that as good news. It only means I lack the evidence. Keep your receipt, and check how long your seller’s and Anker’s cover lasts in your country.
A Commuter’s Bargain, With Conditions
My opinion is that the Life P3 is a good budget choice for one person: someone who spends time on noisy transport, uses one device at a time, enjoys strong bass and takes calls mostly indoors. For that person, the noise cancelling is the headline, and the rest is good enough.
Skip them if you switch between a laptop and a phone all day, because the lack of multipoint will irritate you. Skip them if you take important calls on the street, or if you like a neutral sound. And if the fit test fails on all the tips, send them back, because without a seal you lose the main reason to buy.
For commuting and casual calls, the Anker soundcore Life P3 is a fair deal, as long as bass does not bother you. This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
One email a month: new articles, reviews and the upcoming live webinar + free recording. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.