Anker soundcore P20i review: budget earbuds for an ordinary working day

Cheap earbuds usually fail at the same job, and the soundcore P20i is no exception. Going by what reviewers and owners report, it sounds fine for the money, the battery lasts through a long stretch, and the app is better than the price suggests. Then you take a call, and the person on the other end may struggle to hear you.

Owner reports are few, so I will say less where the evidence is weak.

Product image from the Amazon listing.

The question I care about is simple. Can this pair get an ordinary person through a working day of music, meetings and a laptop?

Calls Are the Weak Spot

The most useful source I found is Scarbir’s review from May 2023, written by a reviewer who says he bought the unit himself. He scored call quality at 2 out of 5, the lowest mark on his sheet. Background noise is held down well, he says, but “your voice has little volume” and it sounds fragile. Wind makes it much worse. He says the Life P2i from the same maker is the better option for calls.

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Buyer feedback does not fully agree. Summaries of owner reviews are split. Some owners call the microphone clear, others call it below average, and ShopSavvy’s summaries describe call quality as decent in one place and inconsistent in another. An aggregator does not name its sources, so I would not lean on it too hard.

My reading is that you will be understood in a quiet room. That is enough for a call with your mother. For a daily run of client meetings, I would use something else, or plug in a wired headset for those calls.

Soundcore rates talk time at up to 6 hours per charge, with about 18 more from the case, in its FAQ. A full working day of calls would be a stretch without a break in the case, though few people talk that long.

Warm, Dark and Heavy on Bass

Scarbir calls the bass “powerful and punchy.” It comes mostly from the mid-bass and can sometimes sound loose or overbearing. Mids and treble are held back at lower volumes, while vocals stay forward enough to stand out. His summary is that the sound is comfortable for background listening but a little dark.

That sounds to me like a good match for office work, where you want music that does not demand attention. People who love detail in acoustic records may want more air. Scarbir preferred the more open sound of Soundcore’s A20i, and found the Life P2i more vivid.

Product image from the Amazon listing.

The App Earns Its Place

Here is the real reason to pick this model over some rivals. Scarbir rates the free soundcore app 4 out of 5, calls it easy to use, and names it as the main advantage over the Life P2i and P2 mini. You get sound presets, a gaming mode, and control over what the touch panels do, including volume.

He counted 21 presets. Some of them oddly shift the sound toward the left or right earbud, which is worth knowing if a preset suddenly sounds wrong. His tip is the Treble Booster preset, which brings back some of the upper mids and treble and makes the sound livelier.

The app runs on iPhone and Android. I found no sign of a desktop app, so plan to do your setup on your phone before you pair with a computer.

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Battery and the Daily Routine

Soundcore’s FAQ claims up to 10 hours 30 minutes per charge, and about 30 hours with the case, from lab tests at 50 percent volume. Scarbir reports 9 to 10 hours, which is close for once. He also says that ten minutes of charging gives about two hours of listening. For a working day, this is the area I would worry about least.

You also get mono use. The FAQ says you can take out one earbud alone, or put one back in the case and keep using the other. That is handy in an office, where you may want one ear free for the room.

Now for the small annoyances. Scarbir found volume changes slow to register, and said the case can turn the earbuds on by accident if it gets moved. They then stay on until you turn them off or until they time out, and he says no other Soundcore he tried does this. Soundcore’s FAQ says the earbuds turn off in the closed case, and after 10 minutes with no device connected. So this may be a loose-lid problem more than a drain on the battery, but keep an eye on it. He also rates fit at 3.5 out of 5: comfortable, though the round tips stay noticeable. ShopSavvy’s summary mentions that they may feel less comfortable over long sessions.

Product image from the Amazon listing.

Using Them With a Laptop

This is where the evidence runs out, and the topic matters for anyone working at a desk.

Soundcore has a support page for Bluetooth trouble with computers. That page exists for a reason, though its advice is basic: charge fully, reset, update the Bluetooth driver, pair again, and test with another device. It never mentions the Mac. I found no owner report that covers these earbuds on a Mac in any detail.

I also found no statement from soundcore that the P20i connects to two devices at once. Its support pages do not mention it. Assume that you will have to disconnect from your phone before you can use your laptop, and treat anything better as a pleasant surprise.

Scarbir lists the AAC codec and Bluetooth 5.3, and describes playback as great for videos. Those are good signs for an iPhone or a Mac, though they do not prove that a Mac call will sound better than a phone call.

What Goes Wrong Later

The iFixit forum for the P20i is small, but its questions rhyme. By 2024, owners had posted about two buds that would not connect at the same time, and about a bud that would not recharge. A repair forum only hears from unhappy people, so this tells you nothing about how often it happens.

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Soundcore has standard fixes. For charging trouble, its battery guide says to check that the case has power, clean the contact pins with a swab and a little rubbing alcohol, and reset by holding both earbuds for 10 seconds until you hear a beep. Its pairing guide adds one thing many people miss on a new pair: remove the charging-pin covers. It also says to delete the old pairing before you start again. If one bud still will not connect, the guide sends you to support.

I would try those steps in order, and I would keep the box until the return window has passed.

Good for Music at a Desk, Not for Your Meetings

I would buy the P20i as a cheap pair for music, videos and the commute, especially as a backup to something better. The battery and the app give you more than the price suggests. On the Scarbir scale it earned four stars as good value, with the honest note that Soundcore sells better choices in the same price range.

Skip it if your job runs on calls, if you often work outside in the wind, or if you need one pair to hop between a phone and a laptop.

For music at your desk, the Anker soundcore P20i is a low-risk choice, as long as a headset stays nearby for the calls that matter. This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.